Improving Article 81 Guardianship in New York State
Background:
In 2022, the Unified Court System (UCS) of New York State received a grant from the Administration of Community Living (ACL) of the United States to carry out the Elder Justice Initiative (EJI) Project. The primary objective of this project is to enhance guardianship in the state of New York by achieving the following goals: (1) improving outcomes for every New Yorker who is the subject of a guardianship case; (2) increasing access to court services for those who are poor, disabled, and/or with limited English proficiency (LEP); and (3) modernizing guardianship case operations.
UCS partnered with Project Guardianship and the Jewish Association Serving the Aging (JASA) to conduct a comprehensive evaluation of the current guardianship system in New York State. The statewide assessment received nearly 1000 responses from stakeholders and the data was analyzed to present the findings and have stakeholders around the state engage in prioritizing the next steps.
On October 25, 2023, Project Guardianship, along with JASA and NYS UCS's Office for Justice Initiatives, presented the results of this survey. Attendees were then led in structured conversations to help determine where to focus resources and how to prioritize next steps.
A final report will incorporate feedback from the event. Here you can find the Preliminary Article 81 Stakeholder Survey Report.pdf.