These guardians isolate them, decimate their finances, sell everything they own, and then shuttle them from one living facility to another as the need to pay lower and lower fees for their keep arises.
The wards who really do need guardianship are, for the most part left in a solitary existence with only the company of the other residents of the facility and a caregiver working there. No loving support from the family they have been stolen from, who many times don't even know where they are. Or, in several cases we have been working on, have been scared away by the guardian with threats of jail or harm to the parent if they interfere.
I was asked in an interview if "conspiracy" was too harsh of a word to attach to this and I had to answer that it was a perfect word. Why, because when you think about the guardians who, for years have openly been treating dozens of wards this way and no one has reported the abuse.
The hearing master accepts the word of one person, the guardian, that the potential ward, who the hearing master does not see or question, cannot live alone. He glances at a doctors form with boxes checked off but never questions the length of time the doctor feels this diagnosis might last. (we were told by a well known psychiatrist that dementia like symptoms may show one week and the person be perfectly normal the following week, especially if they are taking medication, as many seniors do.) This does not mean they cannot live alone. This hearing master quickly signs off and the request to sell everything and the ward's life is forever changed. YES, conspiracy is a perfect word!
