All she wants for Christmas is her parents…
North Naples woman says she’s being denied Christmas with parents in nursing home
Aisling Swift
December 23, 2009
naplesnews.com
http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2009/dec/23/north-naples-woman-seeks-christmas-parents/
Naples — All Denise Vozzella wants for Christmas is her two parents.
But the 54-year-old North Naples woman won’t be allowed to spend Christmas Day with them at Windsor Place assisted-living facility in Naples.
Harold A. Foy, a legal guardian assigned to care for her parents, who both suffer from dementia, has refused her request, which she outlined in a letter.
Denise Vozzella hasn’t seen 81-year-old Marcel Vozzella and her mother, Jacqueline, 83, since Dec. 1, when she was asked to leave after the guardian contended her visits upset her parents and Windsor Place staff, who don’t want her within 100 feet of the home without being accompanied by a legal guardian.
On Dec. 10, Foy filed an emergency petition, seeking an order to further restrict her two-hour, twice-weekly supervised visitations. He contended Denise Vozzella curses at nurses, aides, and other staff, repeatedly tells her parents she’s broke to get money, and that the guardian is trying to kick her out of their house and spending all their money.
Foy said her visits upset her parents and cause her father’s blood pressure to rise, so he wanted to temporarily eliminate visitation to “stabilize” their anxiety and “maintain” their health.
Vozzella and her attorney, Nikki Uri of North Naples, fought that. Vozzella cried to Acting Collier Circuit Judge Vince Murphy as she described their close relationship, how she was a traditional Italian daughter and left a job and fiancé to return to Naples to care for them when they needed her.
“I’ve taken care of them, bathed them, clothed them and fed them,” Vozzella testified, sobbing as she detailed the last 14 years. “… I promised my parents I would do everything I could to take care of them.”
Denise Vozzella testified they cry when she leaves. And her father doesn’t like a supervisor listening to their conversations and tries to get them to leave. She called the supervised visits unfair, noting these could be the last days of her parents’ lives.
“They should be at home with their daughter … not with people who don’t love them,” Vozzella testified, her voice choking with emotion as she wiped away tears.
Uri called the guardian’s accusations false and absurd and urged the judge to prevent further restrictions.
“It’s one week before Christmas,” Uri told Murphy during her closing arguments Friday. “To cut off visits right now would be absolutely cruelty. This may be the last Christmas of their lives.”
But Murphy couldn’t grant a Christmas visit. His hands were tied.
Uri and Denise Vozzella hadn’t filed a legal petition asking for that and Foy and his attorney, Kenny Kemp of Fort Myers, didn’t offer when Uri complained to Murphy.
But when Uri asked that Vozzella be allowed to see them on Christmas Eve, today, Murphy said: “I don’t think that’s unreasonable at all.”
Christmas Eve falls on Vozzella’s supervised Tuesday-Thursday visitation schedule, so she’ll spend two hours this afternoon with her parents, singing carols and giving them gifts.
The judge told Kemp and Foy that they already had the legal authority to terminate visits if her parents got upset and to intervene and oversee visits. However, Murphy added: “Please allow the holiday to be a time for the family to get together …”
Vozzella left with hope her parents would someday return home and called Murphy’s ruling fair. She’d feared further restrictions on her four hours of visitation each week. “I wanted to say so much. I want to bring my parents home,” she added.
Kemp and Foy declined comment and wouldn’t respond to Uri’s and Vozzella’s contentions that they’re looting her parents’ bank account. They contend more than $40,000 monthly is being taken to pay for expenses, including a private nursing service.
In July, Uri filed a motion that argued the Vozzellas were forced out of their home, where they had full-time nurses; their original guardian refused to pay for their care; and she instructed doctors at Windsor Place to drug Marcel Vozzella with powerful sedatives when he expresses unhappiness about where he’s living and not being able to see his daughter.
For Denise Vozzella, it’s been an 11-month battle to have her parents returned to their home on Hawkesbury Way in Island Walk, a North Naples gated community.
The case began Feb. 23, when her brother sought an emergency temporary guardian questioning his sister’s spending for her parents. A month later, Sara Steiner of Naples was appointed permanent guardian and sought a judge’s determination that Marcel and Jackie Vozzella, who also is blind, were incompetent.
Circuit Judge Lawrence Martin granted that order.
Court records detail the battle among Vozzella, Steiner and Steiner’s attorney, Patrick C. Weber, the questioning of billing for lawyers, guardians, supervised visits, and the private nursing care, which is in addition to what’s provided at Windsor Place.
December 26th, 2009 at 7:54 am
I, also, was denied family time with my, elderly, parents, in Maryland for Christmas. The case manager from the Howard County Office on Aging, stole my parents. For over three years, her M.O. has included refusing to communicate with me. When she, first, twisted our conversations I, quickly, realized that communications needed to be written and resorted to emails, almost, exclusively. The primary exceptions were emergencies, such as arriving at the assisted living and being denied the opportunity to take my mother for a walk and being denied private visits with my mother. She refused to respond to my emails. Had she responded, it would have been an admission of having received the emails, which addressed serious issues of my mother’s health and wellbeing. My mother was, totally, traumatized, being separated from her husband and her home and the case manager, who refers to herself as the “guardian”, didn’t care! I spent three Christmas seasons working on legal motions and briefs, and all were lost or denied, even through appeals. However, in spite of my advocacy efforts, I am not on an deadlines for court filings and I want to have more time with my parents, but, the case manager is continuing the perpetration of her bullying, against me, as I was the one family member to stand up and fight for my parents. Since the first assisted living owner, saw the cash cow, and didn’t want me to be my mother’s guardian, because she knew I intended to care for my own mother, she began hostile bullying of me and defamation of my character, as well. ALF, social services, court appointed attorneys and the judges colluded towards stealing my parents. To keep me from observing my mother’s unhappiness and the horrifically, unhealthy, food that was being served, they limited my visits to three hours in the afternoon, between lunch and dinner. This must end, but, the media is not interested, the courts are covering up everything, as is the entire system in Maryland. They are all obstructing justice including Governor Martin O’Malley’s office, the Office on Healthcare Quality that overseas assisted living facilities, and even the Attorney General’s and the Prosecutor’s offices. My advocacy continues, not, just for me and my parents, but, for the many others who are being denied these rights.
December 26th, 2009 at 11:32 am
I am so sorry to hear of yet another child deprived the right to visit with her parents, especially at this time of year.
This story sounds so much like that of my family,
1. We were denied the right to see my in-laws that we lived with, and helped with any needs they had.
2. We were also told that WE WERE UPSETTING THEM.
3. We were ACCUSED OF TAKING AND FORCING MONEY FROM MY IN-LAWS, when in fact they had, WELL OVER HALF A MILLION BEFORE THE COURT AND IT’S APPOINTED “GAURDIANS” TOOK THEM OVER, who have all made off with EVERYTHING!!!!