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This study examines the sociodemographic and clinical characteristics of patients with delusional disorder who have committed crimes, with a particular focus on the factors that contribute to criminal behaviour and the criminal characteristics that are exhibited by this group. Furthermore, this study presents the inaugural analysis of criminal responsibility and legal capacity in this patient population. The data from the Turkish Council of Forensic Medicine (2018–2022) were subjected to retrospective analysis, with a comparison made between the 54 cases evaluated for criminal responsibility. The results demonstrated that patients with criminal histories exhibited elevated rates of divorce, diminished educational attainment, increased hospitalisations, and a higher prevalence of erotomanic and religious delusions. Males were more likely to commit crimes against their spouses, while females targeted their neighbours. Males also predominated in objections to guardianship decisions. These characteristics are associated with an increased risk of criminal involvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The number of missing child reports exceed police investigative capacity, yet some incidents are linked with harm, making effective risk assessment essential for safeguarding. Police data likely underrepresents harm to missing children due to harm being undisclosed, and missing incidents going unreported. A better understanding of harm associated with missing children could help to develop appropriate interventions to reduce missing incidents and prevent harm. This study examined 18 months of published Child Safeguarding Practice Reviews across England – a previously overlooked resource for understanding harm to missing children – to identify the intersecting characteristics, vulnerabilities, harm types, indicators, and issues with formal guardianship (safeguarding by carers, schools, local authorities, police and health professionals). Results revealed that children were missing, vulnerable, harmed, and showed indicators of exploitation in numerous and intersecting ways. Of the missing from home or care (MFHC) cases, all but two mentioned repeat missing incidents, all mentioned missing school, 75% mentioned exclusion, and over half mentioned going missing from both home and care. All MFHC cases mentioned multiple vulnerabilities and multiple harm types. All but one of the MFHC cases mentioned multiple exploitation indicators. This highlights opportunities for guardianship including extending the police Philomena Protocol to schools for children at risk of exclusion. The constraints of formal guardians, when combined with the risks faced by some vulnerable children, can lead to inadequate supervision and support – paradoxically leaving those children simultaneously overexposed to harm yet under-served by protective services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Parents have long been concerned with the transition to adulthood of their children with intellectual and developmental disability (IDD) particularly with financial issues. The purpose of this study was to explore the financial concerns of mothers of adults with IDD. Five mothers of adults with IDD participated in a focus group to share their experiences, opinions, concerns, and challenges related to finances. Five themes emerged from the qualitative data analysis: (a) job-related difficulties, (b) living expenses, (c) access to essential services, (d), skills deficits and/or challenging behavior, and (e) long-term care. Mothers in general indicated tremendous financial burdens, loss of income, and expressed concerns about long-term care of their children with IDD. These themes are discussed and implications for practice and research are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay deals with early Mālikī doctrine in Umayyad al-Andalus regarding the Christians. It focuses in particular on "mixed family" issues, that is, those arising from the marriage between a Muslim man and a Christian woman and their children, by analysing masāʾil (sing. masʾala, dialogues among jurists) and fatāwā (sing. fatwā, juridical answers for questions and lawsuits). These materials provide us with rich information about how Andalusī jurists quoted and selected their teachers' opinions, and also about the contents of their own doctrines. I will especially deal with custody (ḥaḍāna) of children born to a Christian mother and with the religious affiliation of children whose Christian father converted to Islam. The sources analysed provide evidence that juridical discussions responded to social issues, including blurred religious identities and pressure to convert in "mixed family" contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Throughout its proceedings and in its Final Report, the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability gave considerable prominence to supported decision-making as a means for achieving the human rights of people with disabilities. It sought input on supported decision-making from people with lived experience, roundtables, public hearings, and commissioned independent research on supported decision-making and proposals for reform. Practical challenges raised at the roundtables and by witnesses included the resources needed for education, training, and capacity building, and the challenge of finding supporters for people who were isolated. Evidence was given that legal reform was only one aspect of what was needed to embed supported decision-making into sectors and services to improve the lives of people with cognitive disabilities. The Commission's Final Report endorsed a set of national supported decision-making principles, with many of these principles underpinned by the evidence received and commissioned research. However, overall, the Commission's recommendations were overly focused on reform of guardianship and administration systems, and implementation guidance was lacking. The Commission also missed an opportunity to recommend legislative and practice reform beyond guardianship systems, into multiple services and sectors including the National Disability Insurance Scheme, the health system, and the public sector more widely. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the composition of families in the parish of São José de Encoge, northern Angola, in the early colonial era, using a series of 'family bulletins' collected by the Portuguese colonial government in 1910. Encoge was one of the earliest centres of coffee cultivation in west-central Africa. While not all local families participated in this economy, the census sheds light on family-based cash-crop production after the abolition of slavery in Angola. The literature on post-slavery labour arrangements in Africa almost unanimously suggests that family-extension strategies predominantly aimed to integrate young women and girls into households, using pawnship and guardianship as important methods. The family bulletins from Encoge provide a means to evaluate this assumption on a quantitative basis in an Angolan context. They indicate that, besides natural reproduction and the adoption of second wives, the incorporation of wards, nephews, and nieces was the most common form of household extension, in which elders showed a remarkable preference for male dependants. The bulletins do not provide clear evidence of the presence of enslaved dependants, although some individuals listed as servants were possibly enslaved. Overall, the data suggest that, contrary to common assumptions about agricultural labour in Africa, family-based cultivation and trade of coffee did not discriminate against men or boys. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractPurposeMaterials and methodsResultsConclusions\nIMPLICATIONS FOR REHABILITATIONSupported decision-making (SDM) is an emerging and innovative alternative to substitute decision-making practices. While relationships are pivotal in establishing proper and effective SDM, scant research has examined these relationships in-depth. This study explores how decision-making supporters perceive relationships embedded in SDM for adults with disabilities. Furthermore, it compares the points of view of family and volunteer supporters on these relationships.Using a semi-structured interview guide, in-depth interviews were held with 16 family and 16 volunteer supporters of Israeli decision-makers with disabilities.Both family and volunteer supporters addressed the centrality of the support relationship. However, they differed in their perspectives on the ways such relationships should be formed and on their boundaries. We distinguish between families’ continuing relationships vs. volunteers’ emerging relationships to emphasize the identified differences.The findings highlighted the importance of relationships to SDM processes, highlighting the need to examine in greater depth whether and how “typical” family relationships differ from SDM relationships. Based on these findings, we recommend training and guidance for both family and volunteer supporters in developing and strengthening these relationships.Supported decision-making enhances quality of life as it helps persons with disabilities make and implement decisions.With proper supported decision-making, people with disabilities feel their wishes are recognized and respected.Focus on and awareness of relationship building is crucial and thus its various dimensions should explicitly be incorporated in any training program or policy for supported decision-makersGiven adequate training, both family and volunteers can develop positive relationships in supported decision-making schemes.Supported decision-making enhances quality of life as it helps persons with disabilities make and implement decisions.With proper supported decision-making, people with disabilities feel their wishes are recognized and respected.Focus on and awareness of relationship building is crucial and thus its various dimensions should explicitly be incorporated in any training program or policy for supported decision-makersGiven adequate training, both family and volunteers can develop positive relationships in supported decision-making schemes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Courts have a legal and ethical duty to monitor adult guardianship cases to protect the rights of individuals with guardians. Aging and disability advocates have been recommending improvements to adult guardianship monitoring for decades. The aim of this study is to examine annual guardianship reporting procedures in each state. Using the National Guardianship Association’s (NGA) Standards of Practice as a guide, we summarize what is missing from adult guardianship annual report forms in each state. Since 2000, the NGA Standards have been the benchmark for guiding guardianship best practices, making it a valuable tool for guardianship reporting and monitoring. Results show that most states are not collecting thorough data on adults with guardians, their guardians, or the guardian-client relationship. Additionally, many existing annual report forms may be difficult to complete due to confusing question structure and reading levels that are above the national average, especially since most adult guardians are nonprofessional guardians. Improved reporting procedures would help courts monitor guardianships more effectively, ensure that the rights of individuals with guardians are being protected, and provide meaningful data on the overall state of guardianship. Limitations and plans for future research are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Large numbers of children in Australia are in long-term out-of-home care (OOHC). Legal frameworks available for their care are long-term foster care, guardianship, and plenary adoption. Views of individuals with OOHC or adoption experience on these legal frameworks were explored via an online survey. A legal framework called simple adoption, which makes children legal members of adoptive families without legally excising them from birth families, was also considered. The respondents (N = 1019) evaluated aspects of these frameworks as strengths or weaknesses from which scores were calculated. Overall, simple adoption had the highest strength score, followed by plenary adoption, guardianship, and long-term foster care. The highest weakness score was for long-term foster care, followed by guardianship, plenary adoption, and simple adoption. That simple adoption enabled enduring familial relationships between children and their adoptive families while retaining legal identity and legal connection with birth families contributed to its favourable evaluation. IMPLICATIONS The legal severance of children from birth families and the supplanting of legal identity that occurs in plenary adoption makes this form of adoption unacceptable to many. Simple adoption, allowing for children to be full legal members of both their adoptive and birth families and preserving legal identity, makes it attractive to individuals with a variety of experience backgrounds. An exploration of legislative reform to allow for simple adoption in Australia should be undertaken. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Barbershops have historically been characterized as a safe space for males across communities, especially in traditionally disadvantaged and specifically African American communities. The study explores barbershops’ role in community guardianship and as a mechanism for crime prevention. Using a mixed-methods approach, we gathered data from public repositories and conducted semi-structured interviews utilizing a sample of owners, managers, and barbers of predominantly African American barbershops in Norfolk, Virginia. Results give insight into how community institutions combat and address communal and social-cultural issues within the community—providing havens of social control and crime reduction. Research suggests a need to further study and conceptualize barbershops and other communal institutions as crime reduction and prevention entities. Additionally, findings support an increase in resources allocated to marginalized areas, so institutions such as barbershops can continue to promote initiatives tailored to their community, reducing deviance and crime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Clinicians encounter patients under legal guardianship. We aimed to assess the knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAP) on legal guardianship in residents. A KAP pilot survey about legal guardianship was developed by an interdisciplinary medicine-law-public health team and was distributed via institutional email to internal medicine, psychiatry, and neurology residents in a single academic institution. Of the 172 invited residents, 105 (61%) responded and 102 surveys were included in the final analysis. Most respondents (58% women; internal medicine 73%, neurology 15%, psychiatry 12%) had attended 42 medical schools from 16 countries and had heard about guardianship (88%), but only 23% reported having received training on guardianship during medical school or residency. The vast majority (97%) understood the intended benefit of guardianship, but only 22.5% reported knowing that guardianship removed an individual's decision-making rights. Nearly half (47%) of respondents reported never having asked for documentation to prove that an individual was a patient's guardian, and only 15% expected to see a court order as proof of guardianship status. Although most residents intuitively understood the intended benefit of guardianship, they did not understand its full implications for clinical practice. Training interventions are warranted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sisters and brothers play an important role in the lives of their siblings with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD), starting