I thought I would share the rant I wrote today in response to a query from the Public Trustee on why we had not filed our guardianship papers yet (six weeks after we first initiated contact).

Good morning. No we did not go to the courthouse after all. Frankly we  finally just gave up out of sheer frustration as we were overwhelmed in dealing with our son.

 Our 24 year old had his first psychotic break 4 years ago and has been certified and hospitalized 6 times in the last four years. I don’t believe he has ever been stable during that time – he has simply learned how to hide it better. We are working with a diagnosis of Bipolar – and  I can’t imagine a more challenging population to deal with. Young, bright, ambitious people who are suddenly tossed into a terrifying world of delusions, paranoia and hallucinations – and who have little insight if any into the fact that they are ill.

His last psychotic break occurred while we were out of the country. And despite flying home early and trying to manage him over the phone and through family, by the time we got home he was missing. And would remain so for three days until we finally received a call from him from inside the Saskatoon Correctional Center. He was terrified and had no idea where he was, why he was there, or what was happening. I can’t imagine a more frightening experience for someone who has paranoid delusions about the police wanting to  “make him disappear”

 No one at SCC would speak to us about his charges. Nor would they allow me to talk to anyone so that I could ensure they were aware of his diagnosis and his medication and treatment plan. The police would not tell us anything either. And our son could not speak for himself.

I called your office in deep distress and spoke to a very kind woman on a Friday who walked me through the forms. Unfortunately I learned my husband had to sign in front of a commissioner of oaths and he was out of town. She reassured me that if I got them signed and faxed to her on Monday she would process. I asked her if I could just go to a judge in Saskatoon and she said no, the forms had to come to your office. So we faxed them. And then we waited. After several days we called, we emailed. Finally on the Thursday before the Easter weekend my husband got in touch with someone who said we needed to take the forms to the courthouse. And additional forms were needed than those we had been directed to fill out.  My husband called the courthouse and was told that it would be at least 14 days before a decision would be made. It had already been two weeks. At that point we simply gave up. Our son was now in the NB hospital and we were able to communicate with the care team – which was our most important priority.

 We are once again dealing with the fallout of these psychotic breaks – and there is inevitably significant financial cost to us as we deal with the police, missing vehicles, missing property, property damage, prescription costs, travel costs, court dates etc etc. I can’t help but believe it could have all been easier if we had legal standing as his guardian. The emotional cost is harder to quantify and it becomes more difficult with each instance as we are less resilient.

We will pursue some sort of guardianship so that we are prepared for the next bout. My email is not meant to lay blame, simply to point out that the process is confusing and complicated and certainly not timely enough when you are a family in crisis. There are huge gaps in communication between the police, corrections, and the healthcare system. If I had been able to obtain immediate temporary guardianship I could have advocated better for my son and ensured his legal rights were honoured and avoided a significant period of time where he was not receiving his medications.

Feel free to distribute this message to others within your department and engage them in a frank conversation about how your approach and processes could be improved.