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philip c marshall
BeyondGuardianship
Published in
29 min readAug 15, 2023

Journalism digs deep to divulge systemic corruption and amplify concerned citizens’ calls to action to address and arrest adult guardianship abuse and exploitation.

My journey with journalism

My ringing phone one evening in 2006 signaled the start of my long journey with journalism.

Earlier that day, my lawyer filed a guardianship petition; if granted, a close friend of my grandmother, Annette de la Renta, and a financial firm, JP Morgan Chase, would become my grandmother’s guardians of the “person” and the “purse,” respectively.

I had expected this petition to be sealed, but word of its existence reached the press. Now the world would learn about the abuse and exploitation my grandmother was subjected to by my father and other perpetrators when she was ravaged by Alzheimer’s disease.

My grandmother, the prominent New York City philanthropist Brooke Astor, was well-known, and news of my guardianship petition exploded in the local media. Journalists knew the story was important. As the best-selling author Meryl Gordon recounts in her book, “Mrs. Astor Regrets: The Hidden Betrayals of a Family Beyond Reproach”:

“The next morning the Daily News hit the pavement with page one reading, “DISASTER FOR MRS. ASTOR: Son forces society queen to live on peas and porridge in dilapidated Park Avenue duplex.”

“Disaster for Mrs. Astor,” Stunning Court Allegations. New York Daily News, July 26, 2006.

My urgent need to protect my grandmother from abuse by my father was the catalyst that set everything in motion, but it was the hard work of reporters that shined a light on my grandmother’s predicament and the scourge of elder abuse.

It’s one thing to read the news. It’s another to be in the news. It’s one thing to be interviewed by a top-tier reporter, but another thing entirely to see their stories in the weeks that followed.

The articles revealed many more egregious acts of abuse by my father than I ever suspected. It became clear to me that investigative journalism plays a vital role in addressing social harms and could aid me in what became my passion project: raising awareness of elder abuse and protecting those at risk from exploitation.

Years later, in an interview with Jason Karlawish for Making Sense of Alzheimer’s (July 28, 2017). I described what I saw when I went to my grandmother’s home unaccompanied by my father who was a vigilant gatekeeper.

“I snuck in with the help of my grandmother’s staff and caregivers, sat down with two nurses and they just explained how wrong things were. I didn’t need to look far. The place was cold, the parquet floor on the dining room was the litter box for the dogs and there was what I’ll call medicinal deprivation. Nurses were taking money out of their pockets to buy things for her.”

Much has changed in the years since that initial phone call from a reporter.

My grandmother died in 2007 at the age of 105. Two years later, my father was indicted (and later convicted) for stealing from and defrauding her. I continued on my own path, working as a professor of historic preservation and advocating for elder justice. I often told my students: If you want to write about history and save the past, be a preservationist; if you want to write the first draft of history and inform our future, be a journalist.

I’ve learned a great deal about the relationship between social harms, how journalists expose these ills and how media coverage and pressure can help fuel systemic change.

The court did grant my guardianship petition, which allowed my grandmother to spend her last days as she wished: in her country house, with loved ones, and free from fear.

I sought guardianship for my grandmother because it was the only way I could protect her from my father, who had control over her by holding her health-care proxy and power of attorney.

Guardianship helped save my grandmother’s life.

But my involvement in the elder justice community over the past decade-and-a-half has taught me that guardianship is an institution that desperately needs reform.

Adult guardianship abuse and financial exploitation is an epidemic that deprives people of their constitutional and human rights, steals their wealth, diminishes their self-worth, and is criminal. Too often, it is sanctioned by courts that turn a blind eye to the mistreatment.

Today, victims of this crime may be strangers. Tomorrow, they may be our loved ones. Perhaps, in the future, they may be ourselves.

