Publication Date
Summer 2025
Abstract
New York’s Article 81 guardianship system, intended as a last-resort protection for individuals unable to manage their personal or financial affairs, has become a default intervention that too often strips people of autonomy and dignity. Overburdened guardians, minimal training requirements, and inadequate judicial oversight leave incapacitated persons vulnerable to neglect, exploitation, and “civil death.” This Comment uses Cody’s Story to humanize the systemic failures and evaluates Resolution 561, recently adopted by the New York City Council, which calls for a statewide public guardianship system. While the Resolution represents a critical step toward reform, it lacks the structural safeguards necessary for meaningful change. Drawing on comparative models from other states and social work principles of harm reduction and person-centered practice, this Comment argues that New York must pair any new system with enforceable caseload caps, mandatory and ongoing training, robust oversight, equitable funding, and a statutory presumption favoring less restrictive alternatives. Without these reforms, the state will continue to fail the very individuals that guardianship is meant to protect.
Recommended Citation
Quinn DeCicco & Sarah Michelle Smith, Comment, Out of Sight, Out of Rights: The Human Toll of New York's Guardianship Crisis, 28 CUNY L. Rev. 361 (2025).