in childhood and commonly increasing in adulthood. The current study compared typically-developing adult sisters' and brothers' level of involvement in the care of their siblings with IDD. Beyond this, the study examined differences in sisters' and brothers' readiness for primary caregiving – including their readiness for guardianship and belief in their sibling's independent decision-making, loneliness, and self-efficacy, and how these variables predict their involvement. Participants included 175 Israeli adult (aged 18 years and older) siblings – 118 sisters and 57 brothers of individuals with IDD (Intellectual Disability and/or Autism Spectrum Disorder). The participants completed online questionnaires. Results revealed sex differences, with sisters reporting more social involvement, greater belief in their sibling's ability to make independent decisions, lower levels of loneliness, and higher self-efficacy than brothers. Additionally, hierarchical regression analyses revealed a unique sex difference in predicting siblings' involvement, with readiness for the future role of guardianship positively predicting involvement only among brothers. Variability in sisters' and brothers' involvement needs to be considered when exploring transition planning to primary caregiving, including guardianship and supported decision-making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When men died in medieval Catalonia, their widows went to the notaries. This article traces the ways in which Jewish and Christian women negotiated legal culture in response to their husbands' deaths in Catalan cities between 1250 and 1350. Death required deeply practical responses as well as emotional ones: the administration of the estate of the deceased was often a pressing concern. Both Jewish and Christian women relied on a variety of legal institutions to safeguard their own and (in some cases) their children's financial futures as they entered widowhood. Through a combination of Latin notarial documentation and Hebrew responsa literature, this article compares Jewish and Christian women's legal responses to the deaths of their husbands. Jews navigated Christian legal institutions and sometimes adapted Christian customs. Yet they also maintained distinct practices, and Jewish widows and their families maneuvered between Christian notaries and Jewish rabbinic authorities as they shaped their individual legal responses to the life-changing deaths of their husbands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the deterrent effects of neighbourhood watch signs and police signs as measures of symbolic guardianship on burglars versus non-offenders. In a virtual reality experiment, 181 burglars and 172 non-offenders scouted a virtual neighbourhood and were exposed to neighbourhood watch signs and/or signs suggesting police surveillance in the area. With neighbourhood watch signs present, both burglars and non-offenders perceived the neighbourhood residents as more likely to intervene. Burglars were also more likely to select a target closer to the exit than non-offenders when neighbourhood watch signs were present. The presence of police signs reduced the time spent scouting and the distance travelled for both burglars and non-offenders. Furthermore, as compared to non-offenders burglars selected houses with easier access, travelled less distance, and reported higher anticipation of neighbourhood resident intervention. Symbolic guardianship through neighbourhood watch or police sign seems to elicit only small effects in deterring burglars. They should not immediately be discounted as preventive measures, however, as small-effect interventions may be valuable as additions to well-established interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following up on our previous article, "Weaving Indigenous science, protocols and sustainability science" we posited that for Indigenous and Western Sciences to work together there must be reciprocity. For there to be reciprocity, Western science must adhere to the protocols of Indigenous People's science. The fundamental underpinnings of reciprocity being "reciprocal appropriation," first described by Kiowa intellectual N. Scott Momaday in the edited volume, Seeing with a Native eye: Essays on Native American religion. Momaday explained reciprocal appropriation as a paradox in which the Indigenous experience is vested in the landscape and in return the landscape invests itself in the Indigenous experience and observation of a living universe. We attempt to further elaborate on this work by first holding up other intellectuals who have contributed to the ongoing discussion of reciprocity to the natural world through a breadth of engagement with substantive strands of the literature. The term reciprocity in the context of this article works to elaborate on and alludes to a practice of meaningful exchanges that signify the continuation of relationships with all of life. The authors describe cases in which Indigenous people have demonstrated what those temporal and spatially oriented relationships can look like, how they can be carried out, and the commitment required. We conclude by offering the phrase Reciprocal Guardianship as a moral ethos in helping to shape a better stewardship of the natural world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on a 2022 Speech Pathology Australia National Conference keynote address, the author explores the concept of autonomy and how it can be reconceptualised for people with profound intellectual and multiple disability through supported decision-making. A collection of participatory action research studies with people with profound intellectual and multiple disability and their supporters are presented. Qualitative action research methodologies, including participatory observation, co-design workshops, and interviews, were used to explore supported decision-making for people with profound intellectual and multiple disability. The insights have been used to co-design (with supporters) a definition and practice framework to enhance the autonomy of people with profound intellectual and multiple disability. Drawing on the construct of relational autonomy, readers are asked to reflect on their role as speech-language pathologists in enhancing autonomy of those they service, particularly people with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities. A definition of supported decision-making for people with profound intellectual and multiple disability along with a practice framework are offered. This body of work adds to a growing evidence base in supported decision-making, providing much needed practice guidance specifically relating to people with profound intellectual and multiple disability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the obligations of a sovereign state is to provide legal protection to every citizen, including every child who is not under the authority of his parents. The authority of the state in supervising the assets of children under guardianship through BHP based on Articles 366 and 369 of the Civil Code, in practice becomes paradoxical because in general the Court does not hand over copies of guardianship stipulations to BHP. The court considers that the two articles referred to are no longer valid, while on the other hand there is no regulation that specifically regulates this authority. The method used in this research is by taking respondents from the BHP and the Courts, so that an objective contribution is obtained. The results of the study show that the level of effectiveness in the implementation of guardianship oversight authority is relatively low, namely 68.18. Therefore, in the short term, it is necessary to accommodate the provisions of Articles 366 and 369 of the Civil Code into the Child Protection Law, while in the long term, Indonesia needs to initiate the concept of a legal system for child guardianship, as has been done in several countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using a qualitative phenomenological approach, this study examined how advocates for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities in New York State came to their decision on guardianship (n = 11). This included what motivated them to make their decision, what led to choose guardianship or an alternative, who provided guidance toward their supportive role, as well as determining the advocates' level of knowledge on the subject. Through a thorough examination of the interviews with the participants, the research below shows a lack of knowledge amongst advocates for this population both surrounding guardianship and its alternatives. While the study focused on New York State due to the variability of guardianship law, the results below have the ability for far reaching impact for this population. Future research should include contrasting access to resources on this subject based on socioeconomic backgrounds and a deeper exploration of this same subject in a quantitative manner to widen the scope. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, the failings of institutions to safeguard children from sexual abuse have been brought to light through investigations and commissions of inquiries such as Australia's Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. The role of adults as guardians, to protect children within these institutions, has been afforded particular scrutiny, highlighting past ineffective and harmful intervention and responses to abuse, and even inaction. Despite this attention, limited research to date has explored the barriers underpinning guardianship behavior in this setting. Enhanced understanding of the potential barriers to guardianship is key for informing improved guardianship behavior in the future. Using data from Australia's Royal Commission, this study applies Reynald's (2010) model of capable guardianship to investigate dimensions of guardianship in youth-serving institutional settings. Three discrete settings were examined: outside school hours care, schools, and sporting institutions. Results support the utility of Reynald's (2010) model for advancing knowledge about guardianship behavior in youth-serving institutions, providing valuable lessons for future policy directions, to enhance safeguarding practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Article 12 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) emphasises full and equal legal capacity of all citizens to participate in decisions. This paper examines whether the principles of Article 12, also reflected in other reform documents, were evident within 12 guardianship hearings conducted in Victoria, Australia from 2001 to 2016 involving adults with cognitive disability. The issues this study raises resonate loudly across the globe as multiple signatory nations to the CRPD grapple with the complexities of implementing Article 12. Reports of VCAT decisions with written reasons of Guardianship List hearings from 2001 to 2016 were selected from the Australasian Legal Information Institute site and analysed thematically. Thematic analysis of proceedings revealed three consistent trends. Firstly, a presumption of incapacity based on disability excluded Proposed Represented Persons (PRP) from involvement in decision-making. Secondly, external perceptions of PRPs best interest were dominated by safeguarding concerns and conflict between supporters. Finally, in multiple cases, although a PRP's preference had been established, it was considered immaterial to the final decision. The paper concludes with a promising discussion of the new Guardianship and Administration Act 2019 (Vic), which came into force on 1 March 2020, and recommendations for guardianship practice both locally and internationally. Legal capacity should be recognised as inherent in all people, and therefore decision making incapacity should not be assumed based on a person's cognitive and/or communication disability; The supported decision making mechanisms, born from Article 12 of the CRPD, that facilitate acknowledgment, interpretation and acting upon a person's expression of will and preference need to be recognised and promoted within the context of Guardianship proceedings and by health professionals when assessing decision making capacity of people with cognitive disability; Significant knowledge and attitudinal changes are required within the Tribunal and incorporated into the practice of health professionals informing the Tribunal, in order to counter many conceptual underpinnings embedded within current guardianship legislation across the globe; Ascertaining the will and preference of the proposed represented person should be prioritised by Guardianship tribunal members' rather than the management of conflict between interested parties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Permanency has been a cornerstone concept in child welfare since the 1960s. Despite its endorsement as a best practice principle in promoting the wellbeing of children in child welfare care, debate persists about the key elements of the concept and their effects, particularly in relation to the emphasis on legal permanency when children in care cannot be reunited with their parents. This article describes results from a demonstration project using a Family Finding service model. It aimed to operationalize a multi-dimensional permanency definition where most of the children served were Indigenous. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the mid nineteenthcentury, a subgenre of ghost stories emerged that had roots in a hybrid tradition of institutional religious doctrine and oral folkloric expressions of anxiety over the fate of the child's soul in the afterlife. Given the persistently high infant mortality rates and increased public awareness of child abuse across the classes, the growing presence of stranded child ghosts in literary fictions of the period represents, I suggest, doubts or fears over the newly dominant liberal insistence that all children would attain peace in heaven and would be reunited and cared for by their family, as well as looked after by God. The child in this period represents the completion of the domestic and gendered ideal and various non-fiction and fiction literatures urged a sense of community care and guardianship over the living child that was extended to its dead spirit. In a great number of ghost stories by well-known and obscure Anglophone women writers, childless female and male protagonists and narrators act as witnesses for, or saviours of, the orphaned ghost child in ways that reframe or interrogate prescribed ideals regarding motherhood, fatherhood, the spinster, and the bachelor, but which simultaneously project concerns over childlessness and childhood more widely. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explored the patient characteristics and outcomes in relation to guardianship in a large-scale sub-acute Australian hospital. Fifteen patients who appointed a guardian at The Kingston Center, Monash Health, participated through exploratory data collection and analysis utilizing a de-identifiable template. The findings revealed both diverse and complex patient characteristics, and ethical dilemmas in patient outcomes for social workers. Patient outcomes post-guardianship appointment and discharge highlighted a negative impact from long length of stay and the iatrogenic impact on patient wellbeing in hospital. The study reflected a disparity between patients' discharge goals and their outcomes indicating significant ethical dilemmas and complexities for social workers in ensuring rights to autonomy and responsibility for safety are balanced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Unbefriended older adults are those who lack the capacity to make medical decisions and do not have a completed advance directive that can guide treatment decisions or a surrogate decision maker. Adult orphans are those who retain medical decision-making capacity but are at risk of becoming unbefriended due to lack of a completed advance health care directive and lack of a surrogate decision maker. In a follow-up to the 2016 American Geriatrics Society (AGS) position statement on unbefriended older adults, we examined clinicians' experiences in caring for unbefriended older adults and adult orphans. Methods: Clinicians recruited through the AGS (N = 122) completed an online survey about their experiences with unbefriended older adults regarding the perceived frequency of contact, clinical concerns, practice strategies, and terminology; and also with adult orphans regarding the perceived frequency of contact, methods of identification, and terminology. Results: Almost all inpatient (95.9%) and outpatient (86.4%) clinicians in this sample encounter unbefriended older adults at least quarterly and 92.2% of outpatient clinicians encounter adult orphans at least quarterly. Concerns about safety (95.9%), medication self-management (90.4%), and advance care planning (86.3%) bring unbefriended older adults to outpatient clinicians' attention "sometimes" to "frequently." Prolonged hospital stays (87.7%) and delays in transitioning to end-of-life care (85.7%) bring unbefriended older adults to inpatient clinicians' attention "sometimes" to "frequently." Clinicians apply a wide range of practice strategies to these populations. Participants suggested alternative terminology to replace "unbefriended" and "adult orphan." Conclusions: This study suggests that unbefriended older adults are frequently encountered in geriatrics practice, both in the inpatient and outpatient settings, and that there is widespread awareness of adult orphans in the outpatient setting. Clinicians' awareness of both groups suggests avenues for intervention and prevention. Clinical Implications: Health care professionals in geriatric settings will likely encounter older adults in need of advocates. Clinicians, attorneys, and policymakers should collaborate to improve early detection and to meet the needs of this vulnerable population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The nascent concept of cyberbullying has attracted researchers to study online victimization by employing a variety of criminological theories. The issues of how traditional aspects of victimization constructed in the physical environment could be applied to virtual settings and the extent to which people experience cyberbullying victimization along with their victim characteristics are still underexplored. Utilizing data from the Canadian General Social Survey and a framework of routine activities, the findings of the current study indicate that target suitability and offline guardianship derived from routine activity theory are influential attributes of cyberbullying victimization. Those who have unhealthy socio- and psycho-behavioral issues also have a higher risk of being cyberbullied. Moreover, individuals who bond with people providing guardianship have a weak association with cyberbullying victimization. Results of this study also show that the propositions derived from collective efficacy perspective could be considered as a proxy safeguard against cyberbullying victimization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ensuring the wellbeing and stability of children with foster care experiences is critical. Between 5% and 20% of children experience post-permanency instability, a reentry into foster care after adoption or guardianship; adolescents are at increased risk for post-permanency instability. Few interventions that aim to reduce post-permanency instability have been rigorously tested. This study adapted and tested Tuning in to Teens (TINT), previously tested in Australia as a prevention program with parents of adolescents. TINT teaches caregivers skills in emotion coaching (responding with empathy, support, and guidance when young people express emotions) while helping them to reduce their dismissive or harsh parenting responses and regulate their own emotions. This study found that TINT was effective at reducing the degree to which parents and guardians are struggling, especially for those who expressed difficulty with managing their child's behaviors. Implications for practice, policy, and future research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Targeted prevention efforts after adoption or guardianship from foster care are intended to help families most at-risk and prior to the onset of significant issues. Most adoptive and guardianship families adjust well with supportive services in place; only a small proportion have difficulties that result in children returning to foster care after adoption or guardianship. This study examined the use of administrative data to identify families at-risk for post-permanency discontinuity. Administrative data have some utility for identifying families that may struggle, however, they provide a limited representation of risk. Caregiver survey responses in four states (n=1,670) found that families with universal outreach scored higher on child behavioral and caregiver strain measures than families specifically targeted based on risk factors identified in the administrative data. These findings suggest that caregiver commitment and familial relationships questions should be assessed prior to targeting prevention services aimed at reducing post-permanence discontinuity. Specifically, a brief check-in with families after adoption or guardianship, with key questions discussed here, could be beneficial to identify and engage struggling families for prevention and early intervention services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Guardianship of people with disabilities has been under growing scrutiny, leading some welfare states to offer supported decision-making as a legal alternative. This study examined the attitudes of Israeli social work students toward guardianship and supported decision-making and the relationship between these attitudes and the perceived importance of social work goals, as mediated by perceptions of disability. Materials and methods: Participants were 414 undergraduate and graduate level social work students from Israel. Participants completed a structured questionnaire that measured: attitudes toward guardianship and supported decision-making, importance of social work goals, and perception of disability. Results: Although social work students tended to support limiting the scope of guardianship, they did not clearly oppose it. Individual model perspective of disability mediated the association between the social work goal of social control and attitudes toward guardianship. Social model perspective of disability mediated the association between the social work goal of social justice and attitudes toward guardianship. Conclusion: To reduce guardianship appointments, social work educators should educate students better regarding current supported decision-making trends, emphasize the importance of social justice goals, and discuss critically the necessity of social control. Further, educators need to embrace the social model of disability, in particular its view of autonomy and interdependence. The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities has urged limiting guardianship practices, and developing instead less restrictive alternatives, especially supported decision making. In order to fully implement the Convention's vision, efforts must be placed in social work training programs on discussing the limitations of guardianship, the dilemmas it raises and the advantages of other less restrictive alternatives, including that of supported decision-making. Social work educators should also emphasize the importance of social justice goals and discuss critically the necessity of social control. Similar emphasis should be placed on exposing students to the social model of disability, including