Bar Raised on Education Standards for Certified Professional Guardians

Certified Professional Guardian Board and Administrative Office of
the Courts partner with University of Washington to develop
certificate program for new applicants in Washington State
SEATTLE--(Business Wire)--
Applicants for the role of Certified Professional Guardian in
Washington State--those appointed by the courts to manage the medical,
financial, legal, and personal affairs of incapacitated adults--will
soon receive substantially expanded training as a pre-requisite for
certification. The Certified Professional Guardian (CPG) Board, the
regulatory authority for the practice of Certified Professional
Guardians in Washington State through the Guardian program managed by
the Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC), will partner with the
University of Washington (UW) to develop a certificate program
encompassing 90 hours of instruction in the classroom and online.

Launching in autumn 2008, the UW Certificate Program in
Guardianship replaces the prior 16-hour mandatory training course. The
program is sponsored by the UW Schools of Nursing, Social Work, and
Law, with program management by UW Educational Outreach. While other
state's programs focus primarily on the legal and procedural aspects
of professional guardianship, the UW program will address those
subjects but add training in aspects of case management, healthcare,
access to public services, the psychology and physical aspects of
aging, family dynamics, fiduciary management, and more. Ethics will be
a major emphasis throughout the program. "The Certified Professional
Guardianship Board's collaboration with University of Washington is on
the cutting edge and I believe will become a national model," said
Gary Beagle, Certified Professional Guardian and Past President of the
Center for Guardianship Certification.

"On a daily basis, certified guardians make investment, health
care, residential and other decisions that govern the lives of the
incapacitated persons they serve," said Sharon Eckholm with the
Administrative Office of the Courts. "We are gratified to be working
with the UW to provide the Guardianship Certificate Program to assure
courts, families, and the public that members of the profession
possess adequate education to properly address the varied and complex
issues faced by guardians." Said Hank Hibbard, Chair of the CPG Board
Educational Committee, "We believe this is a major step forward in a
progressive nationwide movement to provide improved services to
incapacitated persons by increasing the quality of education for those
chartered with their care."

The requirement for expanded Guardian training comes as baby
boomer demographics and longer life expectancies lead to an
increasingly elderly population, as the complexities of Medicare and
Medicaid increase, and as the issues of estate management on behalf of
incapacitated persons multiply. The US Census Bureau estimates that in
2005, there were an estimated 702,517 individuals aged 65 and older
living in Washington State (11.3 percent of the population). That
number is expected to increase to 1,168,199 in 2020 and to 1,563,901
in 2030 (18.1 percent of the population). Currently, there are
approximately 250 certified professional guardians in Washington
State.

More information on the autumn 2008 UW Certificate Program in
Guardianship is available here.

UW Educational Outreach
Alison Koop, 206-685-6344
akoop@extn.washington.edu

Copyright Business Wire 2008