Access Care Services & Additional Advance Planning, Guardianship and Abuse Advocacy Resources

You'll be HAPPY YOU STOPPED by!

This is one of the most important exhibits you will visit today!

Learn how to protect yourself, your loved ones and those you serve!

No one plans to become incapacitated. Incapacitated means that you are unable to care for yourself or your property. There are many temporary (reversible) and permanent (irreversible) conditions that contribute to incapacitation. Do you know what these conditions are, what your increasing risks are, and how to best protect yourself and others?  Who will make decisions for you, your loved ones, and those you serve if/when incapacitation strikes?  Are you aware of options, services, and legal processes designed to protect individuals who are unable to care for their own well-being due to infancy, disability, and increasingly incapacitation? Although we have come a long way in developing and implementing systems to better ensure the needs of these most vulnerable individuals are met, we are falling significantly short. As we take two steps forward, there are forces that push us three steps back, and we are increasingly feeling the agony of defeat. Many people throughout our nation are being put to civil death, they are being isolated from family and friends, and their estates are being stolen from them and their loved ones due to 'incapacitation.' We must work together to increase our pace of education and advocacy to protect these vulnerable individuals and their families.  

This atrocity is often referred to as Guardianship Abuse. However, this may not be the best term because the abuse often begins long before a guardian might be appointed and sometimes the abuse never involves a guardian, yet the horrific impact of the abuse is often the same. Guardian abuse has been more prevalent in the news and media. From Netflix’s “I Care a Lot” to Britney Spears story and more recently, Wendy Williams battle (making this a “Hot Topic”), we are not short on challenges people are facing across the nation regarding self determination, full guardianship, and everything in between. At the same time, Alzheimer’s Disease and related dementias, mental health challenges and additional precursors of incapacitation continue to increase for those we are serving. There truly has never been a time in history that this topic has been so important as it is today.

We are fortunate to be living in the great state of Wisconsin where we have not yet experienced the high degree of this type of abuse as it appears other states are experiencing. We also have a proactive NASW WI and several resources that have stepped forward to build awareness, and help identify and address the challenges that must be met to better protect people here in WI as well as throughout our nation, as many adult children have parents and other relatives residing in other states. This booth and the presentation "Changes and Challenges with Advance Directives, Guardianship and Abuse" have been made possible by NASW WI and the following resources.  If you would like to learn more or to participate in problem-resolution efforts, please contact us.

Important Resources!

Representatives from the following resources will be at the NASW WI Conference on Thursday!

NATIONAL ASSOCIATION TO STOP GUARDIAN ABUSE (NASGA): https://stopguardianabuse.org/

NASGA Goals:  To protect the civil/human rights – life, liberty and property – of adults described as “incompetent” and made wards of the state in unlawful and abusive guardianships and conservatorships; To end financial exploitation of their wards’ assets by court-appointed fiduciaries* who, instead of conserving their wards’ assets  as required by law, force previously financially able wards onto Medicaid at Taxpayer expense; To be a support organization for families battling  court-appointed “protectors” who permit due process and other violations of law to occur, including physical and mental abuse and isolation; and To obtain reform – through outreach, education and advocacy – by meaningful amendment of existing statutes and increased penalties against violations of law.

Documentaries:  https://stopguardianabuse.org/...


TS Radio Network:  Marti Oakley and Coz Skaife 

Most recent program:  https://www.blogtalkradio.com/...

Friday October 14, 2022, Call in number: 917-388-4520 select #1 when Blogtalk answers.   Hosted by Coz Skaife

Join us Friday evening as Marti Oakley & TS Radio Network is introduced to a new audience.  Marti has been a force in exposing abusive guardianship, judicial corruption, evils of hospice, organ donations, human trafficking and more.. Marti has been a sought after speaker in numerous media outlets, most notably for speaking at the whistleblowers summit in coordination with Marcel Reid. Tonight Coz interviews Marti to find out how it all began.

