News

Statement from Disability Justice and

Supported Decision-Making Advocates:

Britney Spears Spotlights the Need for Change Now

June 25, 2021

access PDF of statement here

When Britney Spears chose this week to share her personal experience living under a conservatorship, she shined a national spotlight on the problems of guardianship systems and the damaging and potentially devastating impact they can have on people’s lives.  Ms. Spears is not alone in her experience.  We are disability justice organizations that have been working for years to advocate for alternatives to overbroad, unnecessarily restrictive, and undue guardianship.  We work to promote alternatives to guardianship and conservatorship, namely Supported Decision-Making, which is taking hold more and more across the United States.   No one should be subjected to the experiences described by Ms. Spears.  There is a better way that gives people the support that they need and does not diminish their personhood.  Now is the time to fully embrace less-restrictive options that allow people to maintain their rights, dignity, and independence.

The problem with guardianship and conservatorship: While we do not know the details of Ms. Spears’ case outside of what she has shared, we do know that the U.S. legal system is overly reliant on restrictive guardianships and that the disability community and families want and deserve different and better options.  Guardianship and conservatorship take away fundamental rights people have to direct their own lives—rights that many Americans never imagined could be restricted.   While the law varies from state to state, guardianship orders routinely authorize third parties to make decisions about the most personal and important decisions in an individual’s life—choices that impact the person’s own body and reproductive health; how and where they receive medical, psychiatric, and psychological treatment; how the money and resources they work to earn are spent; and even with whom they associate.  Guardianships also can prohibit someone from voting or getting married.  Guardianship is regularly imposed on people of all ages, with all kinds of diagnoses, and with all kinds of life experiences.  And, as Ms. Spears’ circumstances illustrate, even people with significant financial resources can face barriers in seeking to get the court to restore their rights.  Once they are under guardianship, often individuals are not informed they have the right to request a hearing to have their rights restored.  This is further complicated by their difficulty in retaining representation from an attorney of their choice.  It is much easier to get a guardian appointed than to have a guardianship terminated—even when an individual’s personal or medical circumstances change significantly, when a long period of time has passed, or when there is a viable alternative available.  In fact, it is often extraordinarily difficult to get a guardianship terminated.

An answer—Supported Decision-Making: We know from our advocacy work that many families are told guardianship is the best way to protect their family member.  Families report that they are rarely presented with alternatives to guardianship.  Supported Decision-Making is an alternative to guardianship and conservatorship that allows a person to retain their legal rights while getting support with decision-making from those they choose and trust.  In our work, we have seen time and again that many people at risk of guardianship or previously under guardianship can make their own decisions as long as they have the right support to understand their options and communicate their choices.  Supported Decision-Making should be considered as an alternative to guardianship, regardless of the person’s disability, be it intellectual or developmental, physical, psycho-social, or cognitive in nature.  Supported Decision-Making does not require court involvement and can be coupled with other legal tools, such as powers of attorney and advance health care directives, that promote self-determination and autonomy.  For more about Supported Decision-Making, visit http://www.supporteddecisionmaking.org/ and https://supporteddecisions.org/.

Supported Decision-Making is already a part of the mainstream disability rights discourse and is gaining traction among elder advocates.  It has been the subject of pilots, and many states have introduced or passed bills codifying Supported Decision-Making into law.  Critically, judges across the country have terminated guardianships when presented with evidence about  Supported Decision-Making, including in New York, Virginia, the District of Columbia, Indiana, Massachusetts, and Maine, among others.  Supported Decision-Making has also been widely embraced by federal agencies, including the National Council on Disability and the Administration for Community Living, as well as organizations representing lawyers and guardians like the American Bar Association and the National Guardianship Association.  Its important role was recently reinforced in recommendations issued at the Fourth National Guardianship Summit.

We commend Ms. Spears for her bravery in sharing her experience.   Courts, policymakers, and advocates should be listening first and foremost to the experiences of people who have been subjected to the guardianship and conservatorship system.  We stand in solidarity with Ms. Spears and all other people who have experienced guardianship and conservatorship and who long for a better way.

Signed,

National Resource Center on Supported Decision-Making – http://www.supporteddecisionmaking.org/

Center for Public Representation – https://supporteddecisions.org/

Quality Trust for Individuals with Disabilities – http://www.dcqualitytrust.org

The Arc of the United States – https://thearc.org/

Autistic Self Advocacy Network – https://autisticadvocacy.org/

Burton Blatt Institute – www.bbi.syr.edu

Cardozo Bet Tzedek Legal Services – https://cardozo.yu.edu/bet-tzedek-civil-litigation-clinic

Disability Rights California –  https://www.disabilityrightsca.org/

Disability Rights Texas – www.disabilityrightstx.org

Disability Voices United – DisabilityVoicesUnited.org

Georgia Advocacy Office – https://thegao.org/

Indiana Disability Rights – www.indianadisabilityrights.org

National Disability Rights Network – www.ndrn.org

Self Advocates Becoming Empowered – https://www.sabeusa.org/

TASH – https://tash.org/

CONTACT:

Morgan K. Whitlatch

Legal Project Director, National Resource Center on Supported Decision-Making

Legal Director, Quality Trust for Individuals with Disabilities

mwhitlatch@dcqualitytrust.org; 202-459-4004

http://www.supporteddecisionmaking.org/

Anna Krieger

Senior Attorney

Center for Public Representation

akrieger@cpr-ma.org; 617-965-0776

https://supporteddecisions.org/

The Center on Youth Voice/Youth Choice is delighted to announce that, after an extensive selection process, we have chosen Georgia, Vermont, and Wisconsin to form our first Community of Practice on alternatives to guardianship for youth with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD).

