What does it take to get guardianship of a 30 yo person with: microencephaly (like a 5-7 yo) + schizophrenia? (depression, delusions)

[2Q&Lrn&Hlp]

This is in the state of California, Riverside County.


Patient refuses medication.
Was diagnosed as bipolar because of crying bouts & smiling bouts.
Patient's sister explained to the doctors that patient is essentially a child who cries when frightened, and hearing voices makes them cry due to being scared. The doctors went ahead & raised the dosage of bipolar medicine & ignored what the sister said. . . .


She took patient to another doctor who listened, & patient became herself on medication for schizophrenia. But, patient got involved with someone, stopped their meds, & got dumped for acting strange. Still refuses to take meds. . . .


Making life impossible to live for patient's family. Patient is delusional & calls police & reports one family member has accosted her in the worst way; another time reports that one of them shot & killed the other one; etc., etc., etc. Patient's single parent has never been a capable parent . . . their own ability to reason seems impaired & to be like that of a young teenager . . . not capable of figuring out any plan, or sticking to one that someone else makes that should work if it were followed.

[greatblueheron]

What relation is the patient to you? Are you speaking of yourself as potential guardian?

[CA4Now]

They can obtain a conservatorship for the patient.

Conservatorship - seniors_selfhelp

https://www.specialneedsalliance.org...ental-illness/

[2Q&Lrn&Hlp]

Originally Posted by greatblueheron

What relation is the patient to you? Are you speaking of yourself as potential guardian?

The patient in question is a niece of my husband. (No blood relation to me.)

She has an older sister who has shown the ability to 'take the bull by the horns' when the first doctors kept giving her younger sister bipolar meds after told she'd been crying due to fear of hearing voices instead of depression . . . she then took her to another dr. who did listen & put her on meds for schizophrenia, and then she went back to behaving like the person we'd all known her to be before the voices began . . . a 7 year old (who's been allowed to have her way) in a 30 year old body.

I know the older sister doesn't want this younger sister living with her now, because she keeps going off her meds, with resulting 'unwanted behavior' problems, & once while living with her called police on one of this sister's neighbors whom she 'heard' admit that they were a person then-recently shown on TV's "Most Wanted" show/ She was totally agitated & insisting it was him. --This was before she had been erroneously diagnosed bipolar.-- Then she became afraid because that neighbor got mad at her, & she reacted by insisting on moving back to her dad's. . . .

It's one thing after another when she's off her meds, w/ voices & delusions her main motivators . . . . and sometimes her hormones have led her into relationships that could have become much worse than they had a chance to because she went off her meds again & the other person dropped her. . . .

Her dad is basically an enabler, because he truly can't seem to understand how to be a parent, in more ways than one. He behaves more like a bullied little brother to his schizophrenic daughter, esp. (but not only) when she's off her meds. . . . Several members of that family display life courses indicating they never became mature in their ability to think & reason & act according to common sense, as adults normally do. They truly appear to be stuck at the development normally seen in children of elementary school age . . . not surprising with the family history they come from.

[2Q&Lrn&Hlp]

Originally Posted by CA4Now

They can obtain a conservatorship for the patient.

Conservatorship - seniors_selfhelp

https://www.specialneedsalliance.org...ental-illness/

Thank You for the links!


From what I've been reading on LPS Conservatorship, though . . .



"An LPS conservatorship, unlike a probate conservatorship, must be initiated by the county government—a spouse or other relative cannot petition for an LPS conservatorship. . . . This form of conservatorship is for an individual who has been found to be “gravely disabled” and can be used to involuntarily commit him/her to a mental institution. It is designed for people with serious mental disorders or who are impaired by chronic alcoholism or drug abuse." https://www.caregiver.org/conservatorship-and-guardianship



I'm not sure if that means that a family member can't hold conservatorship of the patient, or not.

From this is sounds like Guardianship might be the only legal option.

[CA4Now]

Originally Posted by 2Q&Lrn&Hlp

....I'm not sure if that means that a family member can't hold conservatorship of the patient, or not.

From this is sounds like Guardianship might be the only legal option.

I can't seem to find a state link; only a city one, such as the one below, from the county of San Francisco, but I do know of four people who hold this for their family member who is either suffering from mental illness or a severe cognitive disability (two are not in California and one is recently deceased). In fact, I think it would be rare for a non-family member to be appointed; it is a huge responsibility and one would prefer someone in this position who is close to the patient and has his/her best interests at heart.

https://www.sfsuperiorcourt.org/divi...ps-of-adults#1

[Sollaces]

Talk to a lawyer. We considered doing something like this but decided against it. We were afraid if our son was in a car accident and was at fault that we would be sued and be held liable .. . Because of guardianship. I'd suggest reading the fine print and ask plenty of questions.