Guardianship in Kentucky Webinar

Stella: Well, good afternoon, good morning. How is everyone when doing today? I’m Stella Beard with Kentucky SPIN and we are so happy that you have joined us today for our webinar on Guardianship in Kentucky. I sure hope that everyone is having a great morning and we are trying something new today, and we are going to try to show you our faces while we are presenting. So I think that will hopefully involve a little more interaction with you all and I think that will be great.

[00:00:36] We’re excited that you’ve joined us today. We’re going to give you kind of an overview of guardianship and some alternatives to guardianship. So I really hope that this will benefit you all today.

[00:00:47] Just a little bit of housekeeping though, before we get started, I want to tell you a little bit about SPIN, but I also want to let you know about the dashboard that you will see on the right hand side. And thank you all for letting me know that you can hear and that you can see the PowerPoint. And we had just a little bit of technical difficulty, which of course is normal right now in the world of technology that we’re all living in. But on your dashboard, you will see, you have a chat box and there’s also a question box.

[00:01:18] So throughout the presentation, if you do have a question, if you would just type that there for us. So, I can monitor those for Kellie who will be presenting the presentation today. So please feel free to type your questions in there, and we will try to get to them as we can. If we don’t get to your question, we will follow-up with you after the webinar and answer any specific question that you may have. You will also see a drop down box that says handouts on that particular drop down box, you will see the PowerPoint and then three additional handouts that we are providing you all today. Feel free to download those at any time throughout the presentation but I will email this afternoon. We will be following up and we’ll have all of those handouts included for you. So I think that will be really good for you too.

[00:02:22] Someone is saying, they’re not able to hear, you might need to check your mute button to make sure that you are not muted on your end. But I believe if I believe everyone else can hear, if not, please let me know.

[00:02:36] So let me tell you a little bit about Kentucky SPIN. Kentucky SPIN, we are the parent training and information center for the state of Kentucky. We are funded by the US Department of Education, which is under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. And we have been the parent training and information center since 1988. We provide training, support, of course, we have been doing webinars now since March, with a lot of great information for families. But we work with children and youth. With all types of disabilities from birth to age 26. We do not act as attorneys. However, we empower families, do effectively advocate for children. Our staff and consultants are either parents who have children with disabilities, young adult with disabilities, they are either siblings who has family members with disabilities. And so I think that really is a wonderful connection that we do have with families.

[00:03:53] I am going to turn off my webcam. I do see that that might be causing a little bit of difficulty in our presentation today. So we were going to try to do that, but I don’t think that’s going to work. So Kellie, you might not want to show your webcam because it obviously pulls way too much of our internet service. Unfortunately I live very rural, I’m in the country and I think that that could be an issue too. We normally do these at the library. And since we’re all working from home now, that’s kind of been an issue. So, but we’re going to get through this and hopefully we will not have any problems as we go on.

[00:04:36] As I said I will be monitoring the questions and we do have with us, Kellie Smith, who is our Training Coordinator for Kentucky SPIN and she is going to actually be doing the presentation today. So, Kellie, can you hear?

[00:04:54] Kellie: I can.

[00:04:56] Stella: Okay, great. You know, we, we had all these great ideas of we wanted to show our faces, we just thought that would be so wonderful, but it looks like it’s probably going to be pulling too much. So, we’ll just go ahead with the presentation and thank you Kellie for joining us and we’ll get started.

[00:05:15] Well as Stella said, I am the Training Coordinator for Kentucky SPIN or Kentucky Special Parent Involvement Network. I have a 23 year old son who has a traumatic brain injury. And guardianship has been a problematic area for me. When he was in high school, the school definitely recommended that I pursue guardianship and I really, really struggled with it. Because I felt like he had been through enough and whatever rights he had, I wanted him to be able to keep. So we’ve functioned fairly well with supportive decision making, which we’re going to talk about here in just a little bit.

[00:06:05] But we understand that the guardianship should be considered very, very thoughtfully and carefully. I would not want anyone to pursue guardianship of me, and we must remember that even though an individual may have an intellectual or developmental disability that doesn’t mean that we should automatically pursue the removing of their rights.

