The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "guardianship" ...
-
"Greed v. Guardianship"
This investigation reveals serious flaws in the Maricopa County Probate Court. Families have complained of being "violated" by their court appointed guardian, which was most often the Sun Valley Group. Families accused SVG of taking control of their finances, selling anything of value and keeping the money. Some were even kept from visiting sick loved ones who had been placed in care facilities.
Tags: Sun Valley Group; probate court; Maricopa County; Arizona Supreme Court; public records; court documents; guardianship
-
State of Neglect
"State of Neglect" is a three day series about the failures of Adult Protective Services, the Texas agency created to protect mentally or physically incapacitated senior citzens. In some instances, the APS left elderly citizens living in rat-infested homes, with little contact with the agency. The Dallas Morning News also discovered that the agency only took advantage of their ability to gain legal "guardianship" of the needy seniors in 33 cases in a total of five years.
Tags: Adult Protective Services; senior citizens; living conditions; Health and Human Services; guardianship
-
"A crisis in foster care: Hardships prevalent for those raising children's children
This investigation found that nearly a third more New York grandparents are raising their grandchildren than a decade ago, and of those, a disproportionate number have fallen into poverty. An unresponsive child-welfare system has forced these grandparents into making a tough decision: Place their grandchildren into foster care and become foster parents themselves in order to receive government aid, or ignore the foster care system and scrounge to support their families.
Tags: grandparents; grandchildren; foster care; poverty; census; child welfare; adoption; Children and Family Services; Department of Social Services; Department of Health and Human Services; guardianship; CAR; computer-assisted reporting
-
Judging Rory
Houston Press investigates the conduct of Rory Olsen, judge of Probate Court 3 in Harris County, Texas. The court presides over wills and administers mental health hearings. The investigation finds that judge Olsen has recused himself more than any other judge in the state; his fellow Republicans are his most fiery critics; imposes huge expenses on affluent people who go to court for will probations; fails to communicate with mentally ill people who enter his court.
Tags: judges; justice; politics; mental illnesses; guardianship hearings
-
A Boy Betrayed, Once in Custody, Safeguards from Abuse Few
A judge awarded custody of a deserted 14-year-old boy to a man described as a child molester in court documents. The boy was sexually abused, assaulted, and offered for pornography on the Internet.
Tags: child abuse; pornography; guardianship; Internet pornography
-
1995 IRE TV Award Winners and FinalistsTape
The 1995 IRE TV Award Winners and FinalistsTape is a compilation of 5 investigative stories. 1.) "No Place Like Home," Prime Time Live, ABC News. Hidden cameras captured problems with in-home care including poor supervision, verbal and physical abuse, caretakers watching over far too many children and, ultimately, state inspectors who failed to act. See # 12920. 2.) "The Worst Nightmare," 60 Minutes, CBS News. Real evidence that Russian organized crime in conjunction with at least one senior official of the Yelstin government, had moved into the potentially lucrative area of nuclear smuggling. See # 12836. 3.) "Marks Travels" KCTV, Kansas City, MO. A highly paid school superintendent, who supposedly had a chronic back problem, took a lenghty medical leave. He was caught lugging furniture into his new home in Florida and questioned about his district spending habits. See # 12830. 4.) "Last Rights," WSMV, Nashville. For the last two decades, the University of Tennessee has been using dead bodies in experiments on human decay, without the knowledge of family members. The practice was suspended immediately after the report. See # 12756. 5.) "Guardian's Grasp." WXYZ, Detroit. A guardianship company exploited the elderly it was supposed to protect. Among other things, it sold a client's home for $500 to the mother of an employee, frauded Medicare and overcharged on accounting fees. See # 12805.
Tags: TAPE; daycare; in-home care; ire.
-
Guarding the Guardians
Eighty-three-year-old Ruth Lilly, billionaire heiress to the Eli Lilly pharmaceutical fortune, is well-known for her philanthropy. In 1981, Lilly's massive fortune was placed under guardianship. WTHR-TV found the guardians and Lilly's personal attorney spending her money in questionable ways.
Tags: TAPE; Psychiatric care
-
In Her Best Interest
WFLA-TV's inquiry into Florida's guardianship system, a program established to protect the finances and needs of those unable to do so themselves, discovered a system that strips clients of their independence, deprives them of their dignity and robs them of their rights.
Tags: TAPE; elderly; legal system; lawyer
-
To Grandmother's House We Go
Jackson investigated the abuses of court-appointed guardianships and conversatorships -- what critics refer to as "legalized exploitation" of the elderly in this country. The series shows how the system allows conflicts of interest, abuses of power and outright theft to exist with little oversight or redress.
Tags: series, Mommy Dearest; Here Comes the Judge; Changing of the Guard
-
The price of protection: guardianship and the elderly
Guardianship can be a risky and costly experience for the elderly. The Sun-Sentinel investigates who can become a guardian, how they become a guardian and how they are checked - or not checked - while serving as legal guardians(Oct. 6-8, 1996)