How to Choose a Guardian for Your Child with Special Needs

Choosing a potential guardian for a child is no easy task for any parent, but it may be even more difficult for a parent of child with special needs. In addition to things like "will my kids be comfortable in their home?" you also have to ask yourself the following questions:

Location of Guardians

Do the guardians live near my child's medical providers? do they live near better (or less stellar) medical providers?

Capabilities and Willingness to Learn

Would the guardians be willing to learn the procedures necessary to care for my child's feeding tube, catheter, or other medical devices? ould the guardians handle my child's hyperactivity or bi-polar disorder? are they willing to learn?

Adequate Resources

Have I left enough resources either through life insurance policies or other means so that the guardians could renovate their house to accommodate my child's wheelchair, pay for a nurse or other home help to come in and assist them in learning how to perform any special procedures, or even stop working to care for my child full time?

Notifying the Guardians

Have I spoken to the proposed guardian to make sure they are comfortable with taking on these additional responsibilities in the event of my death?

Preparing the Guardian

Keep a binder for each child containing diagnoses, doctors, therapists, surgeries, medications (with dosage, prescribing doctors, reason for medication), x-rays, cd's with MRI's or cat scans or endoscopies, IEP's, recommended books for your potential guardian, or in the event of any emergency where that information might be needed. Just make sure to keep it up to date.