Why abandoned at-risk people can't get help from the state

Every month in downtown Denver, five unpaid public officials sit around a table at an official meeting over an office that doesn’t exist. They’ve held 15 of these meetings over the last year, complete with minutes and agendas in a borrowed room because there’s no office for this office that really isn’t an office.

You can find "The Office of Public Guardianship" on paper. The concept was born out of the state legislature nearly two years ago. The intent: create a state agency of legal guardians who would make decisions for abandoned and at-risk adults. It’s estimated about 5,800 people in Colorado, some of them in hospitals, could use a legal guardian, according to a state study.

The plan is to launch the office as a pilot program that would serve people in the Denver area first before a state-wide roll-out. When 9Wants to Know asked the chair of the commission how many people the Office of Public Guardianship has helped over the last year, the answer was zero.

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9NEWS (KUSA) is located in Denver, Colorado.