OPINION: We have a guardianship crisis in Alaska

The past few years have seen many changes in the way guardianship services are provided to our most vulnerable. This year, a long-growing crisis in Alaska guardianships has come to a head. I am writing out of extreme concern.

My thoughts and concerns expressed here are my own and do not represent the views of any elected offices I hold or those of my employer. I have written this outside of work hours, using information available to the public. Guardianship and conservatorship exist to provide protection and oversight to those who are unable to make informed decisions for themselves or manage their own affairs. Someone can be placed under guardianship for many reasons, including developmental disability, mental illness or age-related illness, such as dementia or stroke. The law prioritizes appointing family or friends to serve as guardian or conservator. The lowest priorities are private professional guardian and then, finally, the Office of Public Advocacy (OPA), which is the Public Guardian.

In April of this year, OPA issued a letter to the Alaska Court System stating that it would no longer be accepting new appointments due to overburdened Public Guardians and an inability to provide services to their wards. This opinion piece is not an attack on the individual people who accept positions at the Public Guardian. They are tasked with an impossible job and are doing the best they can. OPA was overburdened because they are frequently appointed, as many have no one in their lives who can serve as a guardian other than OPA. Now, there is no one to appoint.

Vulnerable Alaskans are in a terrible situation. For reasons too complex to capture in less than 750 words, there are limited opportunities for private guardians or rep payee services to address the overwhelming need to protect vulnerable Alaskans during this crisis. Just a few days ago, a private guardianship agency known as Cache Integrity Services (CIS) voluntarily surrendered its license to provide guardianship services in Alaska. This comes after months of allegations of CIS not providing services to its wards, not paying bills, maintaining benefits or providing housing, etc. A search in CourtView, Alaska’s online court records website, shows 114 current open protective proceedings that involve CIS. These 114 vulnerable adults are now left without someone to manage their finances, protect their benefits or make medical decisions for them. They now find themselves without a decision maker, after the court determined they were incapacitated and appointed CIS, they are now in limbo until someone else can be found and appointed. Some will be able to manage, but others might not even be able to understand what happened let alone do anything to mitigate their situation.

So, what happens to people without family or friends to help them when they can no longer make decisions for themselves? They sit at home not receiving care. They fall victim to financial exploitation and lose their resources. They sit in a hospital for months waiting for the court to find someone to appoint, and they might even find themselves homeless or die while awaiting appointment of a guardian. You can’t place someone into an assisted living home if there isn’t funding and someone to sign the paperwork to have them admitted. Hospitals have had to divert people out of state due to their beds being full. Hospitals are now more reluctant to admit people if they think they will end up sitting in a bed for months waiting.

If private guardian agencies are unable to keep their doors open to provide these essential services to our vulnerable residents, then it falls on the state to provide those services. Ignoring our people in need, our elders, and refusing to provide these essential and necessary services and supports is simply inexcusable and something needs to be done.

What hurts most about the current crisis is that this was easily predictable and our government failed to proactively act. Our government is elected for the benefit of all of us. This public policy crisis requires high-level solutions that go beyond just adding more positions to an agency already suffering from low staffing and poor retention. Something more needs to happen. OPA needs to end its moratorium now. It is not acceptable to let our most vulnerable suffer. Alaskans pride ourselves on taking care of our own, but in this instance, we need to do better.

Liz Reeves-Ramos is a member of the Fairbanks North Star Borough Assembly who works for the state Department of Health’s Adult Protective Services. She wrote this commentary in her personal capacity; it does not represent the views of her elected office or her employer.

The views expressed here are the writer’s and are not necessarily endorsed by the Anchorage Daily News, which welcomes a broad range of viewpoints. To submit a piece for consideration, email commentary(at)adn.com. Send submissions shorter than 200 words to letters@adn.com or click here to submit via any web browser. Read our full guidelines for letters and commentaries here.