Congratulations to the first Center on Youth Voice/Youth Choice Community of Practice state teams: Georgia, Vermont, and Wisconsin!

CPR is part of a group of organizations led by the Institute for Community Inclusion at the University of Massachusetts, Boston that have been awarded a five-year grant from the Administration for Community Living to establish the Center on Youth Voice/Youth Choice.

The selection committee was comprised of Center on Youth Voice/Youth Choice staff, including two representatives from Self Advocates Becoming Empowered, two members of the Center on Youth Voice/Youth Choice National Coalition, and other youth self-advocates from the Center on Youth Voice/Youth Choice Advisory Committee. Twenty-six highly qualified state teams applied for this opportunity. 

This selection process has illuminated many important collaborations and initiatives across the country related to alternatives to guardianship for youth with IDD.

CYVYC is developing a series of promising practices that will highlight these innovative approaches.

Over the course of the five-year grant, eight more states will join the Community of Practice to share ideas, exchange effective strategies, and elevate the voices of youth with IDD in their states.

Center for Public Representation has recently partnered with the Suffolk Law School Health Law Clinic to provide representation to people in Massachusetts interested in using Supported Decision-Making.

The clinic will be representing a limited number of people in Massachusetts who are interested in using SDM and need assistance creating an SDM Agreement. Student lawyers in the clinic will be representing people who have guardians and people who do not.

This week, Senator Joan Lovely and Representative Paul Tucker filed Supported Decision-Making legislation in the new session of the Massachusetts legislature!

You can see a copy of the SDM bills here:

• Senate SDM bill (SD 1746)
• House SDM bill (HD 2134)

Massachusetts Advocates for Supported Decision-Making (MASDM), a diverse group of self-advocates, families, legal services providers, older adult advocates, and disability advocates supports the SDM bill.  CPR is a proud member and leader of this broad coalition.

Read more about what the SDM bill would do in our Fact Sheet.

Center for Public Representation is honored to announce that we are part of a group of organizations that has been awarded a five-year grant from the Administration for Community Living. The grant is to implement a national Alternatives to Guardianship Youth Resource Center, which will be called the Center on Youth Voice, Youth Choice.

The partnership is led by the Institute for Community Inclusion at the University of Massachusetts, Boston.

The Center on Youth Voice, Youth Choice (CYVYC) will work to increase the use of guardianship alternatives by youth with intellectual and developmental disabilities to maximize self-determination and autonomy.

The partnership is led by the Institute for Community Inclusion at the University of Massachusetts, Boston and includes Center for Public Representation, Self-Advocates Becoming Empowered, Human Services Research Institute (HSRI), consultants from the Harvard Law School Project on Disability and the Georgia Advocacy Office, and subject matter experts, including disability activists, educators, parents, and advocates.

The new center will conduct research, create a sustainable model for capacity building and resource dissemination, and form a Youth Ambassador program that will train youth in leadership development and mentoring. In addition to directly engaging youth with IDD in the work of the project, it will be guided by an advisory committee, 75% of whom will be youth with IDD.

Principal Investigator Allison Hall of ICI explained, “Our research finds there is limited information on alternatives to guardianship for youth with IDD. We are excited to bring the voice of young adults with IDD into this work and support youth as leaders and change agents.”

The Center will be informed by ICI’s existing research funded by the Institute on Education Science, U.S. Department of Education, on how alternatives to guardianship during the transition process contribute to post-school outcomes.

If you would like to get involved with the work of the Center on Youth Voice Youth Choice, we would love to hear from you!

ICI’s Director, Cindy Thomas also notes, “CPR, HSRI and the Georgia Advocacy Project have led efforts to design, implement and evaluate supported decision-making pilots.  This work, along with the extensive array of resources developed by CPR will provide a strong foundation for the Center. I am excited by the opportunity ICI has to lead this work in partnership with a tremendous team.”

The SDM bill is on the move in the House today and we need your help right now! Please take just five minutes and call your Representative to ask them to support the Massachusetts SDM bill which Rep. Aaron Vega has introduced in the House as amendment 36 to H. 4888.

Make sure your representative hears from you about how important an SDM bill is in Massachusetts!

We need your help to pass the Massachusetts SDM bill before time runs out!

We need YOU to make two phone calls to express your support for the SDM bill (H. 4349/S.2490)!

The Massachusetts legislature has been working hard on the state’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, but as the session ends we do not want to miss the opportunity to pass the important and cost-saving SDM bill.

House and Senate Committee Chairs needs to hear your voice! Contact key legislators below today to tell them you support the Supported Decision-Making bill.

1. Contact Chairman of Senate Ways and Means Sen. Michael J. Rodrigues at (617) 722-1114 Michael.Rodrigues@masenate.gov
2. Contact Chairman of House Bills in the Third Reading Rep. Theodore Speliotis at (617) 722-2410    Theodore.Speliotis@mahouse.gov

The Massachusetts Supported Decision-Making bill continues to be on the move in the Senate! The Joint Committee on Children, Families and Persons with Disabilities has favorably reported the Senate version of the bill to the Senate Committee on Ways and Means. We applaud the Joint Committee Chairwoman Kay Khan for moving this bill forward. We urge the Senate Committee on Ways and Means to move this important bill forward.