Guardianship Stories

Happy Endings

Posted by on March 18, 2011 at 4:38 pm

We have a 27 year old client who was abandoned by his momma when he was very young.  He has cerebral palsy, intellectual disabilities and juvenile diabetes.  Recently we moved him in with a family that has a foster care home for adults with disabilities.  They are very caring and nurturing.  He was so happy [...]

Looking for a Home

Posted by on February 13, 2011 at 12:44 pm

We are looking for a donation of office space for our San Antonio office.  We plan to move our office there in just a few weeks.   Do you know anyone in San Antonio who might help us out?

Thank you for Here

Posted by on September 30, 2010 at 3:54 pm

There was no way to know if she understood what we were saying when we first met her.  She could not talk – could not tell us what was wrong or what she wanted or needed.  There was a look of fear in her eyes that I will never forget.  She was panicked – stumbling [...]

I don’t know what to do.

Posted by on September 9, 2010 at 4:00 pm

I went to see an elderly widow who was sitting on concrete steps outside her house.  She was crying and she had pulled out almost all of her hair. There were ants crawling all over her.   She couldn’t remember when she had eaten last or when she had taken her medicine.  She just kept [...]

The Reunion

Posted by on August 24, 2010 at 6:22 pm

Ann was visiting one of her favorite guardianship clients, when she decided to ask, “What would you like more than anything in the world?  Mary said, “I’d like to see my sister once more before I die.”  Working this out was a challenge since her sister lived in a nursing home several hours away and [...]

Piccadilly

Posted by on August 12, 2010 at 5:16 pm

You could barely see her house from the road.  She had not eaten a real meal in years.  Her plumbing didn’t work.  It had been several years since she had been able to cook or bathe.  She was afraid to let anyone know she needed help so she withdrew inside her house and little problems [...]

They Won’t Know

Posted by on July 22, 2010 at 2:37 am

We told one of our elderly guardianship clients that we never show anyone their pictures to protect them and to insure confidentiality. She gave us this picture and said, “Show  this.  No one will know it’s me.”

In a Shed behind his House

Posted by on July 12, 2010 at 8:33 pm

He was a vet. His family had locked him in a shed behind his house for years.  He might have died in that shed, but one of his family members got mad at him and split his head open with a hoe.  The family took him to the emergency room. Police told us later they [...]

One Thousand Dollars for Lunch

Posted by on July 5, 2010 at 4:27 am

I received a call from Adult Protective Services in a neighboring county. “I know you don’t serve our county, but we have an elderly lady who is starving to death. There is no one else to take care of her. I’ll understand if you can’t help.”

Saving for a Rainy Day

Posted by on July 5, 2010 at 4:25 am

In our first year at Friends for Life, we were asked to be the legal guardian for a man who had been found unconscious on a railroad track. He was living in a shed about the size of my office (which was pretty tiny).