The Problem: Guardianship

“No American should have their rights unnecessarily stripped from them by a single stroke of a pen in the name of guardianship,” stated Senator Mike Braun, Ranking Member of the U.S. Special Committee on Aging, in his opening remarks at the committee’s March 30, 2023, hearing titled Guardianship and Alternatives: Protection and Empowerment, held with Senator Bob Casey, Chairman.

Guardianship is a system rife with abuse and lax oversight. Even after decades of red flags and concerns raised, it remains “a national disgrace” (Claude Pepper, 1987).

Intended to protect those who lack the capacity to look after themselves, guardianships can leave people vulnerable to bad actors who take advantage of them. Guardianship can strip people of their rights and be very difficult to get out of.

One high-profile case that helped educate the public about the dark side of guardianship involved pop singer Britney Spears and her years-long effort to end the conservatorship she was involuntarily placed under in 2008. In 2021, Spears accused her father, family, and management team of abuse, detailing instances of mistreatment, coercion and conflict of interest and a judge terminated the conservatorship on November 22, 2021. After, Spears’s lawyer Mathew Rosengart explained why he took on her case to Ashley Cullins of The Hollywood Reporter,

“I was concerned, even before getting involved, about why this woman appeared to have some of her fundamental rights and civil liberties stripped away.” (March 31, 2022)

The laws and regulations of each state dictate the establishment and enforcement of guardianships. If state courts diligently followed their prescribed legal obligations, there would be no need for this article, this warning, this admonition.

“Guardianship refers to the legal role given to an individual to manage the personal activities (guardian of the person) or resources of another person (guardian of the estate) who cannot properly do so on their own… Some adults may end up under a guardianship (also called conservatorship for adults) when a court determines they have a disability that prevents them from exercising judgment or if the person becomes overly reckless or harmful to their welfare.” (Cornell Legal Information Institute)

Guardianships are not an inevitable result of cognitive decline.

If adults establish advance directives when they possess cognitive capacity, they can (usually) prevent guardianship from becoming necessary.

According to the article “Self Help,” by Megan Richelsoph and Sarah Kolick, advance directives include a health-care proxy and a power of attorney. Advance directives, assigned to trusted persons, enable individuals to express their desires and eliminate the need for guardianship, provided that courts are legally obligated to respect these existing documents and face consequences if they fail.

When individuals fail to prepare for potential incapacity by creating legal directives, they may require a guardianship if state laws do not provide for, and allow, alternative options such as supported decision making (Administration for Community Living).

My biggest concern with guardianship is the rampant abuse and the government’s failure to address it. But there are other, troubling problems. The current legal framework governing adult guardianship often exhibits inconsistency, inadequate allocation of resources, and a lack of transparency. All of these contribute to confusion, avoidable financial burdens, and encroachments upon constitutional rights.

Unfortunately, most people know little about adult guardianship — sometimes called conservatorship — until it’s too late. Despite its profound impact, “guardianship is among the least-noticed, least discussed institutions in the legal system,” Lawrence M. Friedman and colleagues observe (1996, 146).

Friedman’s observation on guardianship’s stealth nature still holds today, with “guardianship abuse” being barely on the radar in comparison with “child abuse,” “domestic violence,” and “elder abuse” as examples (in 1960–2018 books, via Google Books Ngram). “Elder abuse” does not fare much better.

Google Books Ngram, 1960–2018. Retrieved May 31, 2023.

Within the social obscurity of “guardianship abuse” and “elder abuse” — and elders themselves — we catch a glimpse and glimmer of the promise of justice that extends to all of us.

Elder justice, with a particular focus on guardianship, provides a leverage point toward systems change (Donella Meadows) — in part, because ageism is a bias we will all endure if we grow old, in part because elder justice is an emerging issue, in part as elder justice has barely been on our radar or a target, as have race and gender.

