When a judge decides Advocates for seniors have been concerned for years about the way the judicial system determines when an adult can no longer make competent decisions. Although the court system of appointing guardians was designed to aid people at risk and protect them, it is a process that by definition deprives adult citizens of their rights. According to Ann Snyder, a probate court magistrate in Akron's Summit County, Ohio, this can be very divisive, airing family issues that have nothing to do with the care of a parent. I can bring down the gavel, divvy up the money and put someone in charge. Each state has developed its own network of people who refer cases to mediation, mediate the cases and provide services to the people using mediation.
Some programs use volunteer mediators, others private, paid mediators.
As the first state in the country to make mediation available statewide, Oklahoma has had an alternative dispute resolution system in operation since 1983. Still, applying mediation to the issues surrounding adults who may need guardians is a new challenge, said Tate, the state's mediation program director. We're talking about a person's basic civil liberties. Tate said her first experience mediating a guardianship dispute involved five brothers and sisters who were suing one another over the choice of a nursing home, how much care should be provided and who should be legally responsible for their mother. They all loved her, but they were calling each other terrible names out of love for their mother, Tate said.