Adult protection association

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An adult protection association , until June 30, 2018 known as an administrator association, is a non-profit association in Austria , which is supposed to represent the interests of mentally or intellectually impaired adults with reduced decision-making ability.

history

In 1984 the guardianship replaced the "incapacitation" (incapacitation order) that had been customary until then. With the change in the law in 1990, the transferred guardianship was bound to the association as a legal person , regardless of the association's employees . This should create the basis for a system that is as flexible as possible, also serving the interests of the impaired people, and which can act independently of an individually commissioned person.

With the Accommodation Act (UbG, 1991), administrator associations were also assigned tasks of patient advocacy, with the Residence Act (HeimAufG, 2005) tasks of resident representatives and with the Administrator Law Amendment Act 2006 (SWRÄG 2006) so-called clearing tasks within the framework of guardianship.

As of July 1, 2018, the protection of adults was again significantly changed and improved by the adult protection associations and the Adult Protection Act.

General information on adult representations

By adult representative (formerly Sachwalterschaft ) is a person by the competent court legal representation for an adult human transmitted when these conditions due to reduced ability to make decisions is by intellectual disabilities or mental illness not able to do its own affairs without danger run to be disadvantaged (see main article: adult advocates ).

Appointment of adult protection associations

Adult protection associations should only be appointed as legal adult representatives if no suitable close person is available for this task or if special requirements are associated with the relevant legal adult representative. Adult protection associations can also be used by the court for the duration of the proceedings in the interests of the person concerned. Before starting any procedure , the employees of the adult protection association should clarify whether adult representation is necessary and to what extent the person concerned needs support.

Area of ​​activity of adult protection associations

There are four recognized adult protection associations in Austria:

These four adult protection associations can be appointed as legal adult representative. The association must inform the court of the person who will perform the duties of adult representation for the specific case. These are usually social workers or lawyers .

The Federal Minister of Justice must determine the suitability of an association to be an adult representative by ordinance .

Employee

Adult protection associations have full-time and voluntary employees. Full-time employees are usually responsible for the time-consuming or technically difficult legal adult representation. They also advise those affected and their relatives and, since July 1, 2018, have also been setting up and registering elected and statutory adult representatives. Volunteers are responsible for those judicial representations of adults who are primarily concerned with a long-term personal relationship with the person concerned. Voluntary adult representatives are trained by the adult protection associations. Volunteers can receive an expense allowance from the association. You are usually insured against liability and accidents.

All employees working within the framework of the associations, with the exception of the guardianship or accommodation court, are obliged to maintain secrecy about the observations made in the exercise of their activities, insofar as the confidentiality is necessary in the interests of the persons concerned and they do not have an obligation to provide information. The violation of the duty of confidentiality is to be punished as well as a prohibited publication (§ 301 StGB).

Adult representatives named by the clubs are not entitled to reimbursement of cash expenses or rewards from clients. The association is entitled to these claims and the custodial court decides on the amount at the request of the association.

In addition to adult protection associations, related parties, lawyers, notaries or other suitable persons can be commissioned by the competent court as legal adult representatives.

Clearing process

Before starting a procedure for the appointment of a judicial adult representative, the adult protection associations should clarify whether and which alternatives there might be in a specific case to judicial representation ( clearing , this will only be mandatory from July 1, 2018, previously voluntary). The adult protection associations should also clarify whether the elected or legal adult representation is possible instead of the judicial variant.

financing

For the effective and efficient performance of these public interest tasks, adult protection associations have always received funding from the state . In 2018, the adult protection associations received 50,915,000 euros in funding, for 2019 55,413,000 euros are earmarked. With special guidelines, the Federal Ministry of Justice, as the funding agency within the meaning of Section 5 of the General Framework Guidelines for the Granting of Funding from Federal Funds, regulated the objectives and framework conditions for funding the guardians' associations and now the adult protection associations.

As a result of the funding of adult protection associations by the Federal Ministry of Justice , the Court of Auditors is called upon to assess the processing and use of the funding by the association in terms of correctness, expediency and economic efficiency.

Legal basis

The legal basis for adult representatives and adult protection associations is the Federal Act on Adult Protection Associations and the related ordinances and guidelines. The adult protection associations took the place of the previous guardian associations on July 1, 2018 and the entry into force of the new law ex lege.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Disability regulation of June 28, 1916, RGBl. No. 207.
  2. ↑ See: Federal Act of February 2, 1983 on guardianship for disabled people, Federal Law Gazette 136/1983.
  3. ↑ With the UbG, the civil law placement in a closed department by the guardianship court was inadmissible and the trustee was deprived of the compulsory powers based on the ABGB .
  4. ↑ Special guidelines for association guardianship, patient advocacy, residents' council 2015 to 2019, Federal Ministry of Justice , July 2015, p. 2.
  5. ↑ Federal Act on Adult Protection Associations (Adult Protection Association Act - ErwSchVG, Federal Law Gazette No. 156/1990).
  6. ↑ a b See § 1 of the Federal Law on Adult Protection Associations (Adult Protection Association Act - ErwSchVG), Federal Law Gazette No. 156/1990 in conjunction with the ordinance of the Federal Minister for Constitution, Reforms, Deregulation and Justice on the determination of the suitability of associations to act as adult protection associations, Federal Law Gazette No. II No. 241/2018.
  7. ↑ § 6 VSPAG
  8. ↑ § 10 VSPAG
  9. ↑ Funding from the state already existed for the administrators' associations . In 2007 Austria supported the four administrators' associations with a total of EUR 23,820,000. In 2008 already with EURO 27,882,000 and in 2009 with EURO 29,218,000. The funding contribution fell slightly in 2010 to EUR 28,572,000. Source: Report of the Court of Auditors , Bund 2011/9, p. 158.
  10. ↑ Source: [1] Federal Finance Act 2018
  11. ↑ Source: [2] Federal Finance Act 2019
  12. ↑ Ordinance of the Federal Minister of Finance on General Framework Guidelines for Granting Funding from Federal Funds (ARR 2014), Federal Law Gazette II No. 208/2014
  13. ↑ See: Special Guidelines for Association Guardianship, Patient Advocacy, Resident Representation 2015 to 2019 , Federal Ministry of Justice , July 2015.
  14. ↑ Adult Protection Association Act - ErwSchVG, Federal Law Gazette No. 156/1990.