A person’s gender, race, and age are the three most salient audio-visual features that trigger our bias — implicit and explicit, social and anti-social. Distinctions and divisions are manifested through stereotypes, prejudices, and discriminations that are cognitive, emotional, and behavioral, respectively. Biases are forms and norms of social harm — injustice, endured lifelong. Even gerontologists, “perpetuate ageism and suffer from internalized ageism.” (Nancy Morrow-Howell and colleagues, 2023)

“Ageism is one of the last socially acceptable prejudices. Psychologists are working to change that,” expresses Kirsten Weir in the title of her American Psychological Association cover story (2023). Frameworks Institute is working, too, through its Reframing Aging Initiative, “a long-term, grant-funded social change endeavor designed to improve the public’s understanding of what aging means and the many contributions older people bring to society,” exemplified by Communication Best Practices: Reframing Aging Initiative Guide to Telling a More Complete Story of Aging (2022)

Ageism is our greatest impediment to elder justice and to our future selves.

“Old age is not a diagnosis,” observes Atul Gawande in Being Mortal (2014, 39). Ageism bias is particularly pertinent in guardianship. Erica Wood writes,

“…many statutes still included the term ‘advanced age’ in defining who needs a guardian — meaning a number of birthdays alone would be enough for a person to lose fundamental rights.” (American Bar Association, 2019)

The bad news is that adult guardianship abuse and exploitation are rampant and increasing, yet frustratingly difficult to detect and stop. The good news is that it’s in the news more, and awareness of it is growing, thanks to journalists.

Reporters confront society’s biases and show how prejudice negatively impacts all of us. Investigative journalists throw open the curtains on bad actors and their “guardian angels” — judges included — who conceal criminal acts related to state-sponsored guardianship abuse and exploitation.

Next, I present several examples of journalists exposing guardianship abuse and provide an overview of the consequences.

The Associated Press

In 1978, the House of Representative’s Select Committee on Aging, chaired by Claude Pepper (Foundation), conducted the first Congressional examination of elder abuse in the United States resulting in a 1981 report entitled, “Elder Abuse: An Examination of a Hidden Problem.”

In 1985, the committee published its report, Elder Abuse: A National Disgrace, noting:

“Although the majority of States have enacted elder abuse statutes since 1981, the Congress has not reciprocated in similar fashion… States are hard pressed to address this horrifying domestic disgrace and the Congress should act immediately to assist the States in preventing, identifying and assisting our Nation’s elder abuse victims.”

In 1987, prompted in part by a year-long investigation nationwide by The Associated Press, Congressman Claude Pepper next trained his laser focus on problems in the guardianship system, which he addressed in a hearing and companion report titled Abuses in Guardianship of the Elderly and Infirm: A National Disgrace, held by the U.S. House of Representatives Select Committee on Aging. As chair, Pepper expressed in his introduction:

“The typical ward has fewer rights than the typical convicted felon… By appointing a guardian, the court entrusts to someone else the power to choose where they will live, what medical treatment they will get and, in rare cases, when they will die. In one short sentence, it is the most punitive civil penalty that can be levied against an American citizen, with the exception…of the death penalty.”

Testimony was provided by primary victims, experts, and members of The Associated Press, who noted:

  • “The AP found that America’s elderly who are being placed under guardianship are losing their civil rights with little or no evidence of necessity, sometimes with just a quick pen stroke, and the courts charged with following their lives are often failing at the task.” (Ahearn)
  • “In our look at these [2,200] case files we found that 44 percent of those facing guardianship were unrepresented, they had no attorneys to represent them in the court; in fact, nearly 50 percent of them were not at the hearings to determine whether they were competent or not.” (Ahearn)
  • “Thirty-four percent of the cases we found there was no medical evidence in the court files to show whether or not this person was competent.” (Ahearn)
  • “We also saw cases where questionable spending, and misspending, had been routinely approved by judges.” (Ahearn)
  • “We found, Mr. Chairman, that once a guardianship file was open, often the court completely lost track of both the paperwork and the person.” (McCartney)
  • “We found the court systems overtaxed, understaffed, underfunded and often at a loss to explain missing reports and empty files. We also heard predictions about the future of an already ailing system faced with a growing elderly population.” (Ahearn)
Prepared Statement of William E. Ahearn, Managing Editor, Associated Press, New York, NY. Abuses in Guardianship of the Elderly and Infirm: A National Disgrace, A Briefing by The Chairman [Congressman Claude Pepper] of the Subcommitte on Health and Long-Term Care, of the Select Committee on Aging, held by the U.S. House of Representatives, September 25, 1987. Page 24.

