Guardian rights over supposed handicapped

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auspicious

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First of all I would like to thank you in advance for your time and consideration. Your professional legal advice is precious to me, if I may request all sarcastic responses be spared on this particular post. This is a bit of a long read, but I wanted to add as many details I can to fully understand this situation- as it is very important to me.

I have been close friends with a person for a few years now. He has always been a different type of personality since I have known him, which is partly the reason why he is my friend- as so as all my friends. He is different in his own ways and his sense of humor along with his silly childlike nature has gained the affection of my heart and my close friends for several years now. He tells ridiculous tall tales and doesn't bath very often but is extremely social. Initially when I first met him he told me he was 24, it was later we found out he was actually in his 30s. He is a compulsive liar, but more likely to lie to people he isn't acquainted with for attention.

It was obvious to us after some period he is more there at times than others. He is NOT mentally handicapped in a retarded matter of speaking. He is fully aware of what he does, drives his own car and works a full time job. A regular person would consider him to be peculiar but not handicapped. We never confronted him about it because I think he was raised normally and completely un aware that there is anything wrong with him- my only guess was some form of autism. After becoming close to him, we realized that he still lived with his parents- and that his relationship with them isn't that of a 32 year old man but as a troubled rebellious teen. It's obvious he never had cognitive therapy growing up for whatever he has, or if he's even been diagnosed before.

Unfortunately with his type of personality, there are lowlife people of this planet (as you can imagine) that flock to him in order to take advantage of his kind nature. Much like a teenager he wishes to gain acceptance and slowly began building a reputation for delivering every teenager in the city wherever they wanted to go- along with buying them cigarettes, alcohol, and eventually marijuana. He has befriended a drug dealer, a prostitute, and several other teenaged dirtbags that he constantly commits himself to drive around to buy drugs and get dropped off places anytime at there disposal. Its been nearly impossible to hang out with him these recent years because his phone is constantly being blown up from these individuals who request his car/money. They scoot him to the backseat and recklessly drive his car like maniacs!

He has gotten into some little bits of trouble here and there with them, but nothing major (somehow). I needless to say know there is nothing I can do about him and his relationship to those people, so my only attempt was to try to influence him positively and express resentment toward them. Several times I've taken him on adventures to the park or to movies to take his attention away from them. A recent incident entailing his scumbag friends edned up with them convincing him to "calm down" and take a zanex. His hyperactive nature is what makes him unique as you know and they felt he was being annoying so they wanted him medicated; so when he came home his parents freaked out and immidietly baker acted him. Since then he has been going to therapy with his parents and put on medication, something I am in full support of. They have been ushering his lifestyle slightly more as of recent attempting to impose a curfew, but he still continues to drive the teens around unknowingly to his parents (of coarse).

Now that I have given you a back story on the matter, allow me to introduce my situation. Yesterday I received a phone call randomly from his Mother, which I have had little to no contact from previously, stating that she has told me in the past that I was not allowed to talk to him and that I called him the entire day before. I assured her that I was bills genuine friend and that she has never told me not to hang out with him. She insisted that she will call her "lawyer" on me if I see him anymore and handed the phone to her more rational husband (his father). I explained that I should not be confused with his low-life friends and that I have acted much like a guardian angel to him keeping him away from trouble and fully support them taking extra care of him. For fifteen minutes I spent attempting to convince him that I was on his side and wanted to help him, even offering myself to go to therapy with him to give an outside source's view on his persona. I told him that he continues to associate with the same trashy people- and his parents assured me that they are under the delusion he does NOT and is walking on the beach and going to the gym (when in reality he is driving them around to pick up drugs or taking them to strip clubs). The conversation ended with him saying he has everything under control with him and a "thank you very much good bye". He wasn't hostile as his over reactive mother- but i still never really recieved an answer on where we stood with me and my friend.

I called this aforementioned friend afterwards to ask him what was going on and he was completely clueless and reassured me I was his friend and that he would in turn "yell" at his parents. I told him not to and instead to try convince them that I am his genuine friend- but I don't think he has the ability to do that because of his relationship with his parents. His mother called me hysterically shortly after i talked to my friend and said "I TOLD YOU NOT TO TALK TO *blank* BUT YOU DID SO YOU'LL HEAR FROM MY LAWYER". I dont understand what the threat was supposed to imply, legal action? Now I understand these are more than likely idol threats from a concerned mother in defense of her troubled teenaged 32 year old son- but in my occupation with where I work, I can NOT afford under ANY circumstances to get in any legal problems; nor do I even want to. I usally speak to my friend several times a day, and hang out with him frequently when he's not booked with trashy people.

This brings me to my question; **Can anything potentially happen to me if i decide to speak to or see him anyways? What rights do his parents have as a guardian? What legally defines him as handicapped? If he does happened to be autistic, does that consider him to be a "disabled adult"? If he has recently been considered handicapped by a therapist or his parents, does that mean they hold the right to dictate who his friends are and who he can legally hear or see? What defines him as handicapped other than his parents word? What protects me from hanging out or even speaking to my friend and not having his parents call the police on me if they hear wind of it?

I wanted to answer these questions quickly if possible because he doesn't understand the severity of the situation and has been calling me innocently wondering why i dont respond to his calls. I obviously cant tell him "Look you've been a halfgrown independant man until yesterday when your parents forbade me to hang out with you". Not only do I not want to lose a friendship of several years to his hysterical mother, but I don't want him losing me and ending up running a pre-inmate delivery service and getting himself into serious trouble!

I am at your disposal being a humble laymen and my understanding of law concerning the recent "handicapped" is limited. Thank you again for your time and I appreciate any sincere answers you can give me. He is a good friend of mine and all this meditation over the subject may be silly or extreme but i am trying to protect myself and my friendship.
 
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