{"id":21210,"date":"2014-03-13T10:05:48","date_gmt":"2014-03-13T14:05:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/?p=21210"},"modified":"2014-03-13T10:06:24","modified_gmt":"2014-03-13T14:06:24","slug":"orphans-court-seeking-extra-eyes-and-ears","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/?p=21210","title":{"rendered":"Orphans\u2019 Court seeking extra \u2018eyes and ears\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

County\u2019s Volunteer Guardianship Program looking for participants<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/h1>\n
\n

By Kathleen Brady Shea<\/strong>,\u00a0Managing Editor, The Times<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"Diane<\/a>

Diane P. Mulhearn (left), the Volunteer Guardianship Program coordinator, and Nancy Breuer, Assistant Orphans\u2019 Court Administrator, review files for the program.<\/p><\/div>\n

A few years back, a Chester County woman\u2019s drug-addicted son, who had been appointed his mother\u2019s guardian, began stealing the ailing woman\u2019s money and leaving care-taking duties to his aunt. Thanks to the county\u2019s Volunteer Guardianship Program, the thievery was short-lived.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

For the past 19 years, Chester County has operated a respected program that serves as a gentle watchdog over the guardians, who are appointed when someone\u2019s physical or mental disabilities prevent their self-sufficiency. Frequently, guardianships involve the elderly, and most operate with few problems.<\/p>\n

But, in the instances when improprieties occur, court officials say that volunteers in the program provide a valuable role, serving as \u201cthe eyes and ears of the court by visiting individuals under guardianship\u201d to chat and check on their well-being. Sometimes a few friendly questions can determine whether a guardianship is functioning properly, court officials say.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe court appoints a guardian for an individual determined by the court to be \u2018incapacitated\u2019 within the meaning of the law,\u201d said Chester County Court Judge Katherine Platt, who oversees the Orphans\u2019 Court and its guardianships.\u00a0 \u201cThe standard for that determination is whether the individual\u2019s ability to receive and evaluate information and communicate decisions is impaired to such a significant extent that he or she is unable to manage his or her financial resources, or meet essential requirements for physical health and safety.\u201d<\/p>\n

The visits by volunteers assist the court in maintaining some continuing contact with the incapacitated person and his or her guardian and offer the volunteer a chance to provide worthwhile community service \u2013 an opportunity the county is hoping will attract more volunteers. At the moment, the county has 535 active guardianships, a number that is increasing, said\u00a0Diane P. Mulhearn, the Guardianship Program coordinator.<\/p>\n

Anyone interested in becoming part of the Orphans\u2019 Court guardian program is invited to take part in a training session that will be held on Tuesday, April 8, beginning at 9 a.m. at the Chester County Justice Center.\u00a0For more information about the program or to request an application for the upcoming training, please contact Mulhearn at 610-344-5212 or email\u00a0dmulhearn@chesco.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

County\u2019s Volunteer Guardianship Program looking for participants By Kathleen Brady Shea,\u00a0Managing Editor, The Times A few years back, a Chester County woman\u2019s drug-addicted son, who had been appointed his mother\u2019s guardian, began stealing the ailing woman\u2019s money and leaving care-taking duties to his aunt. Thanks to the county\u2019s Volunteer Guardianship Program, the thievery was short-lived. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":21211,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,7],"tags":[1599,5158,5159,5160],"class_list":["post-21210","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-featured","tag-chester-county-court","tag-chester-county-court-judge-katherine-platt","tag-orphans-court","tag-volunteer-guardianship-program"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21210","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=21210"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21210\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/21211"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=21210"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=21210"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=21210"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}