Guardianship – Safeguarding Children with Special Needs

Once your child turns 18 years of age, she is considered an adult and presumed to be competent. Physicians and other health care providers are bound to protect your child’s privacy under the law and are restricted from discussing your adult child’s medical care with anyone without her consent. A health care provider’s ability to disclose health care information becomes particularly complicated in the case of a patient with special needs that impairs their mental capacity. This complication arises because your child’s lack of mental capacity may prevent her from consenting effectively to the sharing of her health care information. Consequently, a health care provider may refuse to discuss your child’s medical treatment and other issues with you.

Another concern relates to protecting your child’s finances from individuals who seek to take advantage of her because of her special needs. As an adult, your child can enter into contracts and maintain bank and other accounts which can be exploited by persons with bad intentions. This is of particular concern where your child may be the recipient of a large monetary gift or the beneficiary of an estate or life insurance policy. Therefore, parents of a child with special needs who is going to turn 18 should consider applying to the courts of the county in which they live to be appointed as their child’s legal guardians. While guardianship applications can be made at any time and are routinely made for older adults under varying circumstances, making an application before your child becomes an adult insures that your ability to safeguard your child and to make medical and other necessary decisions for her will be seamless.

Guardianship appointments are flexible and can be comprehensive or, depending on your child’s functionality, be tailored to allow your child the greatest freedom possible to make medical, financial and other decisions. The process requires the filing of specified documents with the court that include one or more physician or psychologist certifications and, if applicable, a certification from the appropriate representative of the Division of Developmental Disabilities  ("DDD") for your region. The application process is streamlined and can be concluded within a few months. Parents seeking to protect their children with special needs should consider making an application for guardianship before the need to make significant medical, financial or other important life decisions arise. These applications are regularly incorporated into a family’s estate plan which often involves setting up special needs trusts and taking other measures in conjunction with guardianship applications to secure and protect the futures of your children with special needs.