The mission of the Guardian Monitoring Program in Ada County is to act as the eyes and ears of the court and help to improve accountability through the monitoring of the care received by vulnerable populations under legal guardianship.

Description:
Our job is to perform home visits to more than 900 people who are currently living under the legal appointment of a guardian. Our volunteers are trained in the legal process, interviewing, report writing and issues dealing with vulnerable populations. We perform home visits with children, developmentally delayed individuals and the elderly. All of these populations have a guardian who is caring for all of their personal needs. Our volunteers perform home visits with a pre-formed questionnaire which makes the interview process easy. Our office sends out warning letters to the guardians, so the volunteers do not go without a warning first. Volunteers are responsible for setting up the visit with both the guardian and the person they are caring for and this can be at the volunteers discretion. It is a very flexible volunteer situation.

History:
Our agency began in 1995 when the probate Judge realized the annual reports required by Idaho State statute be submitted by guardians and conservators, were not being read or followed-up up on. The guardians were not being visited and abuses were not being identified. There are numerous monitoring agencies around the nation and only one in the State of Idaho which covers one county. The Judge established the program here in Ada County to help her with the review and follow-up on these cases. The Judge recruited, trained and mentored volunteers that also audited all accountings that came in to the court by the conservators. The Judge utilized the training curriculum developed by AARP in 1988 and is still being used by the program today. The cases started to increase and in 1995 Ada County had 350 cases. Today we have over 1400. The county commissioners fund a full time administrator who recruits, trains and manages the entire program. Please visit our web page at www.adaweb.net Links are: Guardian Monitoring found on the left hand side of the page.

Contact people:

Dede Shelton, Program Administrator, (208) 287-7651, (email) Danita Findlay, Administrative Assistant, (208) 287-7652, (email)

Office fax number: (208) 287-7499

Address:

200 W. Front Street Boise, ID 83702 (See a map)

Web Site: http://www.adaweb.net

Directions:

The courthouse is located on Front street between Broadway and 3rd Avenue. It is kitty corner from WinCo. Come up Front street from Broadway and there is parking on the East side of the courthouse. The program will validate your. . . (more)   Nearest Bus Stop: Courthouse