re: Remember that girl in Mass. that was taken from her parents by the state?

quote:

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Under Alaska state law, an adult can be assigned guardianship if he or she is deemed “incapacitated,” meaning unable to make decisions regarding personal health or safety. There are many situations in which this can occur, said Steve Young, acting supervisor of the Public Guardian Section of the Office of Public Advocacy: traumatic brain injury, age-related dementia, stroke, and brain damage due to substance abuse are among them.


When that happens, the “courts will take the next step in making a protective order,” Young said. A court visitor is assigned whose job is to investigate the alleged incapacity and report back to the court. In the Bohn case, testimony from several doctors, witnesses and medical records led the court to decide that Bohn was incapacitated. He was assigned a temporary guardianship, and later, a permanent guardianship after the court ruled that his family was interfering with treatment.

Once a person is deemed incapacitated, a guardian is assigned. According to Alaska statute, assigning of the Office of Public Advocacy as guardian is last on the priority list -- seventh in line after the incapacitated person’s choice of representative, the family, spouse, adult child, relative or a private professional guardian. Young called OPA the “appointment of last resort.”

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