Guardianship Reform Project

Wingspan Conference Affirms Recommendations of Illinois Guardianship Reform Project

More than 80 experts on guardianship law, policy and practice from across the United States were invited to attend the Wingspan Conference, Nov. 30 - Dec. 2, 2001, at Stetson University Law School in Florida. Morris A. Fred, Equip for Equality's Manager, Guardianship Reform Project (GRP), and Senior Policy Analyst, was among those selected to participate.

The conference was so-named to commemorate Wingspread, the groundbreaking first meeting held in 1988, and was convened to examine nationwide progress made in guardianship reform during the intervening 13 years.

Many of the recommendations that came out of Wingspan 2001 coincided with the conclusions of the Guardianship Reform Project's Task Force, which issued its final report in February 2001.

"What was most encouraging was to sit in the sessions with experts from all across the country and hear them focus on many if not most of the same issues that the Guardianship Reform Project Task Force had struggled with during the previous year," said Fred. "I often had to restrain myself from piping up that our Illinois experts had looked carefully at a particular issue and made the same recommendation as those sitting in the room with me at Wingspan."

Of particular note were Wingspan recommendations that affirmed those of the GRP's Task Force on issues involving the need to

train guardians, judges and all professionals involved with guardianship;
use the term "investigator" or "visitor" instead of the confusing appellation "guardian ad litem;"
improve functional assessments by physician's to determine whether or not one is in need of a guardian;
provide funding for courts to investigate and monitor guardianships;
adopt statutes and forms to enable courts to fashion limited guardianships;
require mandatory annual reporting with adequate data systems to ensure compliance;
implement a public information campaign to raise consciousness about the significance of issues surrounding guardianship.

An entire volume of the Stetson Law Review (Vol. XXXI: 3, Spring 2002) was dedicated to the Wingspan Conference and contains all the recommendations, as well as many of the presentations that were given by major national figures in the field of guardianship. It will soon be available on the Stetson Law Review Web site at http://www.law.stetson.edu/lawrev. Or, you can order a copy by calling 727-562-7800.

For more information about the Illinois Guardianship Reform Project and its final report, go to EFE's Web site at http://www.equipforequality.org and click on Guardianship Reform. =

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