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Choices for the Future: Conservatorship and Less Restrictive Options

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hello everyone welcome uh to our knowledge Network meeting uh we are so happy to see everyone here tonight uh a goal of a special education department is to connect families with information resources in the community um and uh um today is opportunity that we have invited uh speakers from disability rights California and also San Diego region Center to share information about uh conservatorship and alternative um Solutions such as a lot of less restrictive options for family to consider so we encourage family to consider all the options and uh think about your child's needs and your family go and choose the right path for your family so without further Ado let's welcome John Anthony from disability rights California uh he's right here with us welcome hi good evening thank you so much for Gina and it's a pleasure to be here today um as she mentioned uh my name is John Anthony alimo I'm a white male with short dark brown hair and a beard I'm wearing headphones and my background is um like some art of a woman um maybe holding a flower um and so I am an attorney um I'm actually a supervising attorney that supervises the team that is based out of San Diego but I'm doing my presentation I'll go into some more details about what our offices what it does um as well as the subject matter of this evening um which is about alternatives to conservatives so I'll go ahead and display my PowerPoint um doing the presentation I'm not going to be able to see uh my screen or any questions so I I do ask um please save the questions at the end um and I'll be happy to answer any questions um at the conclusion of the presentation and so let me just get my screen ready great all right so hopefully everybody is able to see my screen um again this is a presentation on alternatives to conservative ship I do want to start off right um away and explain that I'm not going to be discussing how to get a conservatorship during this presentation this presentation is centered around different options families and and folks can pursue or look into um in lieu of instead of getting a conservatorship so I do have to read this claimable real quick since I am from law office I am an attorney because this is a good training please do not share any private or confidential information there's no right of confidentiality for anything that is asked or discussed during this training we are mandated reporters and obligated to report abuse and neglect at disabled adults this training is not a private consultation for legal advice and no attorney client relationship is formed between you and the office of clients right to advocacy if you have an individual a question you want to ask us please call our office for an intake appointment or give us your name and number before you leave the training today and someone will call you back so again you know please don't disclose any private or personal information during this training especially since it is being recorded um you don't want to have that um be out there um so if you do have any personal private questions please reach out to us and I'll contact information we'll be displayed at the end of the presentation so a little bit more about office clients right to advocacy abbreviated or rather the acronym is OC and it's a program that's part of disability rights California so disability rights California is a nonprofit organization and its the agency designated under federal law to protect and advocate for the rights of Californians with disabilities so actually every single state has this um pni protection and advocacy Inc is what it's called um across the country and so disability rights California is the 1 um in and it's made up of a lot of different parts right and 1 part of it is our office in particular the office of clients rights advocacy in our office is specifically funded through a contract with the state the California Department of Developmental services acronyms to BDS and so what we do is we Advocate on behalf of people with developmental disabilities or clients of the 21 Regional sensors across the state including San Diego Regional Center so this includes people who are currently receiving Regional Center services or people who are seeking to become eligible for Regional Center services and each office is usually a 2-person team made up of the client's rights Advocate and the assistant um clients rights Advocate um in San Diego specifically it's actually a 3 person team you have Tanya schloth who's the clients rights Advocate and attorney and her assistants are Yasmin Franco and Maria Salas um unfortunately none of those 3 could be here tonight which is why you have me um but they are a great team um and again they are contact information will these these displayed um at the end of this presentation so what is the kind of work that we can do at ocra so we can perform certain functions for clients we could give them information on their legal rights we can review documents and give them advice on how to maybe solve a problem help them prepare for an upcoming meeting like maybe with the school right and IEP needing or maybe with the regional center and IPP meeting or or hearing right um so we can provide trainings like this 1 um and we can even represent Folks at hearings as well so the objectives of today's presentation again we're not going to get into the weeds of um all the different kinds of conservative ships because there's many out there actually or how to get 1 rather we're going to briefly talk about a common 1 you may encounter um if you have a loved 1 in the regional center system um and different Alternatives including an advanced Healthcare directive representative payee which is um part of Social Security the assignment of educational decision Authority that comes when that comes up when someone turns 18 um in school system and support decision-making which actually I'm Lori at San Diego Regional Center will be covering tonight so let's talk about what a limited conservatorship even is what's what's the definition so limited conservatorship is specific to people who are part of the regional sensor who receive Regional sensor services and limited does a lot of work here right it truly is a limited conservatorship