TS Radio Network is sponsored by Shenanigans in Montgomery Cty. PA on Facebook. 


GWAAR: The Greater Wisconsin Agency on Aging Resources, Inc. is a nonprofit agency committed to supporting the successful delivery of aging programs and services in 70 counties and 11 tribes in Wisconsin. We provide aging lead agencies in our service area with training, technical assistance, and advocacy to ensure the availability and quality of programs and services to meet the changing needs of older people in Wisconsin. https://gwaar.org/

GWAAR's Guardianship Support Center: Wisconsin Guardianship Support Center Attorney  Attorney Polly Shoemaker                        Toll-Free Helpline (855) 409-9410, guardian@gwaar.org

Get information and assistance on issues related to adult guardianship, protective placement, advance directives, and more from the Wisconsin Guardianship Support Center (GSC). Operated by GWAAR, the GSC responds to requests for information through a toll-free helpline or by e-mail. Calls are returned in the order in which they are received. Please note the Guardianship Support Center is required to be a neutral information source.  We are unable to provide legal advice or offer direct representation.  If you would like specific legal advice, please consult an attorney.  Please note: we are unable to answer questions about minor guardianship.

GWAAR Overview of Legal Decision-Making document:  https://gwaar.org/api/cms/viewFile/id/2005293.

GWAAR GSC Newsletter October, 2022:  https://mcusercontent.com/15a2...


Adult Protective Services: Helplines for Elder Adults at Risk:  https://www.dhs.wisconsin.gov/...

Every county has an elder agency that will look into reports of abuse, neglect, financial exploitation, and self-neglect. Call your county helpline or the Wisconsin Elder Abuse Hotline(link is external) to talk to someone about suspected abuse of an elder (age 60 and over).

To report abuse of an adult age 18 to 59, contact your county agency.

To find a county’s helpline you can use the directory of counties and tribes.

If you do not know the name of the county, you can look up the county by using the city, town, or village name (PDF) or download the Wisconsin Adult Protective Services Contact information (P-00328A).



Access Care Services (ACS) is a small yet strong advocate on several health and social service issues, especially those related to guardianship abuse, and learning to be the leader of your care.  ACS serves older adults, adults with different abilities and transition age youth, and is committed to connecting individuals and families to resources, and providing important education on Advance Care Planning and related care issues for all decisional adults from High School SENIOR to SENIOR Citizen.  https://accesscareservices.com, 414-745-5995, Kathy@AccessCareServices.com.



The following resources are also recommended:  

Disability Rights’ page on abuse and neglect: https://disabilityrightswi.org/resource-center/abuse-neglect/. There are a TON of documents, links, presentations on this page, too many to list out individually but I’m sure many would be of interest to folks attending this conference – from caregiver abuse to safety planning for intimate relationships, resources specific to particular populations, etc.

National Center on Law & Elder Rights: https://ncler.acl.gov/. Resources on a variety of topics, focused on older adults but certainly useful for folks who work with all ages. Free webinars, resource publications, and case consultation, among other things.

National Guardianship Association’s standards of practice: https://www.guardianship.org/standards/. They are in the process of revising and the new standards will be voted on at their conference in October (it’s after this one, unfortunately, but links to both the existing standards and the new draft are available).

National Center on Elder Abuse: https://ncea.acl.gov/


If you have additional resources you would like your social work colleagues to be aware of, please email Kathy@AccessCareServices.com.

Thank you!


Very informative documentaries about Guardian Abuse: *"The Unforgiveable Truth," *"Guardians, Inc.," and *"EDITH+EDDIE." https://stopguardianabuse.org/documentaries
GWAAR GSC Newsletter October, 2022 The Guardian https://mcusercontent.com/15a2414a35ff2e302c4af45b8/files/7c6dd545-b50b-e420-07d6-56ca3539aafd/The_Guardian_October_2022.pdf
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NASW WI 22 Resources

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