PRESS RELEASE
For additional information, contact Teresa Kennedy at 212-901-6913 or email elderdignity@hotmail.com.
Calls for more aggressive prosecution and the acceleration of federal reform
March 3, 2021 – Flagler County, FL – The number one Netflix movie this past week was I Care a Lot and its star Rosamund Pike just won a Golden Globe. The fictional film exposes exploitative aspects of the guardianship industry which may give you chills, but the real-life case of Dr. Lillie Sykes White is worse. Her family and other advocates have launched a petition for the U.S. Department of Justice and Senate Special Committee on Aging to investigate this predatory industry, aggressively prosecute and accelerate reform at the federal level. The petition and a video statement by Dr. White’s sister and only living sibling, Janie Sykes-Kennedy, as well as Dr. White herself, can be viewed at: https://www.change.org/StopPredatoryGuardianships
“I grew up under Jim Crow laws and the unjustness in this guardianship system reminds me of that,” said 85-year-old Sykes-Kennedy. “Families don’t stand a chance when the court itself is facilitating the exploitation and appeals are based on false statements in court records,” she added.
After spending eight years in a fraudulent guardianship in Florida and over four years isolated from loved ones, former Montgomery County Maryland school supervisor Dr. White died alone on December 30, 2020 of COVID-19. Her abduction and forced isolation by the court-appointed guardian and attorney ad litem silenced her voice, facilitated constructive fraud and put her in harm’s way. No official helped despite substantiated violations of Florida statutes by court agents.
“I’d like to go to the judge and talk with the judge and let him know my circumstances, and I can do it better than anybody else,” Dr. White said one month before she was abducted. “Nobody else can do it like I can do it because you see I’m a victim of it,” she added.

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