because it's only up to these 7 powers that a court will grant a person um in a limited conservative ship so in a limited conservative ship the 7 P are 1 to determine residents meaning deciding where someone will live now the caveat here is that a limited conservator cannot decide that a person is going to live in a locked setting right so um that that's the um uh the stop there so it's determined in certain sort of residences uh the second power would be to have access to confidential records right so to access your your medical records your Regional Center of Records your school records stuff like that to control the right to marry to control the right to contract right so um you know signing a deed or something like that um the consent for medical treatment certain Medical Treatments to control social and sexual contacts right who the person is able to speak to have relationship with Etc and the seventh and final power is to make educational decisions so these are the only 7 Powers available to a conservator in a limited conservatorship preceding a court can grant 1 of these several of these these are some of them um it's not always that all 7 or automatically granted so let's talk talking about what our alternatives to getting a conservatorship right you want to help your loved 1 um make decisions or maybe they themselves want to make decisions you know write for themselves but they want to seek the help of someone else right they still like getting help from Mom Dad or brother or sister or friend or whoever that might be right so stopping short of getting a conservatorship um which can be um cumbersome right difficult to undo and most importantly um steps on the autonomy of a person right uh even people with disabilities um should be allowed to direct their lives um make choices um and you know form relationships that they want just like any 1 of us um here today so we'll talk a little bit more about what a represent the pay is and the context of Social Security benefits so um your loved 1 um with the developmental disability might be receiving Social Security benefits maybe they need help managing them right once they turn 18 um they would have a right to use that money um but maybe they still need some help on budgeting paying their bills Etc so we'll talk a little bit more about what a representative payee actually is and how representative Peggy can help so representative Peggy sometimes shortened to repay um can receive someone's Social Security um income SSI or their social security disability insurance SSD I on your behalf right so those 2 different benefits someone can receive through Social Security and importantly the Money Paid is still your money right still the individual's money but the representative payee has some responsibilities that money so what kind of web pay actually do a web pay can help you keep track of your money right um how much you receive and where does it need to go typically when someone gets SSI that's uh money that you need to use for your basic necessities right so we're talking about keeping a roof over your head you know paying the rent paying a mortgage paying for your shelter right where you live um paying for your food um paying for your electricity gas right those basic utilities that's where most of the SSI should go and then you could have some left over right so whatever is left over after all those basic necessities are paid is always the person's um right to use how how they want right they have money they want to go buy a video game they could buy a video game with that money um you know if they want to go out to a restaurant out to eat they could use that money to do that right um but certainly the rep payees role here is to help person keep track right of where that money is going um sticking to a budget and encouraging really good spending habits so if you're interested in becoming a repay you know that's definitely a conversation should have with the individual see if that's right for them that's something they want um and so security can appoint you to be the Rep payee and if the person ever changes their mind they say hey I kind of want control over my money again I don't really want the reppy anymore you know the repay can um take a step back right um we move themselves as the reppy that's a conversation you would have with Social Security and Social Security can determine if that Rep payee um can be removed and the person can um retain uh their ability to manage their own Social Security benefits so now we're going to leave Social Security and get to um some more medical decisions health related decisions right um and will you land on the topic of California Advanced Healthcare directives right um so this is a way where you can in writing determine what you want to happen in certain situations um when it comes to your health and everyone honestly should have 1 um because I have a 2 laight to start talking about it as difficult as these conversations might be um but everyone should probably have an advanced Healthcare directive in the event that you're not able to tell people what you would like to happen um especially in the medical emergency so we're going to talk about the purpose of an advanced Healthcare directive going to talk about different parts of it we're going to talk about how you make it actually a valid enforcement document um and what you can do if you ever want to change anything about it right so what's the purpose of an advanced Healthcare directive so it allows you to direct your own physical and mental health care even when you unable to do so so for example a person who ends up in a coma or develops dementia is otherwise mentally incapacitated incapacitated or unable to communicate right so this is a really important document that gives people especially doctors nurses Health Care Professionals and idea what your wishes are right what should happen um what kind of medical treatment do you want and a part of the advanced Healthcare directive is designating a healthcare agent right so Healthcare agent has a responsibility here in making Healthcare decisions so if you lose the ability to make these decisions for yourself the healthcare agent that you write in to the advanced Healthcare directive can help make these decisions for you right so they could carry out the wishes as you wrote down in the advanced Healthcare directive