[00:06:36] So today we’re going to talk about an overview of guardianship in Kentucky and the Age of Majority, the different types of guardianship, alternatives to guardianship, how to apply for guardianship, and then at the end of the presentation I will leave a couple of minutes for questions and answers. And like Stella said, if we don’t get to them all, we definitely will follow-up with you.

[00:06:59] So just some questions just to kind of gauge where we are. Parents of children with disabilities are automatically guardians of their children when they reach the age of majority? Can you just type in your chat box, the answer to that, true or false, yes or no? So we can kind of gauge where our audience is.

[00:07:25] Kellie: I’m going to give you just a second to do that, please.

[00:07:40] Stella: And if you don’t see the chat box on your end, which I think you do, but if not, you can also type [silence].

[00:07:53] Kellie: Okay, I don’t know. I can’t hear Stella all around now so hopefully you guys can still hear me. Okay, so I see that some people are saying false, some people are saying that they are unsure. So the parents of children with disabilities are not automatically guardians of their child when they reach the age of majority.

[00:08:20] Do you guys know what the age of majority is in Kentucky? Or if someone says, you know, says the phrase age of majority, do you know what they’re talking about? Okay, and I see people are commenting some 18, some 21. Some know that age of majority in Kentucky is age 18. Okay, like I said, parents of children with disabilities are not automatically guardians of their children when they reach the age of majority or age 18. Once a child reaches the age of majority, the parent is no longer their legal guardian, and cannot make decisions on their behalf without their child’s consent. This also is in regards to education.

[00:09:15] So what is the age of majority in Kentucky? We already said, it’s 18. So there are some exceptions to the age of majority. The exact verbiage., says person of the age of majority, which is 18, are the age of majority for all purposes in this Commonwealth, except for the purchase of alcoholic beverages and for purposes of care and treatment of children with disabilities for which 21 years of age is the age of majority, all other statutes to the contrary, non withstanding. And we do have the contact person if you were to have questions or issues, we have the name, the contact information for a person that you can contact at Kentucky Department of Education.

[00:10:10] So the age of majority is something that really needs more clarification regarding the age of majority parents or natural guardians. Parents do not have to obtain guardianship to continue to attend ARC or IEP meetings. Your adult child can invite you to attend. And so that I can remember, you know, with my son, when they informed me of that, I said, oh my goodness. You know, he doesn’t know what’s best for his education. He doesn’t, he has a hard time understanding a lot of the things that you say. So what we did is we had him write a statement, which we’re going to talk about in just a minute. But there’s also something called the Determination of Educational Representative Form, but it’s not really used for the purpose of allowing parents to make those educational decisions.

[00:11:16] And this is a copy of, you know, a print out of that Determination of Educational Representative. And if you read through that there’s all kinds of different scenarios. But they’re really, like if you’re moving from one place to another, if you’re moving in and out of foster care, if a child’s adopted or, you know, in foster care or whatever. So another thing that a parent has, or a child or young adult has the option of doing is writing a statement, just a simple letter to the board of education here is that a representation of this letter. It says “Dear school personnel, I give consent and permission for blank, which could be you, you as a parent or whoever they would like to do that, to act as my educational representative and attend all ARC and IEP meetings or any other necessary meetings to help me with my educational decisions.”

[00:12:18] That does not give you the right to make those decisions, that gives you the right to attend the meeting and assist your child, your young adult or your adult child, or however you want to call it and making the necessary decisions for their education. We also recommend having this notarized and given to the school and make sure that you keep a copy of it. I would go as far as to have two copies notarized, have the school sign one and keep it and then have the school sign the other and you keep it.

[00:12:53] So some questions you’re going to want to consider when you’re looking into guardianship is look at the abilities of your child. Can they take care of their own personal needs? Can they manage their finances? Can they easily be taken advantage of? And are there other alternatives available? I know with my son, the major push from the school was that because he has just got the biggest heart that he will literally do just about anything for anyone. And he will give them his last dime or his last morsel of bread, if that’s what it takes to make sure that that no one in his presence goes without. And because of that, he can be easily taken advantage of.

