T he Public Guardian serves as the court-appointed attorney and guardian ad litem (GAL) for children in

abuse and neglect cases. Most of these children are in the care of the Illinois Department of Children and Fami-ly Services (DCFS).

Attorneys in the Juvenile Division aggressively advo-cate for the rights of children. In several cases, the Pub-lic Guardian has successfully sued for money damages

for children who were harmed in foster care. Recently, the Public Guardian settled a wrongful death action against a social service agency involving a three-year-old girl who died while in DCFS’s custody when her mentally ill father poured gasoline on her and her six-year-old brother and set them on fire. The brother survived but suffered burns over 40% of his body.

Child victims of abuse often need intensive mental health services to address their past trauma. Far too often, these children are denied essential services. At times, children in DCFS care are (continued on page 3)

Message from Charles P. Golbert, Acting Public Guardian

W elcome to The Advocate, newsletter of the Office of the Cook County Pub-lic Guardian. I have had the privilege of serving as Cook County’s Acting

Public Guardian since September 2017 pursuant to appointment by the Hon. Tim-othy C. Evans, Chief Judge of the Circuit Court of Cook County. The Public Guardian’s Office, as one of the largest guardianship and child advo-cacy offices in the country, represents some of society’s most vulnerable people. In the Juvenile Division, the office represents approximately 6,000 abused, ne-glected, and dependent children as their lawyer and guardian ad litem. In the Do-mestic Relations Division, the office acts as the child representative for approxi-mately 600 children in hotly contested divorce and parentage disputes. In the

Adult Guardianship Division, the office serves as guardian for approximately 700, mostly elderly individuals with cognitive disabilities such as Alzheimer’s disease, and manages more than $100 million of estate as-sets. The staff of approximately 190 people is comprised of some 100 lawyers and includes case managers, financial services specialists, investigators, property managers, and other professionals. The office’s motto is lux legis relictis, the light of the law for the forsaken. This newsletter highlights some of our recent cases and accomplishments. These cases range from a lawsuit to recover $600,000 stolen from a 97-year-old woman with dementia in a nursing home that re-ceived national publicity, to a large settlement on behalf of children who were set on fire while in DCFS custody, to hosting a delegation from China that visited the office to learn about our innovative programs and best practices. Our lawyers, case managers, and other professionals are tenacious and fight hard for the rights of those we serve. They personify the notion of civil servants working in the public interest. It is a pleasure to work with these individuals every day. And it is a privilege of the highest order to represent society’s most vul-nerable people who, due to age or disability, are not able to fight for themselves.

Battling for Victims of Child Abuse and Neglect

T hroughout Cook County, as the “Baby Boom” gen-eration ages and the number of elderly residents

grows, more seniors are becoming victims of financial exploitation at the hands of people entrusted to provide them care. The Public Guardian protects seniors who were financially exploited before they received the pro-tections of a guardian. In such cases, once appointed the Public Guardian is aggressive in suing the exploiters to recover the money, which is then used to care for the individual. The Public Guardian has recovered more than $50 million stolen from senior citizens in Cook County over the past ten years. Roughly 40% of new cases re-ferred to the Public Guardian include financial exploita-tion.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the elderly population in America will more than double between now and the year 2050, to 80 million. By that year, as many as 1 in 5 Americans could be elderly. Most of this growth should occur by 2030, when the "baby boom" generation enters their elderly years. The growth in Illinois’ aging population will more than double by 2030 with an expected 57% increase of individuals 60 years of age and older. In Cook County, over 500,000 residents are aged 60 or older, and that population increases eve-ry year.

The "oldest old" -- those aged 85 and over -- are the most rapidly growing elderly age group. The oldest old numbered 3 million in 1994, making them 10% of the elderly and just over 1% of the total population. Thanks to the aging baby boom generation, it is expected the oldest old will number 19 million in 2050. That would make them 24% of elderly Americans and 5% of all Americans.

In 2016, the most recent year for which data is pub-licly available, the Illinois Department on Aging received 8,290 reports of financial exploitation, more than half of the reports of abuse it saw for the entire year.

In December 2017, the Public Guardian sued an Ak-ron, Ohio-based mega-church that coerced an elderly woman with advanced dementia who was living in a

hoarded home to hand over her life savings of $340,000. When we became the woman’s guard-ian, we sued the church to recover the money. The case made headlines around the world. You can read more about this case here.

In September 2018, the Public Guardian was ap-pointed as temporary guardian for Grace Watanabe, a 97-year-old woman with dementia who was forced into a Japanese internment camp during World War II. Al-most immediately, the Public Guardian sued workers at a Chicago senior facility where she lived who stole her

life savings of $600,000 and moved her to a safe, highly regarded nursing home. For roughly one year, staff at the prior facility cashed checks, made bank withdrawals and transferred money online without her consent. This case received national press coverage. You

can read more about Ms. Watanabe’s story here. According to Acting Public Guardian Charles Gol-

bert, “Financial exploitation is one of the most wide-spread and rapidly growing problems in our society. The baby boomers are aging so there are a lot of people in this demographic. They have accumulated life savings in their retirement and they have become vulnerable.”