right or um you could even designated uh in the Healthcare directive that they are able to make up decisions right based on maybe facts or the situation as they are able to learn about it alright well that person's incapacitated um make decisions based off of that instead instead of the document document so you don't need a healthcare agent to have a valid Advanced Healthcare directive um so they're just if if you want that it's a good idea if you have if you have a trust um in someone if you trust somebody um these people um can help make sure your Advanced Healthcare directive is followed but otherwise Healthcare Providers are required to follow your wishes as written in the advanced Healthcare directive right um otherwise again as I was saying before you can have the agent if you designate 1 only be able to make decisions based off what you wrote in the advanced Healthcare directive or you could give them a little bit more leeway some work program to make other decisions right and that's all spelled out in the document so individual Healthcare instructions or verbal or written directions about your health care so this is a big part of the Health Healthcare directive um and you could let your doctors know what you want done on the specific circumstances right for example are you okay with CPR alright are you okay with getting maybe a feeding tube um administer it to you right are you are you okay with um compressions on your chest or other kind of medical procedures do you want your organs donated in the events of your passing um are there certain treatments you absolutely do not want under any circumstances right so there's a lot of different Advanced Healthcare directives out there um there's no 1 standard form hospitals have their own forms doctor's office at their own forms you could use whatever version that you'd like um online and at the end of this presentation I'll show you 1 example um quickly and you could kind of see what these look like so who can fill out an advance directive so anyone who's 18 years or older who has the capacity to make Healthcare decisions so capacity can mean a lot of different things in certain contexts when we're talking about an advanced Healthcare directive capacity means your ability to understand and make decisions about your health care right um when you are determined to lack capacity is when that advanced Healthcare directive can go into effect so think back to those examples I gave before when someone was in a coma right or um has advanced dementia for example um that's when your capacity would be considered lacking um and that advanced Healthcare directive would go into effect and doctors can utilize that to carry out your wishes in the course of treatment so how does an advanced Healthcare directive become official um just like any other document you can notarize it right go to a notary republic or you could have 2 Witnesses um sign it to a test that yes these are your wishes right right um You had the capacity to complete this document and such um the only caveat is that you Witnesses neither of them could be the healthcare agent you may have designated in the document and and this is what that slide talks about right um the Witnesses in the social be over the age of 18 um and it can conclude at least uh or rather up to 1 uh family member none of them can be named as agents right and they have to be actually physically present when you sign directed so who should ultimately get a copy of advanced directive of course you should always keep a copy um whoever is helping you out with your health care so um you know your doctors your healthcare providers if you designated a healthcare agent they should absolutely get a copy the regional center they program your school um anyone that's really um important in your life um any agency you interact with a lot so what happens when you want to change an advanced Healthcare directive right any part of it um could be created at any moment um so all you have to do is revoke the advanced Healthcare Healthcare directives you sent out perhaps the other folks um and give them a new copy right this is now the updated version um please destroy all the other versions and you would follow the same process by with either the notary or the witnesses so what happens if you can't sign an advanced Healthcare directive right um maybe you already don't have the capacity to do that well there's a law in the California probate code that there is um a staggered procedure of Who doctors turn to to make decisions in that case right the first would be whoever might have legal standing like um someone who does have an advanced Healthcare directive who is a healthcare or a conservator would make those decisions if there is no 1 with legal standing then the next um part would be I believe let me double check it would be your spouse if the person's married at the data would be an adult child at the data would be the parent after that it would be the adult sibling after that it would be an adult grandchild and after that it would be an adult relative or a close friend so um there will always be someone doctor is able to turn to to help make decisions um if the person does not have an advanced Healthcare directive in certain situations a regional sense that can also authorize some medical surgical or dental care um and of course in an absolute emergency life-saving emergency doctors or dentists can make um split um second decisions right to save the person's life so next we'll talk about um another area of a person's life which is education um so people students um will attain the ability to make their own educational decision once they turn 18 um so that means agreeing to Services maybe in their IEP um you know classes they want to take instead of uh um and so this slide talks a little bit more about that so once you turn 18 all educational rights automatically transfer to you the student this means that you must attend your IEP meeting and sign the IEP um you have the right to ask for assessments you know file compliance compliance file for due process Etc right you become the decision maker at 18 years old but the person also has the right to sign educational rights to someone else um and it could be a parent right um anyone who's 18 years or older that they want um help making educational decisions um and again we talked about cap capacity right