[00:13:46] And so for educational purposes, we have to show that their disability has an adverse effect on the student’s education, just the same as to get an IEP. And that means that the progress of the child is impeded by the disability, to the extent that the educational performance is significantly and consistently below the level of similar age peers. So those questions are good when you’re trying to start to determine the level of support that they’re going to need.

[00:14:20] So what skills should our kids know? The disability or no disability, we all need to know these things. We all need communication skills, being able to communicate what they want and what they don’t want without relying on someone else to make those decisions for them. They need to have some self understanding of their disability. They need to know their strengths, their needs, and how their disability effects their lives. They need self-advocacy skills. They need to learn to use their voice, to express their wants and needs, like I said, and letting others know if something is not going right for them, or if something has made them feel uncomfortable. They need to be able to set goals for them.

[00:15:10] What do they want to do with their future, following high school? Can they understand the steps in the process to reach their goals? If not, what skills do they need in order to successfully accomplish a future goal? And they need problem solving skills, what will they do if they’re in a situation that requires them to make a hard decision and find a way to get out of a certain situation, if needed. What are the steps they need to go through to solve problems quickly and effectively? And how can those skills be strengthened?

[00:15:47] They need social skills and friendship building. You know, my son has lots and lots friends in a different town. We moved about a year and a half ago so he would have better employment opportunity and so he has lived in this town for a year and a half, and he has no friends outside of the people that he works with. And he does not have the skills to get out and meet people. And so I wish that that was something that I have really pushed for in his IEP. Of course, I guess I didn’t really realize it at the time because he had tons of friends in school, you know, but now as an adult, he doesn’t have the skills. So you definitely want to carefully evaluate that because, he spends a lot of money traveling back to where we’re from, going to see those friends rather than making friends here and then going back occasionally.

[00:16:59] They need to know their rights. That they need to know, you know, what their rights are, what their civil rights are. They need to know how to vote or what voting is. They need to know, what they can and can’t do. And if they’re involved in activities outside of what your family does, they need to know what’s okay and what’s not. And then finally they need to be able to tell people about their disability. They need to make sure that they’re aware of the name of their disability, if it’s applicable and be able to ask for assistance if needed. There’s a quote from Leonard Sweet that says barriers such as overprotection are usually more disabling than limitations, I’m sorry that wasn’t Leonard Sweet, that was by M Ward. So barriers such as overprotection are usually more disabling than limitations imposed by a person’s physical or mental disability. We want to let our children fly and begin to experience last lack, their typical peers, but we also need to remember, we need to keep it in the back in our, you know, mom and dad brain that what’s cute at six is not cute at 20. So we want to keep them as much on target with their peers as possible. So Leonard Sweet says, the future is not something we enter. The future is something we create in creating that future requires us to make choices and decisions. All that will begin with a dream.

[00:18:51] So while our kids are in school, we fought for an inclusive education for our children with disabilities or the least restrictive environment, that’s the law, that’s what we choose to do or that in that’s what we’re required to do. But when they turn 18, we immediately feel like we have to stomp on the brake. And go to the most restrictive environment because we just want to protect them from the adult world. And I mean that’s fully understandable. And then we almost always say well, I need to get guardianship. You know, they’re going to be taken advantage of. They might get in a bad relationship. They might make a mistake. So but guardianship might not always be the best solution. We need to look at all the options before making that life changing decision.

[00:19:48] So some guardianship terms and what they mean. Guardianship is a legal tool that grants parents or another adult, the legal authority to make decisions for a legally disabled adult. Then there are different kinds of guardianship. There’s guardian versus limited guardian. So guardian has complete responsibility for the person, including their financial affairs. A limited guardian doesn’t have all those legal powers and duties, the judge chooses, you know, what the person can do or what the guardian, the limited guardian has powers over. And then there’s a conservator, who has responsibility for the person’s financial affairs. And then there’s a limited conservator who only has some responsibility for the person’s financial affairs.

