In the Adult Guardianship Division, the Public Guardian is appointed through the Probate Court as the guardian for adults with disabilities ages 18 and older who have assets of at least $25,000. In most cases, we serve as plenary guardian of both the estate and the person. In fiscal year 2006, we served approximately 840 adults and managed more than $70 million of their assets. We also had 100 new appointments in that year.

That is the dry and legal side of what we do. In reality, most of our wards have age-related disabilities with most having Alzheimer's-related problems. People who led long and productive lives with loving families and friends outlived them. At some point, many become recluses. By the time we get into their homes, frequently there is no running water, electricity or heat. Papers are piled up; animals run wild; feces litter the floor; bank accounts worth, on occasion, into the millions of dollars, sit untouched. On one occasion we found over $200,000 in a kitchen cabinet.

In many cases, these trusting men and women have been financially exploited by those who should help them including family members, attorneys, real estate agents, beauticians, tenants, landlords, and just plain strangers. The list is endless.

About one third of our cases involve some form of exploitation. We have been involved in hundreds of these cases in the past 25 years, losing on only two  occasions. We also refer these matters to the State's Attorney's Office for possible prosecution. The Public Guardian's Citation Unit, created in 2001, has recovered close to $7 million in assets that had been exploited from vulnerable individuals who are now wards of the office.

When we the took over the office in 1978, only one of the wards lived in the community. Due to an aggressive program and the hard work of the Public Guardian's case managers, about a third of our wards presently live in the community. This is exceedingly difficult work requiring a great deal of balancing both of the ward's assets and of apartments and houses. On occasion, we will have two wards living together sharing an apartment and/or one of the ward's homes and a housekeeper. We also have a department that contracts with, monitors and works with homecare workers who take care of our wards in the community. Because these clients frequently run out of money, we have had to sue the State of Illinois, successfully, to get funds which otherwise would have gone to nursing homes. Presently our indigent and near indigent wards use this money to be maintained in the community.

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