Fred Bayles launched The Associated Press investigation with two articles:

In summary, Lisa Nerenberg, executive director of the California Elder Justice Coalition and author of Elder Justice, Ageism, and Elder Abuse, notes:

“The media has played a major role in highlighting guardianship problems and abuses, going back to a scathing exposé by the Associated Press, Guardianship: Few Safeguards, which examined 2,200 randomly selected guardianship court files and concluded that the guardianship system was ‘a dangerously burdened and troubled system that regularly puts elderly lives in the hands of others with little or no evidence of necessity, then fails to guard against abuse, theft and neglect’ [2019, 33; U.S. H.R. 1987, 15].”

After the hearing, the American Bar Association (ABA) launched a new program in response to the AP series — WINGS, the Working Interdisciplinary Networks of Guardianship Stakeholder. Dari Pogach of ABA chronicles:

“A groundbreaking 1987 Associated Press (AP) series triggered modern guardianship reform, contending that ‘overworked and understaffed court systems frequently break down, abandoning those incapable of caring for themselves’”

Following the AP report, three landmark multidisciplinary consensus conferences served as an engine driving needed reform. (American Bar Association; August 26, 2020)

Today, The Associated Press continues to focus on issues of elder abuse. In a 2023 article titled “In nursing homes, impoverished live final days on pennies” (March 15, 2023), AP reporter Matt Sedensky, Aging [and National] Writer, provided a buttress for AARP Texas in its tweet:

“…urging the Texas Legislature to increase the personal needs allowance for nursing home and assisted living residents. @AARPTX supports #HB54 [Texas Council for Developmental Disabilities], as well as state budget proposals to increase the allowance.” (Twitter, March 16, 2023)

Let’s not be ageist about the decades-old 1981, 1985, and 1987 Congressional hearings and reports. They remain relevant and vital. Except now, guardianship abuse and exploitation are worse due to demographics, increased longevity, denial, the vast fortune of our wealth (trillions of dollars, personally saved and through earned entitlements), and through omission, commission, and collusion conducted by state courts.

More recently, “Exposés in a growing number of states have disclosed the experiences of individuals and families in a system that does not serve them well and may result in exploitation or harmful isolation — and that too casually removes rights without proper accountability,” notes the American Bar Association Commission on Aging in a WINGS Briefing Paper. (2020, 8)

Mixed media conveys a united message

Here are some select exposés, other reports, and creative interpretations that address guardianship:

Bloomberg Law

For decades, The Associated Press investigation was the only national, multifaceted, in-depth reporting on guardianship abuse. That changed in 2023 when Bloomberg Law published a landmark investigation titled “In the Name of Protection” and a number of companion articles.

In the Name of Protection, Bloomberg Law

Ronnie Greene, chief investigative reporter for Bloomberg Law, states in an interview with Katie Barlow titled “Protecting your family from guardian scams.” (In the Courts, Fox 5; March 13, 2023; cue, 1:32)

“On one hand, rights severely restricted and taken away; on the other hand, no oversight — and that I think opens the door for major abuse and neglect.”