[00:20:43] And so we have attached, one of the handouts that we’ve attached is a thinking guardianship booklet for protection and advocacy that is absolutely phenomenal. And that I can contribute a hundred percent to the very reason I chose not to pursue guardianship at that time, when, you know, when he was about to turn 18. It explained things very, very well for me. And so I highly recommend that you look over that.

[00:21:17] So what are some alternatives to guardianship? Okay. The first thing we can do is provide additional skills, training and development. We can add those additional skills, training and development right into the IEP and their transition needs. Don’t be afraid to do that and you need to look at things critically. We also have added a tool for supportive decision making in your handout, that is amazing. I highly recommend again that you download it, or you print it out. If you do not have access to a printer, send us an email, make a phone call and we will mail you the handout. These are critical for your children. And  I would have just about done anything to have that handout. It’s a great way to really help you narrow things down.

[00:22:19] You can be a co-signer to help with money management, or you can open a Kentucky STABLE account. So for more information, you can go to  stablekentucky.Com. You can also create power of attorney. So this gives one person the ability to make certain decisions on behalf of the other. Or you can become representative payee if they received social security benefits, or SSI. This is decided on based on the social security administration, whether or not they need a payee when, you know, when the judge is deciding, okay, yes, this person has a disability. The judge, makes the recommendation of whether or not a payee is needed.

[00:23:09] And it is also important to consider the fact that social security does take into consideration what the adult wants. So if you’re a mom and dad, and  let’s say mom is a representative payee. And your son, Johnny doesn’t want you to be his payee. And he does have the right, even though you are his payee, to go to the social security office or call them and say, I don’t want my mom to be my payee anymore. At that point, they’ll do an investigation to see why and you know, so they can say, well, yes, she’s handling the money very well. No, we’re not going to make somebody else your payee. Or they can say, oh, you know what? No, she’s not handling your money so well, who would you like to be your payee? And then they’ll do an investigation with that person. So those are important things to know.

[00:24:10] So full guardianship is, think about this, like the absolute most restrictive way to live as an adult. So again, we fought for the least restrictive environment while they’re in school, if you take guardianship or you are awarded guardianship when your child is an adult, that is the most restrictive environment.

[00:24:34] So some alternatives to guardianship, some more, would be signing advanced directives, which allows adults who can communicate healthcare decisions, to provide directions about what they want to do when they aren’t able to do that anymore. And then of course supported decision making. And we’re going to talk a little bit more about that one.

[00:25:00] So what is supported decision making? Supported decision making the rights equals your choices, your choices equal self determination, which is what we all want, right. We want that for ourselves, and we want that for our kids as well. Supported decision making is a recognized alternative to guardianship for which people with disabilities use friends, family members, and professionals to help them understand the situation and the choices they face so they can make their own decisions with the need for a guardian.

[00:25:36] So maybe your child does, you know, have the quote unquote need for a guardian. But your child does very well about listening to you and what you say matters. And they know that you’re doing the right thing for them, and that you’re advising them correctly. You may not need to take guardianship, if they’re willing to accept your advice and work with other people and professionals as well. So again, that allowed them to keep their rights, but it still allowed the parents input.

[00:26:20] I also stress to everyone that, I’ve done a lot of trainings with young people and they don’t want to feel quote unquote different or quote unquote, special. They want to be just like everybody else. So it’s important that even before you get to this step, you know, with guardianship or supported decision making that you talk to your kids about the way that you use supported decision making.

[00:26:56] So for instance, we don’t all do our own taxes. Lots of us rely on CPAs to do those taxes for us, that is supported decision making. Medical care, very few of us are doctors or know what’s best for us when it comes to something like that. So we seek out professional help, supported decision making. I don’t know a thing about cars. So if I have car trouble, I need to speak to a mechanic, they’re going to give me some suggestions about what needs to be done. What I do with that information is up to me, but that is supported decision making. And the same goes for house repairs. And we could go on and on and on about how you use supported decision making in our lives.

