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Thousands of
Americans have been injured to date during the current war on terror - a
war that may continue for years. Many have returned to service but
others have been disabled, some very severely.
Our heroes of past wars also fall victim to unlawful and abusive
guardianship / conservatorship, either as a result of disability or
advanced age. The numbers continue to grow.
The pirates target our young disabled Veterans - lured by their veteran's
benefits, disability pensions, and now even their Social Security
benefits. Our aging Veterans are even more tempting - perhaps
they have well-managed, nice sized estates to go with their pensions.
Denied the very rights and liberties
they fought for; confined in nursing homes; left to languish; receiving
perhaps just a pittance for their personal use from their guardians -
after years of service and sacrifice to our country, is this what our
Veterans have to look forward to?
Supporting the troops and our fallen heroes should mean supporting them
not only when we need them - but also when they need us. And they need
us fighting for them when they become vulnerable.
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New York |
Gary E. Harvey
served in the Army as a Special Force Ranger
during the Vietnam War. He was honored with a National
Service Defense Medal and as an expert M16 rifleman.
He was honorably discharged in 1971. After suffering a
serious accident, Gary became a ward of the state.
He is now confined in a hospital and denied the comfort
of his home and life with his wife.
His wife, Sara, is only permitted to
visit Gary on a pre-determined schedule and "under guard." All
medical decisions, including those of life and death, are
made by strangers.
Please pray for him.
HelpBringGaryHome.com
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Illinois
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Rev. William "Bill" Waddell
enlisted in the Army in 1962. He served as a Chaplain's
Assistant in Germany. He was honorably discharged in 1965
with a service related disability.
Bill had his papers in order naming
his wife, Mary, as his attorney-in-fact.
Without any
notice of hearing for temporary guardianship, Bill
became a ward of the state; the court appointed a
guardian for profit on December 6, 2007.
Mary was informed by the temporary guardian that guardianship "trumps" POA's.
Bill passed away 8 days later on December 14, 2007 |
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North Carolina |
Captain
Hugh Johnson of
the 303rd Bomber Group
War hero Captain Hugh
Johnson led the “Hell’s Angels” on 26
missions against Nazi forces. Shot down
in 1945, and the B-17 crew was captured
by German soldiers.
POW camps did not
prepare Hugh for the horrors of
guardianship in North Carolina. The
guardian immediately removed Hugh from
his home, isolated him from family, and
chemically restrained him with Seroquel.
Hugh said, “My German captors were
better to me than these guardians.”
Hugh died June 15,
2012. The guardian ordered his body
cremated immediately, preventing an
autopsy.
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Read the February 2010 GAO Report, "VA's
Fiduciary Program: Improved Compliance and
Safeguards Could Better Safeguard Veteran's
Benefits"
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"VA’s Fiduciary Program has policies in place
that are intended to ensure that qualified
fiduciaries are selected and regularly
monitored; however, insufficient staff
compliance with some policies and weaknesses in
others hinder VA’s ability to safeguard
veterans’ benefits. For example, VA was late in
conducting required follow-up visits to monitor
fiduciaries or provided insufficient
documentation to show whether these visits were
conducted in about 18 percent of the cases GAO
reviewed. In addition, while GAO estimated that
nearly 40 percent of fiduciaries who were
required to submit financial reports to
demonstrate how beneficiary funds are managed
turned their reports in late, VA did not always
take actions to obtain them on time or provide
documentation that an attempt had been made, as
required by VA policy. GAO also found that files
did not always contain documentation that a bond
was secured when required to safeguard
beneficiary estates or that the requirement was
waived. Fiduciary Program managers and staff
said that they did not always comply with VA
policies due, in part, to a lack of time,
resources, and staff. In addition, VA’s policies
for conducting on-site reviews of professional
fiduciaries who manage funds for multiple
beneficiaries do not ensure these fiduciaries
are effectively identified and monitored. For
example, VA’s policy may not ensure that all
fiduciaries who need to be reviewed are
identified because the agency’s policy allows
the use of the fiduciary’s name— which may be
entered inconsistently—to match them to
beneficiaries rather than requiring a unique
identifier, such as a Social Security number.
Moreover, VA does not have a nationwide quality
review process to ensure that these reviews are
conducted properly and consistently.
GAO also found that files did not always contain
documentation that a bond was secured when
required to safeguard beneficiary estates or
that the requirement was waived. Fiduciary
Program managers and staff said that they did
not always comply with VA policies due, in part,
to a lack of time, resources, and staff. In
addition, VA’s policies for conducting on-site
reviews of professional fiduciaries who manage
funds for multiple beneficiaries do not ensure
these fiduciaries are effectively identified and
monitored. For example, VA’s policy may not
ensure that all fiduciaries who need to be
reviewed are identified because the agency’s
policy allows the use of the fiduciary’s
name—which may be entered inconsistently—to
match them to beneficiaries rather than
requiring a unique identifier, such as a Social
Security number."
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(c) 2006 NASGA
Guardianship abuse and conservatorship
abuse IS elder abuse!
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