Public Guardianship Program

Among vulnerable people suffering from dementia, severe mental illness, or disabilities, some of them have neither their closest relatives nor ample resources in order to pay daily necessaries despite they need supporters.
Above issue becomes more and more deepening not only in Japan but also in the Unites States in the wake of skyrocketing the cost of various kinds of commodities worldwide.

Under the unstable circumstances, “Public Guardianship Program” gets the attention of the public. However, this program has pros and cons.

With regards to the public guardianship, I’ll introduce one latest news.

According to The Colorado Sun on April 14th, 2022, it is reported that 14 lives were deprived by the public guardians who did not accomplish their duties and responsibilities.
Another case says that even though the vulnerable person with no families passed away, he/she was abandoned by the public guardian, with the result that the hospital had to deal with the funeral arrangements.

On the other hand, another person was saved by the great efforts contributed by the public guardian.

The essential reason of the need of public guardianship program lies in the expectation from the local hospitals, long-term care facilities, and sometimes municipalities.

To put it another way, without public guardian, it is inevitable that above institutions should go to the probate court.  
When it comes to conditions related to public guardian, in addition to meeting the high requirement to serve as public guardian, the fact remains that the guardians need to be on call 24/7 in order to respond to emergencies.

All things considered, as the legislative committee decided that public guardian program expands this time, the underlying cause of the tragic event may stem from the serious shortage of the number of public guardians.