[00:27:40] It’s very important that our kids see that and know that that’s what they’re doing so that it becomes a normal part of life. So that if you start talking to them, you know, at 18 years old about supported decision making and they have no idea what that is or what that looks like, they’re going to feel singled out. And we don’t want to do that. It’s just important that we all, that they know that everyone uses supported decision making in one way or another.

[00:28:08] Does anybody have any questions right now? I just want to stop for just a second. Is there anything that anyone wants to say or ask right now?

[00:28:24] Stella: Kellie, there was just a question about what age do we recommend that children be involved in their IEP and I just answered and just let them know that, you know, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act states that 16 would be the age that students would begin transition and be involved in their IEP. But I said, Kentucky, we have even went a step further and we start transition at age 14 or eighth grade, whichever is first. So that’s when students should be invited to participate in their own IEP meetings. So I answered that question.

[00:29:02] The other thing I wanted to interject, in this is that, my son, I became his guardian when he turned 18. And so I was his legal, full guardian for five years. And [inaudible] we just [inaudible] petitioned the court and had his rights reinstated and are now using supported decision making. And also, I am his power of attorney, and help with his medical, with advanced directives. And so there are so many other alternatives out there and that’s why I think Kellie’s doing a great job of sharing, that yes, guardianship is always an option, but there are so many other alternatives that can be used.

[00:29:55] And I think in our situation is the perfect example of how we went from the most restrictive, at a time really when we probably, I probably didn’t know to do that then, and now, you know, we are doing the supported decision making. And it is working well. We have a great team of people around Clayton to assist him with his needs so that he’s not always coming to me for everything. I think that’s important. He’s 24 now. And so, you know, we’re trying really to instill in him that there are other people who can help him in that supported decision making process other than just mom. So I just wanted to share that

[00:30:38] Kellie: And while we’re on that note, I’m going to interject this and I don’t have my calendar pulled up, but later in the month, we’re actually doing a presentation on a self-directed IEP, for young adults so that they can learn how to speak up in those meetings.

[00:30:59] So I advise everyone who is interested or if you know someone that’s interested, absolutely get on and participate in that webinar. There’s going to be some great information and it’s very important. Like I said, that we teach these things before it’s too late. It’s very important that they learn to speak up, to talk about their disability and the assistance that they need. And there is no better place than in their IEP meetings. They’re working with family, they’re working with professionals, they’re working with counselors, people who provide services, it’s a great opportunity for parents. Stella do you know right off the top of your head when that is?

[00:31:45] Stella: Yes, I was just getting ready to say that, it’s Thursday, August the 27th from 11 to 12, and I will drop, in the chat box, the link for folks to register for that.

[00:31:58] Kellie: Great. Alright, so back to guardianship. So what is the national guardianship association say? Until I had a son who was 18 years old and we were talking about guardianship I didn’t even know there was a national guardianship association, but there is. And they say that guardianship should be utilized only when lesser restrictive supports are not available. Alternatives to guardianship, including supported decision making should always be identified and considered whenever possible, prior to the commencement of guardianship proceedings. Whenever guardianship is necessary to assist a person, the guardianship must be limited to the maximum retention of individual rights and can be customized to the individual needs of the person under guardianship.

[00:32:50] And so, I just wanted to insert this, you may be worried that your son or daughter or nephew or client or whatever reason you’re here, the person that you have in mind, you may be concerned that they are going to get involved with someone who maybe isn’t as careful as you think they should be. Or you feel like someone’s going to potentially take advantage of them. Or maybe they’re gonna make some bad decisions and maybe, they might, you know, start hanging out with the wrong crowd. I know that that’s usually a big concern, but we all have done those things. I just about guarantee, I would pretty well. I dollars to donuts that on this webinar of 37 people, all of us have been friends with maybe people that weren’t the best influence. Or maybe we were the person, you know, like myself, I wasn’t the best influence. Or maybe we’ve gotten in some bad relationships. You know, what we learned from those things.

