A psychosocial assessment completed by a social worker is essential for the homologation of a mandate of incapacity or the opening of a protection plan such as a tutorship.

Whether due to illness, disability or age-related decline, an adult may lose his or her ability to care for him or herself or to administer property and require someone to support them or act on their behalf.

What is a psychosocial evaluation of the incapacitated adult?
A psychosocial evaluation is a legal document that can only be prepared by a registered social worker, either within the healthcare network or in private practice. In the case of homologation of a mandate, the purpose of the evaluation is to gauge a person’s autonomy and/or incapacity and to make recommendations in regards to their need for protection. The person and their situation is assessed as a whole, including dimensions such as their current state of incapacity, family and social networks, social roles, functional autonomy, decision-making autonomy, and their financial situation. In addition, the incapacitated person’s opinion will be assessed (when possible), as well as the opinions of those close to the incapacitated person. The social worker will write the evaluation and make recommendations to the court that are in the best interest of the client, based on the information obtained during the interview sessions.

 What are the steps to be followed?

• Required document: Before beginning the process, you need to ensure that you have in your possession the following 2 documents: Medical evaluation confirming inaptitude and a confirmation document from a legal representative (lawyer or notary)that has been mandated for the procedures.
• Service Contract: You will be given a service contract that will stipulate the requested services and well as the service costs.
• Evaluation session: The evaluation of the client is conducted in the person’s personal environment in order to determine their autonomy and their need for protection. In order to collect all the relevant information, the client, their loved ones and if necessary, their treatment team, will be consulted.
• Production and delivery of the report: Once the evaluation is complete, the final report will be produced and a copy will be provided to the client, the person requesting the evaluation as well as the legal representative mandated for the procedures (lawyer or notary).