Author: spectdesign

The Subcommittee on the Constitution of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing today titled “Toxic Conservatorships: The Need for Reform.”  In his opening remarks, Senator Richard Blumenthal essentially referred to a “carrot and stick” federal approach to reform.  He called on the Department of Justice and the Department of Health and Human Services to provide the states with “best practices” guidance that would address three issues: a serious exploration in each case of less restrictive alternatives such as supported decision-making; improving civil rights protections; and better mechanisms to monitor ongoing conservatorships to reduce the risk of abuse.  He […]

After studying conservatorship legal defense providers in all 58 counties in California, a new report from Spectrum Institute has found that inadequate funding, high caseloads, a lack of performance standards, and an absence of quality assurance controls are contributing to deficient legal services for indigent adults with mental and developmental disabilities.   The report recommends a variety of remedial actions by state officials and agencies. It also calls on civil grand juries in all counties throughout the state to investigate these deficiencies. Some 70,000 adults in California are living in probate conservatorships. About 5,000 new petitions are filed annually. Some are […]

This episode of the podcast series picks up where the second episode left off.  It describes the shift in the advocacy activities of Tom Coleman after his memoirs were published in 2009.  He ventured into the area of abuse of people with disabilities, especially those with developmental disabilities, with the goal of promoting more effective responses to such abuse by government agencies.  While doing that important work, Coleman was introduced to an extremely challenging set of problems with the probate conservatorship system in California.  After investigating a few specific cases of young adults with developmental disabilities whose rights were violated […]

By Thomas F. Coleman Daily Journal – August 24, 2021 Conservatorship reform advocates were cautiously optimistic when the Judicial Council adopted new training requirements for attorneys in probate conservatorship proceedings.   The mandates of Rule 7.1103 of the California Rules of Court became effective on January 1, 2020. For years, some of us had pushed for better educational programs for court appointed counsel in these cases.  We wanted crucial topics to be included in training curricula as well as performance standards to ensure that trainings would not misinform attorneys or inadvertently encourage malpractice.  We got half a loaf.  The Judicial Council […]

By Thomas F. Coleman The State of New Hampshire has just enacted Senate Bill 134 — a supported decision-making (SDM) statute.  The law could help some adults with mental or developmental disabilities avoid being placed under an order of guardianship.  A set of legislative “findings” expresses a clear preference by the Legislature for less restrictive alternatives to guardianship to be considered before the state encroaches on an individual’s liberties.  One of the findings states: “Supported decision-making is a process which preserves the self-determination of adults with disabilities by providing them with accommodations and supports to enable them to make life […]

Dear Officers and Directors, Until today when I came across your website, I was unaware of the California Grand Jury Association. Earlier this year, I wrote a commentary discussing the power of civil grand juries to identify systemic flaws in the probate conservatorship system in California and to suggest reforms.  A copy of the commentary is attached.  Please share it with your chapters and members. I realize that civil grand juries are not authorized to investigate state officers or agencies.  Even with that limitation, there is much to investigate regarding the role of county officials with respect to the conservatorship […]

This episode of the podcast series gives the audience a glimpse into the past of the Tom Coleman and takes a virtual walk down memory lane, reminiscing about life growing up in Ferndale, Michigan, his entry into law school in Detroit, and his move to Los Angeles where he began his lifetime role as a legal advocate at Loyola Law School.  The episode touches on a few phases of Tom’s advocacy for various causes — from his focus on LGBT rights and sexual civil liberties in the 1970s, to privacy rights, hate crimes, domestic partner benefits and recognition of family […]

The California Supreme Court was asked today to convene a blue-ribbon panel to review deficiencies in the way legal defense services are being provided to adults who are entangled in probate conservatorship proceedings.  The request was submitted by Spectrum Institute and a variety of organizations involved in disability rights, elder care, and mental health services, along with a national coalition advancing the right to counsel.  Spectrum Institute is a nonprofit advocacy organization in the forefront of  conservatorship reform.  The request is available online: click here to download. The request cited various ways in which the right to counsel has been […]

The Daily Journal has published a commentary written by Thomas F. Coleman, executive director of Spectrum Institute. The article explains how current laws that supposedly protect the right to counsel of choice in a conservatorship proceeding were repeatedly ignored by judges and attorneys involved in the case of Britney Spears. Coleman argues that the California Legislature needs to reaffirm the right to counsel of choice, and specify that every conservatee or proposed conservatee is entitled to be represented by a lawyer who advocates for the client’s expressed wishes and defends their constitutional and statutory rights.  The attorney’s loyalties should be […]

Listen as your host Thomas F. Coleman addresses freedom of choice in matters such as health care, finances, living arrangements, sexual relationships, marital status, social interactions, and recreational activities.  The tactics used and lessons learned while advocating on those issues — police oppression, LGBT+ rights, hate crimes, family diversity, singles’ rights, and trafficking of abused teens — can be adapted to develop winning advocacy strategies for today’s activities which are directed towards conservatorship and guardianship reform as well as mental health rights for people with developmental disabilities. For access to the Episode #1 feature story, video version, and audio version, […]