Chapter 55: Protective Service
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The primary purpose of Chapter 55 of the Wisconsin Statutes, the Protective Service System, is to provide for the long-term care and custody of individuals who are at risk of harm due to a condition that is, or is likely to be, permanent. Chapter 55 provides protective services and protective placement, including emergency protective placement, for persons with degenerative brain disorders, severe and persistent mental illness, developmental disabilities, and other like incapacities. Persons who are the subject of an emergency protective placement proceeding under Chapter 55 are presumed to be incompetent.
docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/statutes/statutes/55 |
Wisconsin Protective Placement and Protective Services Forms
www.wicourts.gov/forms1/circuit/ccform.jsp?FormName=&FormNumber=&beg_date=&end_date=&StatuteCite=&Category=52 Chapter 51 Vs Chapter 55 - an Informative Use Case
By Dewitt Rose & Stevens Law Firm 2013.chapter_51_vs_55-_emergency-detentions-and-protective-placements-services-post-helen-e.f..pdf |
Emergency protective placements are a means of intervening in an emergency situation if it is probable that a person, as a result of an incapacity defined in Chapter 55, is unable to provide for his or her own care or custody. The situation must create a substantial risk of physical harm to the person, or to others, if protective action is not immediately taken.
A person who requires emergency protective placement may be taken into custody and transported to a medical facility, or to a facility or home, for the primary purpose of residential care and custody. Such facilities include nursing homes, public medical institutions, centers for the developmentally disabled under the requirements of s. 51.06 (3), Wis. Stats., foster care services or other home placements, or to other appropriate facilities. An appropriate facility does not include units for the acutely mentally ill. A person could also remain in a home or facility where he or she currently resides if appropriate services and supports can be provided.
An emergency protective placement can only be made by a sheriff or police officer, fire fighter, guardian of the individual, or authorized county representative, such as a representative of the county APS unit or crisis system.The person making the emergency protective placement must prepare a Statement of Emergency Protective Placement (Form GN-4000), which includes specific factual information concerning the person’s personal observations of the individual and/or reports made to that person by others. The completed form must be “filed” with the facility director where the individual is placed. The document may be given to the director or left with a staff person or director designee authorized to accept the document on the director’s behalf.
Emergency Protective Placements
The person who is the subject of an emergency protective placement is entitled to be informed of his or her rights to contact an attorney, to have an attorney provided at public expense if he or she is indigent, and to contact a member of his or her family. This information must be provided both orally and in writing by the provision of the Notice of Rights on Emergency Protective Placement (Form GN-4010).
Unless the person is already under guardianship, a Petition for Protective Placement/Protective Services (Form GN- 4040) and a Petition for Guardianship Due to Incompetency (Form GN-3100) must be filed with the court along with the Statement of Emergency Protective Placement and the Notice of Rights on Emergency Protective Placement. There is no requirement for a prior court finding of incompetence and need for guardianship to make an emergency protective placement.
The preliminary hearing to establish that there is probable cause for protective placement must be held within 72 hours of the time the placement is made, excluding weekends and legal holidays. Upon finding probable cause, the court may order temporary protective placement for up to 30 days pending final hearing on permanent protective placement or the court may order protective services as may be required.