Texas Adult Protective Services Kidnap Elderly Couple

[montec]

Becky Oliver
MyFox Dallas Fort Worth
August 30, 2009

DALLAS – They’re not criminals. They’ve broken no laws. But they’re being held against their will by the State of Texas. Why? It’s a tragic story about what can happen when you are alone in the world and lose control of your rights, your money, and your ability to complain.

Texas Adult Protective Services Kidnap Elderly Couple

Jean and Michael Kidd never imagined their retirement would play out like this. “I feel like I am not in America,” said Michael Kidd. “I can’t believe I have been hi-jacked off the street, virtually from the hospital, and imprisoned,” Kidd told FOX 4.

Michael Kidd and his wife Jean have been living out of a tiny room for months. They have lost control of their money, their home, even their car. They say they’ve been robbed of their dignity and their voice. And who do they say is responsible? The State of Texas.

“It is a shock to our system,” says Kidd. “We are still kind of in a state of shock,” Kidd told Reporter Becky Oliver.

[Merritt]

What exactly are they holding them for?

[-mox-]

Essentially the state made them out to be incompetent so they placed them in a nursing home and won't allow them to see how their money is being spent. If you check out the link there's a video that covers it, or here's the rest of the article which is what is read in the video.

Elderly Couple Forced into State Custody


Also I noticed on page 2 of the link above there was an update yesterday:

Quote:

DALLAS - The state is playing hard ball with an elderly couple who claims they are being held against their will. Michael and Jean Kidd just want to get out of the nursing home and back into their house but Fox 4 has learned the home may not be around if the state follows through with its plan.


“I just want to go home and I have made it very clear,” said Michael Kidd.
Michael and Jean Kidd say they have been held against their will for month s in a Pilot Point Nursing Home.


“We watch television almost constantly, almost 24 hours a day because if you turn it off, the silence will drive you up the wall,” Kidd explained.


The Kidds lost their freedom and now it appears they may lose their greatest asset, their home. A trustee’s deed filed in mid August shows the Kidd’s Richardson home is scheduled to be auctioned Tuesday.


“I could not believe that what I was seeing was taking place in this country,” said Senator Jane Nelson.


Nelson heads the committee that oversees the Department of Aging and Disability. That agency is now the Kidd’s guardian.


The state determined the Richardson couple was incapacitated or unable to care for themselves after Michael went to the hospital with a broken hip. Jean suffers from memory loss. The state took over all of their finances and placed them in a nursing home.


“I think we have way overstepped our bounds,” said Senator Nelson. Nelson says she was appalled to see how the state is taking care of the Kidd’s home. The power was shut off, leaving a mess in the kitchen. There is a broken window and the yard is overgrown. And now the state is trying to unload their neglected house for $156,000.00.


Collin County appraised the home this year for $191,000.00

“This whole thing is completely botched by the state of Texas,” said Harold Willis. Willis is a gerontologist and a registered private guardian. His is an advocate of keeping the elderly in their homes with assistance, instead of an expensive nursing home. He says, based on his experience, there were many options the state should have considered.


“They were not just mumbling and drooling on themselves,” Willis said. “They were expressing themselves very clearly and their wishes should be honored,” he said.


Both Willis and Nelson questioned how the Kidds are getting Medicaid assistance when they have assets, income and a home. The state has refused to release any financial records to the Kidds or to us about their money.


Probate Judge Weldon Copeland will not comment about the Kidd’s case but we know he approved the appointment of a financial guardian, Michael Taylor of Greenville, Texas. The state confirms Taylor is not a registered guardian in Texas.


“How can the state have that much power?” Reporter Becky Oliver asked Senator Nelson.


“I don’t know, I don’t know,” Nelson said. “But I will find out how in the world our state can justify doing some of these things,” Nelson promised.

Late Monday, two attorneys were working to get a petition for a temporary restraining order filed with the Probate Court to stop the sale of the house.

Elderly Couple's House Set for Sale