When creating a special needs trust, parents must take into account not just where the beneficiary lives now, but where she might live in the future. Because state laws vary on the level of services provided and on what special needs trust provisions will be respected, we build lots of flexibility into our trusts to address these differences.

Some clients have asked me, when choosing between good guardians in different states, whether the services in one state are dramatically different from the services in the other. Until now, I have not had a comprehensive resource to help me answer that question.

The National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI) has recently released the first state-by-state rankings of services and infrastructure to support the mentally ill in 15 years. (While those with developmental or injury-related disabilities have different challenges, many of the infrastructure issues are the same for all three groups.)

Read on to learn more about California, which states are best, which states are worst, and what to do about it for your child.

California’s grade is “C” which is above the national average “D” but not as great as states like Wisconsin, Ohio, Connecticut, Maine, and South Carolina. No state received an “A”. Most distressing, California received a “D” for services — perhaps the most important category.

If your guardian lives in one of the states ranked “F”, it may be time to revisit your choice. Those states are: Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Kansas, Iowa, Illinois and Kentucky.

For clients who would like to revisit their choice of guardians in light of this newly released resource, or new clients who’d like to learn more about how to protect their children, we invite you to call Anna Spektor, our Director of Community Relations, at (805) 778-0600 to schedule an appointment.