If you were not able to listen in on the session “How Guardianship and Supported Decision Making Can Co-Exist” at the NYSARC’s virtual guardianship conference, we have you covered! At Parent to Parent of NYS, we are excited about the recent legislation that will legally recognize facilitated Supported Decision Making Agreements (SDMA) for individuals with intellectual developmental disabilities, but we also know that guardianships will continue to be a necessary decision making tool. Learn more about both during this interesting panel conversation. Haldan M. Blecher, Senior Attorney in OPWDD’s Bureau of Service Delivery, will kick off the conversation with a brief overview of the continuum of decision making supports. Supported Decision Making will then be highlighted in the sharing of the story of Decision Maker Devon Juda, who is joined by his SDMA Facilitator Patty Paduano and one of his Supporters (also his mom and Executive Director at Parent to Parent of NYS), Michele Juda. Finally, Samantha Bardwell (Albany Law School Class of 2022, Disability Law Research Fellow, and sibling of two children with IDD) will powerfully share the importance of not making one decision making support or the other “right” or “wrong” and how elements of the SDM decision making framework can be incorporated within a guardianship.
A link to the recorded session can be found in these presentation materials: https://www.thearcny.org/news/upcoming-events/2022-guardianship-training-symposium/symposium-session-4
Links to all of the conference sessions can be found here: https://www.thearcny.org/news/upcoming-events/2022-guardianship-training-symposium