When Winsor C. Schmidt and colleagues conducted their landmark national study in the late 1970s, public guardianship was a fairly new phenomenon and public guardianship practices were highly irregular. No further study on a national level was conducted and published until that of Pamela B. Teaster and colleagues in 2005. In the twenty-five intervening years, the following converging trends escalated the need for guardianship: the “graying” of the population (with a sudden upward spike anticipated around 2010 when the Boomers begin to come of age); the aging of individuals with disabilities and the aging of their caregivers; the advancements in medical technologies affording new
choices for chronic conditions and end-of-life care; the rising incidence of elder abuse; and the growing mobility that has pulled families apart. In response, most states reformed their adult guardianship laws, and many enacted public guardianship programs. Private non-profit and for-profit guardianship services emerged alongside public guardianship, with little known about how they function. Against this backdrop, and because of the length of time elapsed, it was imperative to conduct a second national study of public guardianship. The purpose of the 2005 study was to make findings and recommendations to improve care for public guardianship wards⎯persons unable to care for them selves and typically poor, alone, or “different,” with no other recourse than to become wards of the state.