so someone who has the capacity um is able to assign educational decision-making rights in this context capacity means that a court has not determined that you are incompetent right so we always start with presuming has capacity the only way you usually don't have capacity is if a court determines that so assigning educational rights allows you to decide who you want to make your educational decisions if you do not want to make those decisions or be a part of decision-making process right and importantly at any time that student at 18 years old or or older they can revoke that assignment right so it's that Perpetual you know so if they decide at 18 hey mom um you know I want you to continue to help me make IEP decisions please continue to come to my IEP meeting um Etc um you could make decisions for me that's totally fine but maybe at 19 years old they changed their mind um they could evoke that and all the decision making will lie with the student but that doesn't mean that Mom can't participate right the student can still invite Mom to the IEP meetings um can still share information with Mom um based on whatever they like right so there's a lot of different ways this can look like um and it's all based on the person right all right so now we're actually getting to support decision making and I believe Lori is here so I'll go ahead and turn that over to her um if she wants to introduce herself and yeah try now Laurie yeah okay all right this is this has been a technical nightmare tonight um so Jody do you have my okay slideshow I do so 1 moment I'm going to go ahead thank you of course all right are you able to see that there yep thank you so much um my name is Lori thornson I've been with the San Diego Regional Center for 24 years almost 25 years um and I work with children currently um and um 1 of the things that we talk about is for the decision making and supported decision-making is actually um it's now be a law it's um California Assembly Bill 1668 and what that means is it's required to explore prior to uh conservatorship happening so um it provides a framework for an individual to work with others to um make choices in their lives and make decisions about their lives without the need of conservatorship Jody thank you you're welcome 1 moment it's a blank screen it is so the purpose of supported decision-making is is to allow an individual to make choices and um when they have support what happens is um they select people to help them with the things that they need help with in their lives um John Anthony was talking about the um rep representative payee um that's that's a support that's um someone that supports somebody but it also gives somebody an indiv individual um the opportunity to make their own decisions they have input in their decisions um and supported decision-making helps increase Independence so what is supported decision-making it's a plan in which the individuals with developmental disabilities can choose friends families professionals to help them un situations choices um enabling them to make independent decisions and and when when I say independent decisions I mean they're ultimately the decision maker but was supported decision making they've identified people to help them understand the decisions they're making and help them make um good choices so who new supports a person how does decide who's going to be their support for a supported decision so it's somebody that's going to allow them to make um choices and help them build the capacity to make voices I don't know about you but when I was 18 I couldn't make choices I had to grow into that and um a lot of people who receive Regional Center Services when they turn 18 they're not ready to make all of life choices but they can have some help and and learn how to grow into those choices um somebody who supports is going to follow the direction and the will of the IND individual being supported they're going to respect their values beliefs and preferences um the person who supports will act in honesty good faith um they won't be working behind an individual's back everything's out in the open and they talk about things um you're going to use plain language I know that if you've been involved with the regional center system you know we use a lot of Jar in um so just put it um decision-making plan it it should be in plain language and the person who supports is going to promote the individual's right right and they're going to promote their um development in Choice making thank you Jody so John Anthony was talking about the 7 areas for conservatorship and they're there there are 7 areas they're very um they're rigid and um supported decision plan is not rigid not everybody need needs all 7 powers and and when you do a conservatorship you don't have to do all 7 Powers but in supported decision making it's about what that person needs um you know if we have an individual who can get a go to work every day can can is on time can take their own medication all that kind of stuff they may not need someone to support them in their personal care or anything like that um but if they don't they can't handle money or finances we may want to have supported decision um someone to help them with that um so the various areas can include personal care staying safe um where they live that's kind of daunting in California is to try to look for housing and figure out how to how to do that application and all that kind of stuff so with supported decision making a person can be identified to help that um someone the health and doctors Dental visits money and work situations or so something that can be included in a supported decision-making plan Jody I'm ready thank you so the supported decision making agreement is a written document it's a formalized document between the individual being supported and the entities that have been identified to be the support ERS so um it has to be in plain language with specific information list the areas that the individual wants support list who they want to the support from um in each of the areas maybe I want somebody to help me with the finances but I don't want them involved in where I live you know um they supported decision-making agreement and include images or videos um it includes all of those um documents that John Anthony was talking about um it's the Hippa the assignment of Education decision making um uh an