its view of autonomy and interdependence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the initial results of an anonymous pilot quantitative survey on Muslims' conception of marriage and divorce, which was conducted in Germany between February and June 2018. The goal of the survey was to assess the attitudes held by Muslims towards these issues. Specifically, the questions aimed at identifying the potential role of the European context in the modification of German Muslims' understanding of marriage and divorce and gender roles, as well as interreligious marriage, mediation, and the role of the secular state in daily life. The results of this survey, although not representative of all Muslim perspectives on secular law, indicate dialogic exchange between Islamic and Western secular conceptions of family law. Contrary to some current assumptions concerning Islamic family law in Europe, the survey shows that there are many Muslims who are in favour of both conceptions (the religious and the secular) and wish to find a balance between them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article uses two examples from US history – competency hearings and asylum labor from Wisconsin in the late nineteenth- and early-twentieth century United States – to examine how ability, labor, and citizenship ideologies are enforced and created. Both are sites in which individuals are assumed to lack ability and labor is a tool of assessment and cure. I argue that central to both citizenship and ability were historically defined standards for the self-management of labor and its economic results. Criteria for the self-management of labor reflected and reinforced social hierarchies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Everyday routine activities affect the convergence in space and time of motivated offenders, suitable targets, and capable guardians. When locations of convergence are studied in this context, they tend to be viewed as part of a much larger pattern of movements through one's normal activity space. Although our understanding of crime and victimisation risk has been advanced considerably by studying places where incidents occur and our movements to-and-from them, far less is known about our everyday routine activities within locations that are part of our daily activity patterns and how our behaviour while at these places influence criminal opportunities – including opportunities for preventing crime. In response, the current study explores the impact of individuals' daily microroutines undertaken while at home on opportunities to supervise and act as guardians over their suburban surroundings. Using a sample of Brisbane suburban residents who completed semi-structured interviews (N = 20), we show how daily macroroutines affected when residents are home; but more importantly, how their daily microroutines influenced when – and for how long – they are able to engage in supervision over their residential areas. Implications for opportunity theories in general and measurement of guardianship behaviour, in particular, are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Guardianship is a legal process intended to aid incapacitated persons unable to fully care for themselves. Guardianship in the state of Kentucky ranges from total observation (24-hour care) to informal care (such as a group home) and also includes persons who are no longer being supervised but should be. One intent of guardianship includes preventing incapacitated persons from engaging in criminal acts. However, no research has been conducted on incapacitated persons currently in guardianship and the prevalence for committing predatory crimes such as murder, fire starting, or assault. Method: In this study, the authors examine guardianship supervision levels and predatory crimes in the state of Kentucky. Logistic regression analysis was used to determine the variables that significantly contributed to the model. Results: They find that unsupervised incapacitated persons are at higher odds of committing predatory crimes, leading to important policy recommendations for Kentucky guardians. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Australia in 1946, the Immigration (Guardianship of Children) Act was passed. This Act was intended to support the postwar migration to Australia of British children, unaccompanied by their parents, and provided them a guardian in Australia: the Immigration Minister. This key provision of the Act continues into the present, covering all unaccompanied child migrants, including refugees. Starting with the parliamentary debates which occurred at the formation of the Act in 1946, this article traces a history of the Act until its first High Court challenge in 1975. In doing so, a focus is placed on a series of key questions raised by its production of categories: How does the Act construct ideas of migranthood? What do the discussions it has provoked have to say about notions of parenthood and the ideal family? And, finally, what concepts of the child have been produced through this legislative and legal history? Through an examination of archival materials, parliamentary debates, court records, and newspaper coverage, this article explores the discursive productions of the Act, following the understanding that ideas of the family, of parenthood, of guardianship, of migrant status, and of the child are not natural, but instead are historically created and produced, here through racialized techniques of governmentality. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Objective: The purpose of this paper is to review various aspects of decision-making capacities in children and adolescents with a history of central nervous system compromise over the course of development and into transition to adulthood.Method: The literature on consent capacity in various domains is reviewed, with reference to state-specific legal definitions and requirements, and illustrated with a case example.Conclusions: Neuropsychologists who use an evidence-based assessment approach, and who can clearly communicate their findings in reference to specific probate court standards, can make a unique contribution to the legal system while serving their clients who are transitioning from adolescence into adulthood. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Objective: This article evaluates the role healthcare providers play in balancing safety versus autonomy among elders when performing capacity evaluations. Methods: Presentation of a case study consisting of an 85-year-old, Caucasian, widowed, male, post-stroke veteran, residing in long-term care. He was assigned a permanent court-appointed joint guardian and conservator, but wanted to remove both of these as he felt he had the ability to manage his own affairs. This case study specifically addresses the issue of financial capacity. Results: After completion of the evaluation, a case was made for the least restrictive means balancing patient autonomy and protection, opting for a limited conservatorship. The court, using the evaluation as evidence, completely removed the guardianship and conservatorship. Conclusions: This article outlines how providers can navigate multiple roles, team dynamics, and advocate for enhancing the capacity of an older adult. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Employee theft is one of the most common crimes committed against small businesses; however, the role that employees of the business can play in actively controlling opportunities for employee theft has not yet been fully explored. This article presents an employee theft prevention strategy reliant upon the active efforts of employees, not business owners or managers. This adaptation reclassifies the roles of employees, owners, and managers by incorporating employees directly into the theft prevention process as crime controllers, while owners and managers are given the role of super controllers. Transitioning owners and managers into the role of a super controller elevates them to a position of high-level guardianship and oversight, thereby allowing them to more effectively manage the business's overall theft prevention strategy. Giving employees responsibility for employee theft prevention efforts places responsibility for controlling the factors that lead to crime into the hands of employees who will serve as handlers of potential offenders, guardians of suitable targets, and place managers controlling locations where targets and offenders meet. