Author anonymous
No, the above motto is not a confusion with New Hampshire.
Brandy, a disabled young woman, was adopted from a state foster care system and is now under the supervision of the Vermont Office of Public Guardian (OPG).
For the time being, anyway.
It looks like OPG is about to set Brandy “free” despite overwhelming circumstantial and medical evidence that she is unable to care for herself. They will set her “free” even after a court-appointed independent assessment concluded less than 18 months ago that Brandy was unable to meet any of six criteria of independence defined by the State of Vermont.
That independent assessment corroborated a number of psychiatric and psychological assessments that Brandy’s adoptive parents, James and Jean Black, commissioned for Brandy throughout her childhood and early adulthood. These earlier assessments were the basis for another state establishing the Blacks as Brandy’s guardians.
Brandy has been receiving federal and state financial support because of her medical dual diagnosis of fetal alcohol syndrome and autism spectrum disorder. Brandy and her parents moved to Vermont from another state about five years ago. The Blacks have had the financial means to provide Brandy with the best of medical care and private special education from the age of five when they adopted her. The Blacks negotiated an agreement with the OPG to care for Brandy after she challenged the transfer of the guardianship awarded when the Blacks lived in another state.
Brandy is represented by Vermont Legal Aid, who have argued that Brandy has a right to make decisions for herself despite her disabilities. The Blacks have incurred tens of thousands of dollars in legal bills trying to make the case that their adult disabled daughter, who is now thirty, is unable to care for herself without proper supervision.
After all, during her time under the OPG supervision Brandy has been unable to hold down a job for more than three months. Her dual-diagnosis of fetal alcohol syndrome and autism spectrum disorder contributes to her incapacity to function effectively in the work place. She has been fired or quit seven jobs over the past five years. She has been removed from four supervised living settings for various reasons (mainly violent and threatening behavior) and is now in a transitionary temporary supervised setting.
Lack of proper supervision for this disabled person has exposed her to predatory behavior and substance abuse.
The Blacks have sent a letter challenging the decision of the Office of Public Guardian to dissolve the public guardianship that is in place for Brandy. When the Blacks agreed to give up their parental guardianship to the OPG, they assumed that the OPG would fulfill its mission “to protect her rights or welfare.” The OPG proclaimed mantra “Nothing About Us Without Us” seems to be migrating to the motto of our neighbor to the east – Live Free or Die.
Editor’s note: the situation described above is known to be factually accurate. All names are pseudonyms at the author’s request.
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Categories: Commentary, Health Care
One case out of many stacked up in the State of Vermont work queues. Neglecting the disabled, children, and the elders is part and parcel of the failing system. It is not about the person, what they need, or what type of care they deserve that we all pay for with our labor. It is about checking the appropriate boxes, weighing the costs against the budget, a diminished, uneducated workforce, spewing scripted, deceptive talking points to cover their hindends, and scoring the Brownie points of their superiors who reward incompetence and keeping mouths shut. In short, they don’t care about Brandy’s plight or the quality of care for anyone under the jackboot control of the regime. Once you sign the contract, you have indeed signed your rights and the rights of a loved one away until death – which Vermont will gladly assist with the death part upon request.