[00:34:11] And our kids have the right to learn those lessons too. Maybe you feel like they’ll get into a job that they dislike. I would, you know, lay dollars to donuts again, that at some point we have all had that opportunity and our kiddos deserve that same opportunity. They’re not pleasant, but they’re what make us who we are. And just because our child, or client or niece or nephew or grandchild or whatever, may have an intellectual or developmental disability that keeps them, you know, that makes it necessary to assist them in some areas, you can’t use it as a way to control them. You cannot step in and say, well I’m going to have guardianship because I want you to do what I want you to do. That’s not okay.

[00:35:11] And if we go back to a time when we were 18 years old, had our parents said that to us, we’d have said, oh no, you’re not. Or we would have thought it. Or, you know, maybe we wouldn’t have thought it, maybe it would have absolutely crushed us. It would have broken our heart. But our kids have rights and we fought for those rights, continually all day, every day. So when they grow up, they still have those rights to experience life to the fullest. And life isn’t always rainbows and butterflies. Life doesn’t always make lemonade for us or hand us cupcakes.

[00:35:58] And so hardship is part of life, and I’m not saying throw your kid under the bus and allow whatever to happen to him. I’m just saying it needs, the guardianship must be limited to allow the maximum retention of individual rights. I cannot stress that enough.

[00:36:20] Declared disabled for guardianship. So this is about the process of applying for guardianship. So the proceedings take place in district court, before a jury. You will visit your local district court in your County, to begin the process. You’ll speak to the district attorney, or someone who works in his or her office, and they’ll really talk to you. They’ll, they’ll be blunt with you. If, there was at one point when my son was making some really, really dangerous decisions for himself now, we have another son who’s just a little bit younger. He was also making those same decisions, but I was torn, I was like, I don’t know if he recognizes the danger of this. And so I went and I talked to the district attorney and they, you know, laid everything out for me and helped me make a decision. Which just FYI, I have still chosen not to pursue guardianship. So then if you are going through with it, and this is what you’re going to do, you have to file a petition with the court and provide the documents requested. There is a fee to do this.

[00:37:48] So if you need more information on that, we’re happy to send that to you. There is a fee involved. The court’s going to appoint an attorney for  both you and the young adult. And then the person who you’re applying for guardianship for must be examined by at least three people. That’s going to be a physician, a psychologist, and a social worker. And then the court date is set.

[00:38:18] So in 2018, there were some legislative changes to guardianship in Kentucky. The Kentucky HB 5 amends its jury trial requirement for guardianship cases. Kentucky was the last state to, you know, kind of amend this. They were the last ones that were requiring a jury trial. Kentucky, here we go, Kentucky is the only state that requires a jury trial in guardianship cases, but now a bench trial is permissible, if A: the responded it’s present, counsel for the respondent and the attorney for the Commonwealth agreed to a bench trial. So everyone has to be in agreement. B: No objection to a bench trial is made by an interested party or entity. And C: the interdisciplinary evaluation report prepared for the proceeding, reflects a unanimous consensus of the person preparing it, that the respondent is disabled and or partially disabled. The court has reviewed the report and the court finds no cause to require a jury trial.

[00:39:34] So you’re really only gonna do this bench trial if the people who came in and saw the child, you know, the three people we just talked about, if they come in and everyone says is disabled, or partially disabled. And the judge finds no cause to, you know, to pull a jury in. So, and that was signed by Matt Bevin on March 13th, 2018.

[00:40:12] So the duties of a guardian or conservator. So you will be responsible for the care and custody of the individual. You will be responsible for managing the financial resources of the person. You have to report that to the court. You are required to make sure that rights and personal freedoms aren’t restricted. So again, that doesn’t give you the power to control them. Within 60 days after being appointed, the conservator must file a list of the person’s property with the court. And then every two years, you’re going to report back to the court and tell how much money the person has received and how it has been spent.

[00:41:04] So this is not an easy process and there’s a lot of paperwork and there’s work to it. So it’s not a one and done deal. And then there’s an evaluation. So just because you’re a guardian today doesn’t mean just like, you know, Stella said that you always have to be a guardian. So if you need guardianship or your child needs you to have guardianship, it could be a temporary thing. It may be while they just continue to develop a little bit.