To date, the Bloomberg Law series includes:

The Providence Journal

In 2017–2018, Providence lived up to its name. Spurred by a Columbia University business student, journalist and professor Tracy Breton brought together Brown University undergraduates and recent alums to oversee a year-long investigation resulting in a nine-part series on elder abuse for the Providence Journal. In a post-rollout interview with Liz Seegert of the Association of Health Care Journalists, Breton chronicles (October 12, 2018):

“I got a phone call last April, 2017, from Ben Eisler, an investigative reporter who at the time was a graduate student at Columbia University Business School. He asked me if I would do a pilot series for this nonprofit he was starting that would pair top journalism students with experienced reporters who were also professors. He thought it would be a great way to fill the gap in local investigative reporting. He left it up to me to decide the topic.”

Seegert reports that Breton “finally got the opportunity to report out the elder abuse series she’s wanted to do for a decade.” Fast forward: as reported in Elder Abuse in RI: Sitting down with the journalist, “A year-long investigation by a team of Brown University students found that 87 percent of those charged with elder-abuse offenses in R.I. between 2000 and 2017 did not go to prison for those crimes, leaving their elderly victims vulnerable to repeated attacks.” (August 24, 2018)

Before Eisler presented this opportunity, Breton had traveled a long road with many milestones along the way. In high school, Breton provided volunteer services in a nursing home — let’s call this early service learning (Augusti and Freshman, 2016). As an investigative and legal affairs reporter at the Providence Journal for four decades, Breton was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting in 1994 for a series of stories that disclosed pervasive corruption in Rhode Island’s court system. In 2006–2007 Breton gained a Rosalynn Carter Fellowship for Mental Health Journalism, “[to] examine the abuse, neglect, and exploitation of elderly people with mental health issues.” Since 1997 Breton has been a professor teaching public-interest journalism classes in the Department of English Nonfiction Writing Program at Brown University.

Breton’s student (read: journalist) team included: Jack Brook, Andi Corbain, Rebecca Ellis, Katrina Northrop, and Asher Woodbury; they were majoring in history, public policy, urban studies, international development studies, and computer science, respectively. (August 25, 2018)

While ageism is our greatest impediment to elder justice, ageism doesn’t just enter life late—it can trip adults up at the starting gate. “Seniors” may be 18, 21, and 71. Here, the students’ youthfulness might have made it more difficult for them to get sources to talk to them. Breton’s solution was to apply an ageless approach: concern and capacity building, with respect and rigor. In response to Seegert’s question, “Did the police and prosecutors take the students seriously?” Breton replies:

“I told them they were real reporters and should demand and push for information they were entitled to. Spending all that time with the court records gave them the data to sit there and ask why things happened the way they did.”

The Providence Journal elder-abuse series, 2018. Photograph: Philip C. Marshall

The journalists’ August 2018 series was the result of Breton’s august approach — here, her respectful and rigorous resolve. The front-page, above-the-fold, nine-part series and companion stories included:

Jack Brook, one of the student journalists involved with the project, reflected, “We saw how important journalism can be to hold people in public office accountable and to press for meaningful reform,” in an interview for Brown Alumni Magazine subtitled, “An undergrad-reported series on elder abuse may influence Rhode Island policy.”

Reading Railroad mural, Penn Street, Reading, PA. Edward Williams, artist. Sponsored by the Main Street Public Arts Initiative and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Reading Eagle, Pennsylvania

In 2018, the announcement of an in-depth investigation by Nicole C. Brambila started with, “Beginning Sunday, the Reading Eagle launches a three-day series looking at the deficiencies in the system of appointing guardians to oversee those who are incapacitated. The special report, ‘Unguarded: How the courts fail the vulnerable,’ reveals the findings of a Reading Eagle investigation that began 15 months ago.” (March 3) The announcement ended with an invitation, “If you or a loved one has had an experience with the guardian system in Pennsylvania, send your story and contact information…”

Here are the articles and follow-up at the Reading Eagle (or, if unavailable, at archive.org):

Power imbalances exist in all social systems: at the macro level where anti-social norms are established and at the personal level where self-efficacy is defined and confined by community. The promise of trust realized may mitigate power imbalances,; but when trust is betrayed, even hijacked persons and society are compromised. This is evident in guardianship cases reported the Reading Eagle and in the response to its revealing investigation.