advanced directive if there is 1 all of those things are attached to the supported decision-making agreement so once it's been established it needs to be read out loud to all of the parties involved um it needs to be signed by either um a notary witnessed and signed by a notary stamped by a notary or to disinterested parties and what we mean by that is 2 people who are not included in the supported decision-making agreement um and then um it's it um everyone needs to sign and then it's reviewed about every 2 years um or if things you know dramatically changed for um an individual and it needs to be updated for any reason as far as that's concerned more technical difficulties it's not letting me advance 1 moment no yep it appears I'm frozen here too so let's see okay it's letting me go backwards was there another slide that was on there help me have been um yeah that appears to be the last slide okay um I there is something that I do want to um add to that about supported decision-making it supported decision-making doesn't always the supporters don't always have to be an individual person um for example the regional center offers Independent Living Services so that may be someone that that may be something you put in a plan that with regard to housing or something like that um somebody will help somebody you'll have the independent living service in your plan as the supporter for housing situations um you can actually you can have um their entities businesses so to speak that can work as a representative pay doesn't necessarily always have to be an individual so um there are supports that aren't just an individual person and the regional center can help purchase some of those services for individuals so thank you very much so we'd like to ask if um individuals have questions that are on our screen and in the presentation that you entered those in the question and answer section the Q&A and there is a question that's in there right now who reviews the supported decision-making agreement every 2 years Larry you're muted I think you have to unmute her I'm not able to welcome back Lori Lori feel good um I I the parties it's an agreement that the parties would review it together um probably if they're um a regional center well they would be a regional center client um the service coordinator may say you know it's been 2 years since we looked at it and we need to review it kind of thing um there's not necessarily an end date on the agreement like it's not like okay we're going to sign it today and in 2 years it's going to fire it doesn't it doesn't work that way necessarily but um there is encouragement to review because people do change um people grow their capacity for decision-making grows and then uh sometimes is people get older their capacity um diminishes or if they get sick their capacity May diminish so that's the reason for the review the next question where can I find the official written document or supported decision-making and the assignment of educational decision um well there are many many variations of a support decision-making document um we do have 1 that that's fairly simple that we can share with families um you can reach out to your service coordinator and we also most of the um school districts have their own um document for giving the um Authority for educational rights so it's best to reach out to the school district to get that particular document okay uh if parents are divorced does 1 need to sign anything to get the others permission I'm not sure what the question is um if the if the the individuals and adults then it's really up to the individual who they want involve in their um in their decision making so I believe the question is um if the individual is electing both parents um but 1 parent is available and maybe perhaps the other is not does is our documentation that needs to be completed allowing 1 parent to represent the um young adult is this for limited conservatorship or supported decision it just says if both parents are divorced does 1 need to sign anything to get their permission um she says hold my child is 17 years old do I need to get Dad permission for the SDM and limited support it is in milking yeah and limited as well no because the supported decision-making is going to be done with the 18 year when the when the individual turns 18 so it's it's the the adult client of the regional center who will be making that decision okay and then um Can somebody out of state be a supported decision maker sure yeah you know because they're the person that that that the individual is going to call to ask questions about or um ask you know I I need help with this can you help me with that um we have that all all the time informally we have people helping others out of state we have 1 whose parent lives in Mexico and he checks in with her about things so yeah it it it's fine okay um 1 of the questions then how does supported decision-making function as a legal mechanism that enables parents or Guardians to make decisions on behalf of an individual when interacting with medical professionals legal professionals and other institutional authorities the idea behind supported decision-making is the the parent isn't necessarily making the decision the ultimate decision lies with the individual who is being supported um but um when in order to work with medical professionals and those sort of things the um the the document that John Anthony was talking about um the the release for um it's not an advanced directive it's the hippo Farm to go to get that signed as well the it's like a release of information right so a lot of the octopus offices have a form that you could fill out at the individual wants it to be filled out right and says hey I want someone so to be able to access my medical records to talk to you to make this Healthcare decisions for me right all this that we're talking about always going to be up to the individual that right the the person with the disability they're going to make the ultimate decision it's going to depend on them who they want involved in their decision-making right thank you can also change too right relationships change we all you know 1 day we might like somebody the next day we might not you know relationships are complicated so you know that person could always change their mind down the road um and you know that that up to them at the end of the day