FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Monday, March 20, 2023
Senator Wadsack Continues to Fight for Children with Disabilities
PHOENIX, ARIZONA—In an effort to confront the growing amount of misinformation created by third-party organizations benefiting financially from the current way guardianship for children with disabilities operates, Senator Justine Wadsack (R-17) has released the following statement:
SB 1411 would allow for parents who are the primary caregiver of a minor child receiving services for developmental disabilities, to work with DDD (Division of Developmental Disabilities) at the child's 17th birthday to determine the guardian of that child when they turn 18.
"The way the system currently works, parents automatically lose guardianship of their child with disabilities when they turn 18," said Senator Wadsack. This forces parents to go through a costly, invasive, and lengthy process of hiring an attorney, just to keep guardianship of their own child. This is detrimental to both parents and children; meanwhile third-party organizations are benefitting from this. Many times, parents are not notified in a timely manner that this will happen, causing them to lose guardianship of a child unable to care for themself. DDD services are continued automatically, yet parents' rights do not continue uninterrupted. This is not an automatic guardianship for all kids either, there are different layers which will ALWAYS error on the side of the child/ member receiving DDD services. This is a human bill, not a partisan bill, and something needs to be done to address this gross abuse of power. It's time to put the onus of the process in the hands of the one state agency intimately involved in the parents' and children's lives, DDD."
Senator Wadsack looks forward to this bill moving through the legislative process.
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For more information, contact:
Chierstin Susel
Deputy Director of Communications | Arizona State Senate Republican Caucus
csusel@azleg.gov