My Services: Guardianship
Rogers Guardianships: The Basics
If your child takes anti-psychotic medication and you are going to become her legal guardian, the guardianship will have a Rogers component. The clinician who prescribes the medication can tell you if it is considered to be an anti-psychotic. Rogers proceedings are named after a 1983 Massachusetts court case, Rogers v. Commissioner of Mental Health, which stated that antipsychotic medications are so intrusive, and their side effects are potentially so severe, that a Court must approve them.
Here is a brief summary of how Rogers proceedings work:
The Treatment Plan expires after 12 months. If your child is still taking antipsychotic medication at the end of the 12-month period, you must make arrangements to have the Treatment Plan renewed. It is your responsibility to do this—it is not the responsibility of your child's attorney. If your child receives DDS or DMH services, the agency's legal department might handle the paperwork for you. Ask your child's service coordinator for a referral.
If going through DDS or DMH is not an option, your attorney can assist you with the paperwork or you can do it yourself. The procedures for uncontested Rogers reviews are described in Probate Court Standing Order 4-11, "Administrative Process for Uncontested Rogers Review and Extensions." But there is a steep learning curve, and you might want to pay your attorney to take care of the paperwork for the first couple of years until you become familiar with the forms and procedures.
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