right and um relationships could also mend as well but um it's important to just understand that just like anyone else any anyone in this room anyone in this meeting we all should be able to make our own decisions alright um people can have opinions on whether those decisions are good or bad that's fine and you know you could always support someone encourage them to make what you think is the right decision but ultimately you know decisions should also be respected as well all right another question oh go ahead Lori and then I'll ask next and as I said earlier um the you know California Assembly the legislature has decided that this is the best way to to um honor people's ability to make their own decisions in life and um it is a legal requirement that it be explored prior to limited conservative ship so if someone applies for limited conservatorship um and and the regional center has to write a report for that um 1 of the things we have to address is wise supported decision-making wouldn't work for them that that individual person that individual who um is someone's trying to be their conservator and thank you go ahead yeah uh for the representative payee my child just turned 18 years last month can I sign up with my child do we sign up with social security or where so that should um definitely be a conversation with your child right like do they even want representative payee um and if your child um is with the regional center the regional center might also be able to actually provide um services around that right if the concern is around budgeting right um 1 part do a kind of service can be independent living skills or um uh supported Living Services right that could help the person understand um the value of money um how to make a budget how to pay their bills and all that um without even having to get Social Security involved but certainly you can have a conversation with your child and um yeah reach out to Social Security if you believe that's um something they might be interested in all right what is the different um what is different let me start back over what's the difference between the SDM rather than a power of attorney supportive decision making being is about um the individual making the the choices um giving giving someone a power of attorney says that you're handing over um legal authority to someone else um and um you know I I've always been even in my personal life I've been reluctant to to ever say somebody should do a power of if you want to have a specific power of attorney for something that that the individual needs support with and needs done like um I'm giving a power of attorney for them to help by whatever or do whatever but a general power of attorney just hands over um their their legal rights so there's a huge difference um supported decision making the individual retains their rights um Power of attorney you they've given their rights away to somebody else right yeah I'll just add that I think supported decision-making really centers the person with a disability much more than a power over attorney right um it's within um in a way where it's really still in the hands of the person with the developmental disability well said and 1 of the um attendees feels that the information that you've shared is incorrect so I wanted to just reflect that that was a prospective of of someone that's here with us uh the next question for the supported decision-making do we need an attorney or Court what is the process to do supported decision making in making with the written agreement you do not need the court um it doesn't have to go through the the it's a formal agreement um you can there are a variety of different um different formats that you can use for this ported decision making um but we have 1 that that we the service coordinator can give to um the individuals um to work on its pretty it's it's very um clear-cut the these are the areas I want help in these are the people who I need support with and then exactly spelled out what kind of things the individual wants support in um and then the um any um the legal documents that the Authority for educational rights um the Hippa release all all those other documents that may be agreed upon or attached to that it's um either witnessed by 2 part 2s or um a notary um signs it so it's it's a formal document but it is not filed with the courts all right so there's an additional comment um giving a POA does not give away legal Authority the individual can have concurrent Authority or the authority can only be effective when the individual lacks capacity to make their own decisions I think that's a comment that shared with our group okay and I want to share um actually an example up a power of attorney if everyone can see my screen actually um and this is from the probate code right um and it's actually literally in the pope we code this way it's copy and pasted um and I was saying before I think support decision-making documents or a lot better than this because again I I think it's centers that a person and it's written in a way where it's very plain language easy to understand because the person is supposed to be like writing it right in a way that they understand understand it where you have this kind of copy and paste legal leads from the California probate code which honestly even I sometimes have difficulty reading right it could be a very wordy document but but to that point yes correct right like you you're not giving away your powers per se right you're authorizing someone to act as your agent and make decisions so there are a lot of overlaps with this with the support decision-making document um same kind of spiel like you have to get the witnesses the notary to make it valid Etc but again I I I championed the support decision making um documents over this just because I think it gives the person the person the developmental disability a lot more power in crafting a document that makes sense to them rather than using something like this but this is something that is um also on the table right if if it's something someone wants to to use um here's some examples of some Powers they could give their agent Tax Matters for example claims and litigation um so they could check off what they want right um you know special instructions Etc um and you know this is um the notably public ending over here so just want to share a little bit more information