Americans under guardianship have their constitutional rights violated when freedom of expression and association (Cornell) are deficient or denied. The same can be said when the freedom of press is assailed and abridged by authorities. James Madison’s early draft of the First Amendment concluded: “The people shall not be deprived or abridged of their right to speak, to write, or to publish their sentiments; and the freedom of the press, as one of the great bulwarks of liberty, shall be inviolable.” (American Bar Association, Stephen J. Wermiel; March 26, 2019)

The Reading Eagle email address provided to elicit reader experiences about guardianships was removed. No subsequent personal stories were pursued. Nicole Brambila was forced out for exposing powerful people. Brambila moved on to PublicSource (author profile), “a nonpartisan, nonprofit, digital-first media organization dedicated to serving Pittsburgh and the region. PublicSource inspires critical thinking and bold ideas through journalism rooted in facts, diverse voices and pursuit of transparency.”

The solution is our resolution, informed and inspired by journalism

“Solutions” or “constructive” journalism can help illuminate what needs to be done to truly address this crisis.

Both solutions journalism and constructive journalism seek to “moderate negative news reports by centralizing more positive content: solutions, success stories, innovations, alternatives, and even utopian re-imaginings of society” expresses Bill Dodd (2021, 15) in Solutions Journalism News at the Intersection of Hope, Leadership, and Expertise. Dodd’s work was highlighted in a book review by Rosanne V. Pagano in Journalism & Mass Communication Educator.

As expressed by Solutions Journalism Network, a self-descriptive 10-year-old non-profit organization:

“Solutions journalism investigates and explains, in a critical and clear-eyed way, how people try to solve widely shared problems. While journalists usually define news as ‘what’s gone wrong,’ solutions journalism tries to expand that definition: responses to problems are also newsworthy. By adding rigorous coverage of solutions, journalists can tell the whole story… Solutions stories don’t celebrate responses to problems, or advocate for specific ones; they cover them, investigating what was done and what the evidence says worked and didn’t work about it, and why. They report on the limitations of a response.” (December 9, 2020)

Tim Bornstein, co-founder and CEO of Solutions Journalism Network, in his welcome to the Basic Toolkit notes:

“When too many people are aware of a problem but they don’t have a sense of what can be done, it leads them to opt-out, it leads them to tune out, it’s not good for democracy. That’s a great opportunity for journalists to go and find and see if some of these responses are available but under reported.” (cue 1:34)

Through the network, journalists can understand, practice, and produce solutions journalism stories guided by the Learning Lab; search for or submit a story in the Solutions Story Tracker; and, once published, employ Impact Tracker to “show how reporting on responses to social issues can influence outcomes in society, your news organization and the wider industry.”

In keeping with its namesake, constructive journalism builds on solutions to gain an informed resolution. “Constructive journalism dares to go deep, and not only to the root of the problem but also to potential solutions to inspire, enlighten, and engage,” explains the Constructive Institute situated at Aarhus University (cue 00:35).

With a pivot from a negativity bias, constructive journalism is informed by positive psychology. Positive psychology recognizes that, “treatment is not just fixing what is wrong; it is also building what is right,” emphasizes Martin Seligman (2002, 4) who introduced the term “positive psychology” in his presidential address to the American Psychological Association in 1998. That year’s theme was prevention. Seligman understands that positive psychology is “positive prevention” (2002, 3–6).

Breaking news is now; investigative journalism is yesterday; solutions journalism bridges yesterday with tomorrow; constructive journalism is tomorrow-forward.

Elder justice is the promise of trust. Elder and justice are both forward looking, as are promise and trust — individually, in sum, and in intention. So are positive psychology, solutions journalism, and constructive journalism.