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are vulnerable to the same counterfeiting threats faced by larger businesses, yet, the unique brand protection challenges they face have not been explored. These challenges relate to resource constraints that make it difficult to implement traditional brand protection strategies. This article discusses the problem of product counterfeiting from the perspective of SMEs, while considering how the resource constraints they face impact their ability to establish brand protection programs. Potential solutions are described, and 10 testable propositions intended to guide future research and the practice of brand protection in SMEs are proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we examine the effects of alcohol outlets, with particular attention to convenience stores, located in an East Coast Tourist City. Tourist City offered an opportunity to observe the interplay between convenience stores and robberies and assaults in the presence of large volumes of summer tourists. Guided by Routine Activities Theory, we focused on the convergence of potential victims, guardianship and offenders in the vicinity of convenience stores. The first part of our paper concerns the effects of convenience stores on assaults and robberies in block groups. Using grocery stores as a comparison to convenience stores, we found that the number of convenience stores was correlated with significantly higher levels of both robberies and assaults. The second part of our investigation employed small circular buffer areas focusing on the immediate area around the convenience stores. This analysis revealed that these small areas were associated with significantly higher assaults in the summer and offseason but robberies only during the offseason. In addition, we found that variation in the number of other alcohol outlets near the convenience stores increases the number of assaults within the buffer areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives:The aim of this study was to examine the extent to which an Elder Abuse Forensic Center protects financial exploitation (FE) victims through referral to the Office of the Public Guardian (PG) for investigation and possible conservatorship (called ‘guardianship’ in many states). Method:Los Angeles County Elder Abuse Forensic Center cases involving adults aged 65 and older (April 2007–December 2009) were matched using one-to-one propensity-score matching to 33,650 usual care Adult Protective Services (APS) cases. The final analysis sample consisted of 472 FE cases. Results:Compared to usual care, Forensic Center cases were more likely to be referred to the PG for investigation (30.6%,n= 72 vs. 5.9%,n= 14,p< .001). The strongest predictors of PG referral were suspected cognitive impairment, as identified by APS (odds ratio [OR] = 11.69, confidence intervals [CI]: 3.50–39.03), and Forensic Center review (OR = 7.85, CI: 3.86–15.95). Among referred cases, the court approved conservatorship at higher rates – though not statistically significant – for Forensic Center cases than usual care (52.9%,n= 36/68 vs. 41.7%,n= 5/12). Conclusion:Conservatorship may be a necessary last resort to improve safety for some FE victims, and the Forensic Center appears to provide a pathway to this service. These findings suggest modification to the Elder Abuse Forensic Center conceptual model and contribute to an emerging body of evidence on the role of the Forensic Center in addressing elder abuse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article seeks to clarify the concept of supported decision-making and to consider its major implications for mental health law. It draws on the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disability as well as the broader literature on supported decision-making in order to distinguish some of its conceptual features and to provide an overview of relevant debate. Emerging examples of supported decision-making in legislation, policy and programming are drawn upon to demonstrate the variety of measures that might constitute practical supported decision-making in the mental health context. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article explores two key societal developments that in different, yet related, ways are encouraging national policy changes to Australia's state- and territory-based adult guardianship arrangements. The first concerns the changing demographic nature and disability profile of those Australians who are subject to guardianship orders, with older Australians increasingly—through age-related disabilities—being eligible for guardianship orders. The second concerns the supremacy of the rights paradigm under which guardianship and all other forms of state regulation are increasingly operating, which itself creates opportunities for, and expectations of, national-level policy making and leadership. The article examines recent academic literature as well as literature generated by recent government inquiries, and argues that while the states and territories should continue to regulate the provision of guardianship, certain national policy developments are warranted. These include clearer guidance about the need for substitute decision making when people become residents of aged-care facilities, and the development of national guardianship principles. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The absence of a consistent positive effect of the unemployment rate on the crime rate is perplexing, but it may be partly due to the countervailing effect of guardianship. Using weekly state-level data and a pooled cross-sectional time-series research design, we investigate whether the unemployment rate influences residential burglary. This study contributes to the extant literature by distinguishing between weekday residential burglaries, or those burglaries that occur between the hours of 6 am to 6 pm on weekdays, from weeknight/weekend burglaries. If unemployment increases guardianship because previously employed individuals are now at home during the workday protecting their possessions, the expectation is that the unemployment rate will have an instantaneous negative effect on residential burglaries that transpire during normal working hours. Results buttress the logic associated with the guardianship thesis in that a rise in the unemployment rate only engenders a decrease in weekday residential burglaries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores how the parents of minor children navigate the process of appointing testamentary guardians for them. Although guardianship represents a significant legal and practical status, its essentially private nature ensures that very little is known about it. Drawing on a series of interviews conducted with professional legal practitioners, this paper examines the extent to which concerns about children's future care feed into parents' initial motivation to seek will-making advice, the guardians they choose to appoint and how practitioners input into the decision-making process. It explores what this process reveals about the constitution of parents' family and support networks, and how the guardianship decision impacts on the relationships which comprise them. In particular, the comparative willingness to see friends as potential guardians and the sensitive terrain that family can present in this context is highlighted. Having examined how parents and practitioners seek to navigate these relationships, the paper concludes with a consideration of the potential implications for both policy and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The existence of minors in a family or among other relatives induces the person drawing up a will to stiffen the roles, to specify the different futures of men and women more clearly and to single out the conditions which may guarantee the duties assigned. These principles are included not only in the wills of the fathers of families but often also characterize the wills of mothers or other relatives, both men and women. And maybe they also explain, as we shall see, the reasons for which it becomes difficult to decide to totally entrust the management, care and guardianship of a patrimony or one’s own minor offspring to a woman. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In the Dombes province, in the course of the first decades of the 19th century, with a high mortality among adults, many unions had a premature ending and only a minority of children grew up with both of their biological parents. The Civil Code, established in 1804, tried to organize family solidarity towards orphans. To that end, each time an adult died, leaving one under age child or more, six close relatives had to be gathered, forming a family council, which appointed a guardian and a surrogate-guardian, in charge of the orphan''s material and moral interests. An analysis of the proceedings of such boards of guardians between 1810 and 1824 points to the essential part played by uncles and the near absence of grandparents. In spite of a few conflicts which can be noticed in these administrative documents, the families – there being orphans in practically each one of them – managed to take charge of under age children, none of whom was left to fend for himself or placed in an orphanage. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

As the population ages and greater numbers of older adults enter the guardianship system, outcome measures are needed that capture the dimensions of quality of life that are relevant for this population. To explore definitions of quality of life, focus groups were conducted with elder law attorneys and guardians (N = 21). Based on prior research, participants were asked about spirituality as it pertains to quality of life. Analysis yielded seven themes. Participants identified choice as central to quality of life. Choice allowed incapacitated older adults to engage in relationships and activities that are important to them and thereby increase hope, purpose, and meaning in life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is almost 30 years since the policy which underpins the current Victorian Mental Health Act was developed. The delivery of mental health services has changed dramatically over those years. As a result, the Act has been amended on numerous occasions, rendering it inaccessible for most people other than mental health law specialists. This article suggests that it may be time to legislate again, despite acknowledging that legislation tends to follow rather than precede change in mental health service delivery. The article traces the history of Victorian mental health legislation, from the opening of the first asylum in 1848, to the agitation for reform in the late 1970s which led to the passage of the current Act. Law reform is enhanced by clear identification of the values that underpin our laws. The new Victorian Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities Act and the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities may assist in identifying important contemporary values which should inform new mental health laws. The following areas merit consideration when new mental health laws are considered: advance directives, the interaction between mental health and guardianship laws, information for family and friends of patients, the extended use of community treatment orders, the grounds for civil commitment, the jurisdiction of the Mental Health Review Board of Victoria, and the establishment of a commission to coordinate research and planning for the delivery of mental health services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Advances in Internet and other digital technologies have opened up new channels and methods for online business. They have also led to a situation where the same channels can be abused and misused. One of these forms of technology abuse, which is becoming increasingly prevalent these days, is the piracy of digital content. This article introduces a relatively comprehensive and unified theoretical framework for studying and understanding a major aspect of digital piracy: namely, software piracy. Based on Routine Activities Theory, Rational Choice Theory, and guardianship concepts, the framework identifies key parameters that can affect the incidence of software piracy. We apply the framework in conducting a systematic examination of 75 articles dealing with software piracy. The examination reveals that a considerable number of parameters have received little or no attention from software-piracy researchers. In addition to suggesting research opportunities, the framework furnishes a systematic approach for structuring the design of future research studies in the realm of software piracy. The insights furnished by this article contribute to future investigations of the software-piracy phenomenon that are needed to avert the economic and social damage caused by software piracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Three cases have been presented for multidisciplinary consideration. This article analyzes them from the prospective of a practicing attorney. As such, it begins with a discussion of the ethical principles that govern legal practice, specifically in the area of elder law. The discussion which follows examines key points of law pertaining to elder abuse, neglect, and exploitation including key definitions; the duty of the attorney to report suspected cases; and rights of and procedural safeguards afforded to the alleged victim in a court proceeding to involuntarily enforce a protective order. The issue of guardianship also is briefly explored, as well as the requirements for involuntary confinement in a mental health facility. A consideration of how an attorney might become involved in each case and the underlying assumptions precedes an analysis of the cases set forth earlier. `The final section summarizes key points of the article. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The purpose of the study was to evaluate the use of supervision in the community under two provisions of the Mental Health Act 1983, England. Method: A cohort sample of 205 mentally ill patients subject to Supervised Discharge and 121 subject to Guardianship was identified in England. Data were collected at two time points. Outcomes examined were compliance with requirements, clinician ratings of effectiveness of interventions, clinical ratings, "risk events" and instances of hospitalization in the study period. Results: High levels of compliance with requirements were achieved, although compliance was sometimes only "reluctant" or "partial". Interventions involving psychiatric treatment and risk management were most common, and also best maintained between time points. Broader health and social interventions were less common, and declined more in effectiveness between time points. Clinical ratings improved between time points. Conclusions: The measures appear to have been used principally to manage medication and risks, and a good level of compliance was achieved. Interventions to give psychiatric treatment and manage risk were associated with reduced hospitalization amongst Supervised Discharge cases whilst wider social and health interventions were associated with reduced hospitalization in Guardianship cases. Declaration of interest: None. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]