there about the PA thank you for sharing another question uh so capacity is a prerequisite for these less restrictive options sorry so it's capacity of prerequisite for these lesser yeah so the question is so capacity is a prerequisite for these less restrictive options like a question there right so so capacity again everyone is presumed to have capacity and and almost all cases the only way you're presumed to not or rather designated that you don't have capacity is if a court determines that right so a judge actually has to say this person does not have the capacity to do this otherwise Everyone is always presumed that capacity okay another comment the non- attorney should not be giving this incorrect Legal Information and PSD should not be giving a platform for a non attorney to be doing so so that's a perspective of an attendee um 1 of the Fe families um is asking Regina how we could have this um the conversation in this put into Spanish is that something you would be able to assist with uh yeah I we will work with John Anthony and uh send the original Center to uh get the slides in Spanish so I can follow up um to when uh when this meeting is over it's uh the version is going to be too it's going to be uploaded to the website but when I send out slides I can I can get it translated and send it like 2 copies um both both English and Spanish and there's also a way where um this will be we could have it transcribed um the recording Regina so you and I can connect on that and we should be able to then yeah I wonder if there's an option we can add like a subtitle in the Spanish version that way that our Spanish speaking Community can access this recording as well okay um if my special needs child will oh there it is if my special needs child will never be able to live independently who makes the decision of where they will live and her medical decision so that's a you know really difficult question to answer because there's just so many parts of it right um you know I I I don't want to make any assumptions about who you're talking about out but I'll just say in general people with developmental disabilities are capable of doing a lot more than we typically can imagine them being able to do right and that always starts at the very beginning right at in early start and that person gets their first IEP when they get their first IPP with the regional center it's getting those building blocks um and those services and supports they need through um every stage of their life right and you're always building them up to gain independence to make some kind of contribution to their life you know and and making those decisions um and it could be you have someone that's nonverbal or maybe only communicates and gestures or nods or whatever communication looks like to them so I think first is understanding how that person communicates right being patient and being able to maybe even have that conversation over the course of multiple um days you know in in different ways different methods right um whether they use a communication board pictures again gestures ASL whatever that looks like um so they can contribute something in um uh the in the decision-making of right um and as I was saying in the slides before right in the event that a person truly cannot contribute anything any Express wish or Direction in their life there are alternatives right so in the case of Healthcare decisions this person might not have the capacity to complete an advanced Healthcare direct sign a HIPPA then there are people um out there that will be turned to write to make those decisions so in the case of medical decisions right I was explaining that there was no 1 with legal standing for an adult um a doctor will consult with the person that's like next on the list right it's like a descending list then I believe the first person if I remember right was a spouse and then it goes maybe to um that person's parent and Etc right so um in in different um areas of life that there will be Alternatives um especially with regional center right um again building that Circle of support um get those services supports um to that person like supported Living Services is a big 1 um they could help people um coordinate with um different agencies right um they could help people get to the doctor um they could even be in the doctor's office with them right and um help listen to what the doctor is saying and explain that to them in a way they might be able to understand so there there's a lot out there and um I'll put in the chat as well um all publication which actually is available in in Spanish as well um that goes into um Alternatives as well um so you could read a little bit more about that thank you that would be helpful um in the Q&A thank you for the answers and easing my worries for my child's future thank you that was that was shared um and then it was mentioned that exploring SDM is required first before pursuing a limited conservatorship how is it determined that SDM is not the path to take and limited conservatorship should be pursued that's going to be up to a judge you know the judge is going to consider whether in this individual circumstance there are alternatives that are available and will work or not um so hard to say so it's going to be up to a judge in the court to to make that decision okay the next uh question where can I find the supported decision-making making written form will you share it with us in the email is it with the San Diego Regional Center it is with the San Diego Regional Center um I believe that there is some information on supported decision-making on our on our website but also so um any um service coordinator has the ability to access the Forum also so okay just reach out to your service coordinator thank you another comment both an attorney who was drafting any of these forms and a notary notarizing them also have an independent professional responsibility to ensure that the signer has capacity uh getting back to Rep payee do you know if there can be an alternative Rep payee assigned in case the Rep payee is unable to continue the responsibility uh yes you just have to let Social Security know um assuming you're the repay you can't continue on their duties um so it's just security can designate someone else to be The Rep payee there is usually a a delay with that though so um something to if you know that it's coming