Antelope Island, Great Salt Lake, Utah.

To help safeguard and support our future, we must devote our energies to strengths-based prevention — at times, through radical reform. Guardianship is a flawed and exploitative system and must be replaced with a more humanitarian and legally sound approach.

If journalism is to be a catalyst for radical reform, it must not be manipulated by special-interest groups under investigation or by other influences, some internal. Journalism is informed by a hierarchy of influences, a framework developed by Pamela Shoemaker and Stephen D. Reese who note, “It comprises five levels of influence, hierarchically arrayed from the macro to micro: social systems, social institutions, organizations, routines, and individuals…” in Mediating the Message: Theories of Influences on Mass Media Content, (2014, 8). The authors observe, “The larger and more complex a media organization is, the more likely it is that organizational factors prevail over influences from the individual and routine levels of analysis” (157).

Kyser Lough and Karen McIntyre, in Journalists’ perceptions of solutions journalism and its place in the field, underscore:

“Professionally, our findings illustrate the importance of having a cohesive newsroom that is unified in its mission. Without the support of editors and publishers, it will be harder for journalists to carry out a solutions-based approach to reporting. Groups promoting solutions journalism, such as the Solutions Journalism Network, need to target management and the organizational level just as much, if not more, as the reporters themselves.” (2018, 48)

Newsrooms must create a culture of support for their staff and their stories, so that they can do their jobs without fear of reprisal.

Executive editor William Ahearn led the 1980s The Associated Press investigation that helped serve as the impetus for Congressman Pepper’s hearing on guardianship subtitled “A National Disgrace.” Ahearn joined Bloomberg News in 2003. In 2012, editor Ahearn was supporting senior writer A. Craig Copetas who was investigating human rights abuses in Dubai. Ahearn was fired, as reported by Chris Roush (March 14, 2012).

The journalist-advocate relationship

.Journalists’ reporting must be kept at arms’ length from advocacy so that reporting solutions does not blur the distinction between impartial reporting and political advocacy (Tanni Haas and colleagues; 2006, 248).

“We found that journalists familiar with solutions journalism accept and align it with investigative reporting, but with the extra step toward social response,” report Lough and McIntyre (2018, 33).

Advocacy groups facilitate societal action by employing a dual-pronged approach to articulation: first, by expressing a demonstrated need for change, and second, by connecting investigative reporting with civic action. It is investigative journalism that provides the facts, evidence, and narratives that inform and strengthen advocacy efforts, which are then broadcast by credible messengers whose hard-learned, lived experience can compel society to take social harm personally and to act.

There is a reason corruption and crime are identified as “organized,” while our response is not.

“All the while, tycoons, corrupt officials and criminal networks are highly organised and coordinated in their attempts to profit and evade scrutiny, journalists and civil society have often worked in silos,” reports Transparency International, a member of the Global Anti-Corruption Consortium, which is “…a ground-breaking partnership that brings together investigative reporting from the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) and advocacy driven by Transparency International.”

The Global Anti-Corruption Consortium is particularly pertinent for two reasons: (1) it is a model for journalist-advocate articulation and (2) its subject-specific skill set contributes directly to understanding guardianship abuse and exploitation as organized white-collar crime, corruption, and even racketeering.

“We define corruption as the abuse of entrusted power for private gain,” states Transparency International, whose understanding is underscored by investigations of public corruption and white-collar crime by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Lisa Nerenberg observes, “Vocal advocacy groups, backed up by media accounts…have accused judges, court investigators, guardians, lawyers, and others of overreach, collusion with self-interested parties, lack of respect for cultural values and traditions, and corruption. They call for more robust representation for those whose rights are at stake and better oversight of the guardianship systems. Government reports have substantiated many of the claims.” (2019, 185)

A Norwegian study reinforces how investigative journalists “disclose a significant fraction of crime stories that later result in prosecution and conviction of white-collar offenders.” (2020, 36) as revealed in Filling the Gap in White-Collar Crime Detection between Government and Governance: The Role of Investigative Journalists and Fraud Examiners, in which Petter Gottschalk utilizes the theory of crime signal detection, which is concerned with the ability of individuals to understand pieces of information that can come from various sources.

