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New legislation licensing public guardians, the people who care for someone when their families can’t, are coming under strict new scrutiny after years of complaints of abuse. As Mike Vasilinda tells us,  the new protections are the result of dozens of families pushing back against the system.

We’ve followed the saga of Doug Franks and his mother Earnestine for the last two and a half years.  Earnestine still lives in her Pensacola home, but when Doug and his Brother disagreed on her care. A public guardian was appointed. Doug says it has been an irreversible nightmare ever since.

“My mother always says, Can you spend the night? for the last four years, she’s been saying that, spend the night, we got plenty of rooms. But I can’t tell her, mom, I’ll be put in jail if I do that. I can’t I’m sorry” says her son.

We’ve watched Doug testify before legislative committees, where this year and last he helped push through new licensing requirements for guardians.

This week Doug and other victims of Guardian Abuse testified before the panel making rules for the new law. Alan Sayler of St. Petersburg made the trip with his wife, whose mother is under the care of a guardian.

“If they violate these new rules, then they can be disciplined, which can also include the revocation of their license and they’ll no longer be able to work as guardians” says Sayler.

There are hundreds of similar stories across Florida.

Many accuse judges of being unsympathetic, and going so far as appointing their friends as guardians in lucrative cases. Kathleen Zargaros of Tampa says judges have been no help in her case.

“So this will take it from them, so we can go somewhere and say this is what we are giving you. This person has broken all of your rules and they should be revoked. Then they will investigate it, where before, all we had were the courts.”

“And they wouldn’t do anything?”

“Nothing. They never do” says Zargaros.

The new legislation is the first effort to monitor and regulate guardians at any level of government. And those like Doug who say they’ve been abused by the system are seeing their first ray of hope.

The Department of Elder Affairs is accepting written comments on the new rules for the next week. The new legislation, which includes the ability to file complaints is expected to be up and running October first.