In appointing the Public Guardian as temporary guardian for an elderly gentleman with dementia in a complex financial exploitation case, the judge presiding gave the Public Guardian the highest imaginable compli-ment: that probate court judges would want the Public Guardian as their own guardian if they ever needed one. Upon appointment, the judge said: “There are older judges who have since retired who have said if anything ever happened to them, they want the Public Guardian to take care of them. They do an amazing job…. [The in-dividual under guardianship] is going to be in good hands.” Fall 2018 | 2

Public Guardian Fights Back Against “Boom” in Elder Abuse

“Financial exploitation is one of the most widespread and rapidly growing problems in our

society. The baby boomers are aging so there are a lot of people in this demographic. They have

accumulated life savings in their retirement and they have become vulnerable.”

Protecting Children in Contested Divorce Cases

T he Public Guardian’s Domestic Relations Division was initiated in 1988 to provide legal representation for

children whose parents are involved in highly contested divorce or parentage matters. These cases are often com-plex and acrimonious.

Our office was appointed to represent “Vivian,” age fourteen, in a parentage case. Vivian has severe mental health issues that required several psychiatric hospitaliza-tions. Her mother had obtained an order of protection on Vivian’s behalf against her father. The Public Guardian’s assigned attorney worked with Vivian’s parents and their attorneys to develop a solid support system where Vivian

feels safe and protected while receiving the treatment and services she needs.

Vivian and her par-ents worked hard to improve their relationships with each other. Vivian is now attending a community college with hopes of attending a four year university once her general education credits are finished. She dreams of being an author and is now writing her first mystery novel.

Fall 2018 | 3

Battling for Victims continued from page 1

warehoused in locked psychiatric hospitals far longer than needed because DCFS doesn’t have an appropriate placement. According to a recent analysis by The Atlantic and ProPublica Illinois, from 2015 and 2017, nearly 30% of children in DCFS care who were hospitalized were held beyond medical necessity.

“It’s appalling. These are real kids the state is re-sponsible for,” said Charles Golbert, the Acting Public Guardian, in the Atlantic article. “To spend this much time in a psychiatric hospital after you’ve been stabilized and need to be in a caring placement, not a hospital, is wholly unacceptable.” You can read the full Atlantic/ProPublica article here.

Once children enter DCFS care, they are often as-signed to many different social workers and therapists. Their assigned attorney through the Public Guardian is frequently the only consistent presence in their life. One example of the value of this continuity of representation was felt recently in the case of our infant client named “Michael.”

Michael entered DCFS care in 2015 after he and his siblings suffered multiple episodes of physical abuse, one of which resulted in his older sister’s murder by his fa-ther’s girlfriend. The case was the subject of an Inspector General Report and was reported in the Chicago Tribune.

Earlier this year, Michael was adopted by a loving family after two years in DCFS care. During those two years, many different social workers from DCFS were as-signed to Michael and his family, causing delay in perma-nency as each needed time to become familiar with his case.

Assistant Public Guardian Ulysses Rosales was as-signed as Michael’s attorney and GAL in 2015, and he re-

mained at Michael’s side until the adoption was complete. When Michael’s case finally closed, his now-adoptive mother expressed her gratitude to Mr. Rosales, writing, “You never let me down, you rode this case out to the end and I will truly and forever be grateful to YOU; you always had Michael’s best interest at hand without hesi-tation, thank you so much.”

The Public Guardian also fights to ensure that chil-dren in state care do not get second-class medical treat-ment. “Abby” was diagnosed with a terminal degenera-tive neurological condition when she was four months old. Most people with her condition don’t live past age seven. Her diagnosis is so rare that there is only one clinic in the United States, located in Texas, which specializes in its treatment. DCFS would not help Abby’s foster parents secure an appointment at the clinic until the Public Guardian intervened and fought in court to make certain that Abby would travel to Texas and be treated at the clinic. Once Abby began her treatment, her foster mother thanked the Public Guardian, stating, “They care for the most vulnerable of the vulnerable. My little girl wouldn’t be on the way to a specialty clinic that could make a difference in her life expectancy. We have the Public Guardian to thank for that.”

Fall 2018 | 4

Cook County Public Guardian Hosts Chinese Officials

I n August 2018, the Public Guardian hosted a delegation of governmental officials and social workers from Shanghai,

China visiting Chicago to study elder care and services. The delegation was part of an exchange through the Chicago Sister Cities International social services program. Sean Martin, the Assistant Deputy of the Public Guardian’s Adult Guardianship Division, serves on the official Sister Cities delegate host com-mittee.

“I was greatly impressed that despite our cultural differ-ences and very different systems for delivery of social services, there is great commonality in the passion for providing ser-vices for older adults who have a disability,” reflected Martin after the exchange. “We find that we all share the desire to have adults age in place with strong social supports.”

Representatives of the Public Guardian discussed with the delegation guardianship in the United States, best practic-es, and the innovative programs at the Public Guardian’s Office. Societal challenges regarding aging have no national boundaries, and the Public Guardian’s Office is regarded inter-nationally as a leader in meeting the needs of such vulnerable populations.

OPG Out Working and Working Out

OPG staff at the 14th Annual Night of Service at Symphony of Bronzeville Nursing Home

OPG Attorney, Carrie Fung (2nd from left), with other CABA panelists at the ISBA’s 6th Annual

Minority Bar CLE Conference

Team OPG finished strong in

Race Judicata® 2018

All work and no baseball?!

OPG Adult Guardianship Division staff with members

of the Shanghai, China delegation

For more information, visit us at

publicguardian.org