Guardianship and Alternatives to Guardianship: Functional Assessment and Targeted Recommendations in a Modern Age

Historically, guardianship has only been thought of as a forced-choice situation in which evaluators must choose either finding in need of guardianship or not. Currently a wide variety of alternatives to simple forced choice are available to the clinicians. In assessing capacity for decision-making, contemporary international and probate law encourages functional assessments which identify accommodations and opportunities for growth rather than global findings. This event is a two-part training that provides a basic overview of the Maine Probate Code as it relates to Guardianship of Incapacitated Persons and alternatives to Guardianship and appropriate considerations and functional assessment tools when providing capacity evaluations and targeted recommendations.

Lydia Paquette, Esq.,  is a Staff Attorney at Disability Rights Maine in the Developmental Services Advocacy and Protection for Advocacy for Individuals with Developmental Disabilities programs. Lydia grew up in Washington County and graduated from the University of Maine at Orono with a B.A. in Psychology. She went on to obtain her J.D. from Roger Williams University School of Law with a focus in public interest law.  She currently specializes in adult guardianship proceedings and facilitates Maine’s Supported Decision-Making Coalition. 

Approval for 3 Continuing Education Credits for Psychologist has been submitted to the Board.