The Importance of Adult Guardianship for Social Work Practice

Abstract

Guardianship is a legal intervention used to protect incapacitated adults through the appointment of a surrogate decision maker. Demographic trends and improvements of medical technology suggest that gerontological social workers ought to be particularly concerned about guardianship as more people live into older ages with some degree of impairment. This article presents an overview of the guardianship decision-making process and of the roles social workers can have in promoting social justice through this process.

Key Words:

• Adult guardianship
• capacity
• capacity assessment
• everyday competence
• ethics
• guardianship reform
• legal interventions
• policy
• social justice
• social work roles