up that the The Rep payee will need to be changed if you have some lead time that's really helpful yeah unfortunately there's a lot of delays with anything related to Social Security so um best to get ahead of it um as soon as you know of any changes and yeah anytime anything changes in your personal life um with Social Security it's always best to let that agency know what that is if I submitted an application in San Diego Regional Center months back at least 4 months ago and have not heard back who can I contact I'm assuming um that's for through intake or intake department I don't have that clarification Fawn if you're able to add some more clarity to your inquiry while we're waiting for that I'm going to move to the next 1 do you know if there is um do you know if an alternative Rep payee can be assigned in case the Rep payee is unable to continue the responsibility I believe we just answered that correct we work that 1 on oh and then there's a sorry I asked my question or I may have sent it twice so thank you um are there circumstances where you might have lived limited conservatorship for some categories example contracts and SDM for others I'm sure it's possible so again there's those 7 limited powers right so let's say a court grants 6 of them except for the um educational decision-making right um so if that person still wants Mom and Dad's help with educational decision making then they could do an SDM agreement they can do that um assignment with some school districts have I do have a copy of the of this school districts um supported decision-making document I believe and you know again I'm not making any um an endorsing it in any way I'm just showing you that this exists and you know you could ask the school district for a copy I could display it um this is what it looks like right um explains when you turn 18 the students going to have certain rights um and if this student would want to I'm just going to skip to the bottom here they want to assign educational decision-making Authority right they could extend it so they still supposed to be an equal partner and making decisions right but they're maybe Mom and Dad in this example right the ability to continue to make decisions past 18 or they could say no right they could say I don't want them to make any decisions I want to be the decision maker at 18 um but they could also sign it looks like um to at least disclose information right to share records and stuff so um this um options here for the student to to make um when they turn 18 and then clarification on the prior question it does um seemed as if the question surrounded intake with San Diego Regional Center and the timeline the application had been submitted almost 4 months ago um this individual submitted a ton of paperwork and and they have um reached out to their child's School and then it went quiet okay um I don't have the direct line for the intake department but I would um if they have that number I would call um intake and ask about the follow-up but I can give you um the the main office it's um 858 576 2996 um and you can call that number and ask for intake could you repeat the number 1 more time Lori please yes um 858 576 no I'm doubting myself let me just let me make sure 2996858 5762996 um and there should be someone assigned to the case um and you can ask to talk to that um intake worker um if if you have um concerns about the process um feel free to ask for 1 of the managers in the intake um office in um talked to 1 of those about your concerns certainly all right well that concludes all of the inquiries we had in the Q&A and we very much thank you and appreciate your participation this evening well thank you yeah just sorry just I saw a raised hand somewhere so if individuals still have a question you still have time to put in the Q&A uh I just saw 1 that I think Cara Cara Cara looked like she had a raised hand um I asked her to go ahead and input that information into the either the chat or the Q&A okay um someone else just did provide input that they had submitted all the paperwork to sdrc in August they've called back every few weeks to check on the application their last call was a few days ago they said that in December they were Fielding applications from last April or May and I sorry to interrupt but I just want to remind people like this is being recorded and you might not want to be sharing personal information right now but um if you do have question um please do give San Diego a call um or you could give our office a call too and I I do want to really quickly make the distinction to office Appliance rights advocacy um is completely independent of the regional center um was separated apart so any calls to us completely confidential as well we we actually send a lot of people your way so thank you we appreciate the partnership with both of you um 1 of the other things there's folks that are Thanking us um and then Regina there's also inquiries about the PSD 18-year-old waiver and so what I'm wondering is when you send out information um as a follow-up if you would send that document as well definitely okay and so then 1 other inquiry has just come in if my child's current custodial parent who is seeking to be the sole limited conservator do I have a right to be added as a joint conservator or does this require the permission of our child that's going to really be outside my scope of what I'm able to answer tonight I apologize oh I appreciate your honesty and transparency there um okay I think okay okay no that was the last of the questions thank you so much it was it was great to have the opportunity to talk about supported decision-making I really appreciate it thank you we appreciate you all yeah we see some hearts floating and just let everybody know and believe that you also have a survey so I'm going to as part of the follow-up email that I sent to the families I'm going understand your survey as well so on the lookout for any response from the families thank you so much for Laurie and John Anthony that spending time with us tonight is great learning and uh having the partnership from the community members is great thank you so much everybody have a good night thank you thank you everybody

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Choices for the Future: Conservatorship and Less Restrictive Options

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