This paper, part of a four-part environmental scan of the issues of abuse by guardians and systemic guardianship abuse, requested in 2021 by the National Institute of Justice (NIJ), summarizes the authors’ research and findings.
The results a four-part environmental scan of the issues of abuse by guardians and systemic guardianship abuse, requested in 2021 by the National Institute of Justice (NIJ), reveal the need for more work and reform related to abuse and fraud by individual guardians and the guardianship system. The scan consisted of a literature review of research; a scan of the data landscape; a scan of legal, policy, and practice context; and considerations for data collection. This part summarizes the scan and its findings. On June 30, 2021, the U.S. Attorney General and the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services received a request for information from Senators Elizabeth Warren and Robert Casey about the roles of the Departments of Justice and Health and Human Services concerning the collection of data on adult guardianship, particularly data on abuse and fraud by guardians. Part 1 was an extensive literature review. Part 2 examined how states collect data on adult guardianship. Part 3 highlighted the difficulties in determining the number of adults with guardians as well as the prevalence of abuse by guardians. Building on this research, the authors recommended federal actions to help states detect and address abuse.