SECTION 381.357. Referral, Intake, and Assessments

(a) Referral. A guardianship program will develop a procedure for accepting referrals and disseminating the referral information to local courts, hospitals, adult protective services, nursing facilities, area agencies on aging, assisted living facilities, bar associations, legal services (legal aid) offices, and other potential referral sources. Referral procedures must be designed to avoid situations in which the guardianship program will be referring clients to itself.

(b) Intake. A guardianship program will develop eligibility guidelines for the clients to whom services may be provided by the guardianship program. A guardianship program will not accept any guardianship appointment or make any agreement to provide less restrictive alternative services that the guardianship program cannot handle or provide in a competent manner. Intake procedures will be designed to collect sufficient information to determine the least restrictive alternative available to the client and to proceed with the appropriate services as soon as possible.

(c) Assessment. As soon as possible after receiving a referral, a guardianship program will assess a client to determine the following:

(1) whether there is any immediate risk of abuse, neglect, or exploitation to the client;

(2) how the client's incapacity, if any, affects the client's ability to make reasonably prudent decisions;

(3) what limitation of the client's rights, if any, would be in the client's best interests;

(4) what powers a guardian would need to protect the best interests of the client; and

(5) what tasks need to be included in the care plan for the client.

Source Note: The provisions of this §381.357 adopted to be effective November 21, 2002, 27 TexReg 10719