Guardianship is an extreme measure taken to remove the rights of a person to make decisions about his or her own life. Probate Court appoints someone else to make decisions for the person instead. A guardian gets to make decisions about where the person lives, where the person works, whether or not the person gets medical care and where they get it, who the person spends time with, and in some cases when and how the person dies.

Guardianship is neither good or bad. In certain situations, guardianship is helpful and even necessary. Some people do need a substitute decision-maker to act on their behalf if they are unable to make decisions for themselves. Other times, a person might need a guardian to make some decisions for them, but not all of them. The rules and laws about guardianship make very clear that it’s intended to be used as a last resort.

There's a continuum of decision-making supports from less- to more-restrictive.

Informal Supports, like role-playing, making pros and cons lists, and getting advice from experts are on the least-restrictive end of that continuum. You still make the final decision!

Formal Supports like Chosen Representative and Power of Attorney involve you voluntarily giving someone else the right to make certain decisions for you, but you can still make changes to this agreement later on.

Guardianship happens when Probate Court appoints someone else to make decisions for you. The guardian should still include you in decision-making, but the Probate Court has the final say about things. Guardianship is on the more-restrictive end of the continuum.

There are several kinds of guardianship in Ohio that can impact the rights of the person differently.

You can learn more about them here.

However, even though there are multiple types of guardianship, all may not apply to your situation. Please contact us directly so we can learn more to assist you.

Once ONI is appointed guardian, you will be assigned a guardian services representative to help address your needs. From there, we will collaborate with you and the people in your life to assess the needs and wants that you have, while also considering safety. ONI's guardian's aim for least-restrictive options when providing consent. Every client's life is unique, and we utilize a person-centered approach to our efforts.

If you are in an emergency, please dial 911.

If you are not in need of emergency consent or need to inform your guardian of a major unusual incident, please contact us and we will get back to you as soon as possible.

If you are in need of emergency consent or informing us of a major unusual incident, call our emergency line at 740-224-0111.