Decades ago psychology, “neglected the possibility that building strength is the most potent weapon in the arsenal of therapy” (Seligman; 2002, 3) Today, guardianship still neglects such possibility. For its 1988 annual convention, American Psychological Association President Seligman specified the focus of its theme, prevention, in its subtitle: Promoting Strength, Resilience and Health in Young People. Early prevention is vital, but we must anticipate and work to prevent the problems and hardships that can befall our older selves now, in the present.”

Take guardianship abuse and exploitation personally and act

Sometimes it’s a journalist reading one article that sparks a national investigation, which helps propel a Congressional hearing, and a national movement—as revealed by a witness, William E. Ahearn, Associated Press managing editor, in testimony provided to Representative Claude Pepper during his Congressional hearing subtitled, A National Disgrace (1989, 28):

Mr Pepper. And what occasioned the Associated Press undertaking this inquiry in the first place?

Mr. Ahearn. I saw a short newspaper article that said a convicted felon had been made the guardian of a woman and had basically stolen $17,000 of her money, and was being forced into making restitution. I had not known about guardianship before. The story said in the last paragraph that 24 other States had some type of guardianship law. I thought we ought to look into it. So Mr. Bayles and Mr. McCartney were asked to look into it and they traveled to eight States over a period of six months investigating it, including your home State of Florida.

We realized that we had a very good story here. And the only way to really look at guardianship was to look at it in all 50 States, because it varies, from county to county, from State to State.”

Guardianship abuse and exploitation as a state-sponsored white-collar crime remain a “very good story,” with solutions that must be addressed at local, state, and national levels—by journalists, advocates, and any citizen interested in safeguarding their future self and that of their loved one. Now.

#BeyondGuardianship

Gratitude

I am grateful to the following persons for their work and/or review, which contributed to this article and the cause:

This series on guardianship abuse and exploitation is inspired in part by the stories from many people who have been traumatized by their experiences. These people are now working in tandem with advocacy groups to change the system and ensure that others do not have to go through the same ordeal. Efforts include the testimony of fellow witnesses (listed below) who spoke before Senator Borrello and Senator Palumbo at their New York State Senate Guardianship Round Table Public Hearing (video archive) on August 25, 2022 in New York City.

  • Nadia Antrobus
  • Marilyn Chinitz
  • Larry Gile
  • Teresa Kay-Aba Kennedy, Founder, Elder Dignity
  • Marian Kornicki, Founder, G.A.I.N.
  • Julia Lichtblau
  • Libra Max, Founder, #FreePeterMax
  • Cindy Misfud
  • Christine Montanti
  • Sherry Moses
  • Ellen Oxman

Bio

The author, Philip C. Marshall, is a recipient of The Isabella Award (for guardianship) by the National College of Probate Judges; a witness who has testified before the New York State Assembly Standing Committee on Aging and the Senate Standing Committee on Aging (2017), and the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging (Broken Trust, February 4, 2015; written testimony for the record, Trust Betrayed: Financial Abuse of Older Americans by Guardians and Others in Powerhearing, November 30, 2016; and a statement to inform the hearing, Guardianship and Alternatives: Protection and Empowerment, on March 30th, 2023.

This inaugural article, Press On!, was inspired by a question—“What is the solution?”—posed by colleagues at the National Center for Elder Abuse in response to discussion about guardianship abuse and exploitation.

Statue of Liberty, New York City. December 31, 2014.
Elder Justice
Guardianship
Crime

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philip c marshall
BeyondGuardianship

Written by philip c marshall

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Elder justice advocate. Founder of Beyond Brooke www.beyondbrooke.org

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