[00:41:35] So just keep all those things in your back pocket for future reference. Voting rights. Voting is very, very important and people no longer automatically lose the right to vote if a guardian is appointed, as they used to. So it may be important to make sure, to remind the judge of their voting rights because the judge must make a specific finding to remove those voting rights. If a person loses the right to vote, they can petition the court to get that voting right reinstated. And then you’re going to want to help that person watch voter registration deadlines and start that process as early as possible.

[00:42:22] Stella, would you like to share your story of Clayton voting for the first time?

[00:42:29] Stella: Sure that would be great. This was actually the picture, this is my son Clayton. This was the picture after he went to vote. And he was so excited when he actually, you know, got to vote. I will say this, I was still his guardian when he first voted. I did have to, as Kellie said, when I did file guardianship with him, and at that time it was still a jury trial. So I had to go before a jury and declare him incompetent, which if you’ve never done that before I promise it was by far one of the worst days of my life. And I did make sure that the judge did make sure that he did have his voting rights still intact.

[00:43:17] I have talked families who are guardians and the child’s voting rights are not there. So they have had to go to protection advocacy to get those voting rights reinstated. So just make sure that if you work with families, if you’re a family member who is thinking about guardianship, that you do specifically say that to the judge that you want their vote, their voting rights to be there. A lot of time judges, it’s a little box, the judge has to check on the form and sometimes they do not do it correctly. So be sure that that is done.

[00:43:50] But when we went to vote that day, it was one of the best days because he was so proud and so excited, as you can see from his face in that picture there. And it’s just something that, you know, we still do. He still votes for every election. He’s very outspoken about who he votes for. And so I think that’s good, sometimes we are a house divided and that’s what it’s all about. So, that was just a really great day for him. And just make sure that everyone still has the right to vote.

[00:44:27] Kellie: Thank you for sharing. I love that story. We are going to be wrapping up just a minute early, but something that I want to share with you is, the next slide says change is hard. We all make bad decisions and we can all learn from them. So can an adult with a disability. That can be a health decision, a money decision. When it comes to love or living situation, we can’t always protect our children. We have to let them learn to fly. Stephen R Donaldson says we are not promised ease. The purpose of life is not ease. It is to choose and to act upon the choice. In that task, we are not measured by outcomes. We are measured only by daring and effects and resolve.

[00:45:25] Stella, do we have any questions or can you guys think of anything that maybe we haven’t covered? We still have about 15 minutes left. So if you have anything, please, don’t be afraid to ask.

[00:45:39] Stella: Someone asked if the recording would be available and I’ll let them know that yes, we get them up in usually two days, two to three days on our YouTube channel. And you can visit our website and I put the website in the question box there and send it to everyone. And when you get on our website, right at the very top, you will see. I see a link that says Kentucky SPIN YouTube page, and you can go there and check back in a couple of days and this recording will be there. But also on our YouTube channel, you will find all of our recordings from our past webinars, and we’ve been doing them since March. So we have a lot of webinars that are on there. Once they do get on our YouTube channel, they’re all closed captioned. So please, visit that, and you’ll find a lot of great information.

[00:46:32] So we’ll just wait a few minutes and see if anyone has any questions. And I think, we’ll just give them a few seconds. I don’t see anything else right now, Kellie, as far as a question goes.

[00:46:45] Kellie: Okay. Well I would just like to insert that when you exit out of this immediately, in a new popup window, you should have an evaluation that will pop up. If you don’t fill out that evaluation, it will be emailed to you in Stella’s follow-up to you tomorrow, or believe it’ll come out tomorrow. But if you could…

[00:47:10] Stella: Actually it’ll go this afternoon out to everyone.

[00:47:15] Kellie: Awesome.

[00:47:15] Stella: And it will also have a certificate of completion from the webinar today, and it will also have all of the handouts and they’ll get the survey link again if they don’t do it at the end of the session.

