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Home › Articles › General › Legal Adults

Legal Adults

When Your Child with Special Needs Turns 18

By Sue Marquette Poremba

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Dorothy Rose of Skokie, Ill., and Bonadell and Michael Purpora of Delavan, Wisc., are parents of developmentally challenged sons who live in a residential care facility called Little City in Palatine, Ill. Rose's son is in his 50s, while the Purporas' son recently turned 35.

Even though their sons are older, the two families have the same concerns for their sons' well-being as any other parents of children (or adults) with special needs. Michael Purpora worries what will happen if the residential care facility should have to close its doors. Mrs. Rose has an arrangement set up with her other children to make sure her son's health issues are looked after. However, both sets of parents say that until one of the other parents at Little City, a lawyer and parent of special needs children, explained the importance of setting up legal guardianship, the idea had never crossed their minds.

Obtaining legal guardianship is just one issue parents of children with special needs must consider when their child is getting ready to turn 18. Parents also need to consider issues like a trust and financial matters. Although the parents understand that their child may never be in a position to make his or her own decisions, the law doesn't agree. "When it comes to financial matters, at age 18, the child with special needs is emancipated as an adult, and parents no longer havethe right to make decisions," says Joe Eppy, of the Eppy Financial Group.

Preparation Begins Early
In the 1990s, the federal government passed a law that school students with special needs have transition planning. This mandate was pushed for by parents, says Jan Blacher, a professor of education at the University of California Riverside. The transition plan should be put into place by the time the child is 14.

"The transition plan considers the goals for the future once the teenager is a young adult and out of school," Blacher says. The transition team, which should ideally be made up of the child's parents, teachers and community support organizations, puts together a course of action for the rest of the child's education.

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