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Associated PressThe state says more than 850 adults in state-licensed facilities can't consent on legal or medical issues.
ORLANDO - The rape of a 22-year-old severely disabled woman in an Orlando group home has called attention to a lack of legal guardians for more than 850 mentally disabled adults under state supervision.
The victim, referred to in court by her initials, J.D.S., cannot speak, barely walks and suffers from severe mental retardation, autism and seizure disorder. As she approaches her sixth month of pregnancy resulting from the rape, no one has the legal power to make critical decisions on her behalf.
Investigators are trying to get a DNA sample from her to try to determine the identity of the man who assaulted her. They cannot get permission, because the woman can't speak for herself and a guardian has not been appointed for her.
Department of Children and Families records show the woman is among 857 adults in state-licensed group homes who are too mentally disabled to consent legally to medical or legal procedures, yet have no guardians to assume that critical role.
Another 43 lack guardians even though courts have found them to be incompetent, the Orlando Sentinel reported Sunday. Florida law requires the appointment of a legal guardian after a person is declared incompetent.
DCF officials filed an emergency petition earlier this month, asking an Orange County circuit judge to assign protective supervision for the woman, continue her around-the-clock care and determine her current health status - plus appoint guardians for her and the fetus.
After DCF reportedly dropped its request for a guardian for the fetus, Gov. Jeb Bush reversed the decision last week and said the state would seek a guardian for the fetus.
The governor's decision triggered a debate over abortion. The Florida ACLU said appointing a guardian for the fetus would violate a 1989 opinion on abortion by the Florida Supreme Court.
When Florida residents turn 18, they are considered legally able to care for themselves as adults, even if they have multiple disabilities and have been under supervision by the Department of Children & Families their entire lives. Only the courts can determine otherwise.
Social workers and professional guardians familiar with the system say the hundreds of developmentally disabled people lacking guardians don't get the critical care they need.
Some of these DCF clients may have relatives. But as long as those relatives have not gone through the guardianship process, their disabled family members have no legal voice.
"Should those people have guardians? Yeah, they should," said David C. Brennan, an Orlando attorney who handles guardianship cases. "It's something that hasn't been addressed, and it should be."
For now, DCF says it has no immediate plans to change its rules or call for changing the law governing its practices.
"We're still assessing the situation," DCF spokesman Gary Gershowitz said. "We don't know what we will do next time. We all know this is not a perfect world. But at this time, what you're asking is not under consideration."
Under state law, the 22-year-old victim is considered legally competent because no one has declared her otherwise. Doctors say the woman's condition makes her pregnancy high risk.
The pregnancy was not discovered by the DCF until last month. The state, however, has not found her a guardian despite a court document stating that she is in imminent danger because of her multiple physical and mental ailments.
- Information from Times files is included in this report.