[00:47:31] Kellie: Awesome. Well again, if you have any feedback or any recommendations, please put them in your evaluation. It really, really does help us. If there’s no other questions, you guys are free to go. If you think of anything later, please don’t hesitate to…

[00:47:51] Stella: I think we have one. Hang on just a second. Some are coming in. And one says, what about guardianship determination for divorced couples?

[00:48:06] Kellie: I’m not sure life if, Stella are you asking, and I don’t know if you can unmute yourself.

[00:48:16] Are you asking can if they can make two guardians?

[00:48:21] Stella: Yes. And, and I’ll kind of answer that Kellie, if you don’t mind. One of the things that that is recommended when couples are divorced is that they do go, if guardianship is something that your family chooses, then parents attend, you know, and file for guardianship together and that both of their names are listed as co-guardians. And let me explain why that is so very important. We did that when I petitioned the court when I was Clayton’s guardian and his father has passed away. So my husband now what we did is we were both guardians, and for him, so it would say, you know, Stella Beard or Ryan Beard. And we were, with that word or, was so very important because if something happened to me, my husband would not have to go petition the court and get guardianship. It was automatic because of that word or. So that was just real important and that’s something that we had to do that day in court. So I would definitely do that.

[00:49:46] I think there’s another question. That’s just asking that rule right now. What is the process of having a backup guardian, if that guardian passes away? And that is then you can do it can be an either or on the guardianship papers. If you do not have two guardians listed on the papers, and one passes away, that person would have to go petition the court again and file for guardianship.

[00:50:11] Another question that’s coming up right now is I’m looking at the comparison chart, how has a power of attorney different from a guardian? Well a power of attorney is different than a guardian because a guardian has all, you know, all rights for the person. The person cannot make any decisions without the guardians’ approval. A power of attorney just gives that person rights for different things like medical or financial. And that’s kind of what we have done with the power of attorney. That power of attorney can pretty much say what you want it to say. And that’s what we did. Our power of attorney over Clayton gives me the right to help him with financial decisions. And then we filed another document with the advanced directives that allows me to help him with medical decisions also. So I hoped, that.

[00:51:04] And another question is what if there’s a disagreement on who should be the guardian? And that’s something that I would think would need to be handled with an attorney, you know, an attorney advising and helping with that decision. I would hope in a lot of cases that parents could work together on that. But I understand there are just some that just aren’t going to be able to do that. And that’s where I would think an outside mediator would need to be involved, an attorney, would need to be involved to help make those decisions.

[00:51:38] And yes, as, as someone else’s asking, can there be two guardians? And yes, that’s what I just said. You know, I would highly recommend that with guardianship that you have a co you know, both co-guardians, because that way if something suddenly happens to one, as in our case with my son’s father passing away, it was very important, that that’s already established on that paper.

[00:52:07] So, let’s see, I’m looking to see if there was any other questions.

[00:52:13] And again, you know, I would with that disagreement, I would just, you know, I would try to reach out to mediation, or involve an attorney to help with those decisions because that is a, you know, can be a very tough situation. I understand. I

[00:52:29] don’t see any more right now. But again, if anyone has any specific questions, our email address is right there. You can send that to our email. And Kellie or myself will definitely respond back to you with answers. And then, like I said, those handouts will be mailed to you along with the PowerPoint, which will have all of those links that’s been discussed in the presentation today. You will have those in the PowerPoint presentation when you get that.

[00:53:03] So I think that’s all for now, Kellie, but thank you so much. You did a great job and we appreciate you all listening to us today and please get on our website. We do have a webinar scheduled that we are getting ready to send information out, next Tuesday. We’re going to be doing webinars now every Tuesday at 11 on different topics.

[00:53:25] We’re calling it Kentucky SPINs Tip Tuesday. And next Tuesday, we’re actually going to be talking about COVID-19 updates, and we’re going to talk about compensatory education. So we will be sending out links to that. And you can check our website on how to register for that as soon as we get that uploaded here shortly. So thank you all so much.

[00:53:48] Kellie, do you have anything else?

[00:53:50] Kellie: I don’t. Thank you again. You all have a great day.

[00:53:53] Stella: Okay. Thank you all. Bye bye.