Congratulations to CALA Continuing Education student Léonie Rosenstiel on publishing her latest book! Protecting Mama: Surviving the Legal Guardianship Swamp focuses on Rosenstiel and her mother, who suffered from Alzheimer’s disease, and their struggle with a court-appointed guardian and the legal system. Rosenstiel was able to publish her book after years of living under a court-mandated gag order. In an interview with CALA, Rosenstiel detailed the process of telling her story and her goals in doing so.
Can you tell us about your background and who you are?
I was born in New York City—during a blizzard—and spent most of my growing years in a New York City suburb. I attended the Professional Children’s School and Juilliard Pre-College Division (I was a violinist), Barnard, Columbia, The New Seminary, and the Tri-State College of Traditional Chinese Acupuncture. I earned an MPH from Walden University and a PhD in musicology from Columbia. Over time, I’ve performed in, taught, and coached musical groups.
My first book was about the composer Lili Boulanger. I then wrote a biography of her older sister, Nadia, and edited a music textbook. From writing about music, I went on to work in my husband’s literary agency in New York City. We started a small publishing company and issued seven editions of Literary Agents of North America. Ultimately my mother, husband, and I decided to move to Albuquerque, where most of the action in Protecting Mama takes place.
What is Protecting Mama about?
The book describes the trauma created for all of us after my mother, a retired college professor, started showing signs of dementia. Human vultures seemed to descend from everywhere, attempting to steer her this way and that and take things from her. Ultimately, Mama ended up under the legal control of a court-appointed commercial guardian. After that, my family and I endured years of legal and personal struggles with the court system and with Mama’s guardian.
It took me five years beyond Mama’s passing to regain my First Amendment right to speak. Permanent gag orders and “non-disparagement agreements” are a frequent feature of the commercial guardianship world. Protecting Mama reveals the commercial guardians’ playbook to public view and offers some suggestions about how other people might avoid or use my experiences to solve problems in their own lives.
What do you hope readers will take away from reading Protecting Mama?
I hope people will realize that the current situation in elder care is beyond terrifying. People who barely know a person will tell everyone they are following that person’s wishes. They claim to know what’s better for an elder than people who have known them for half a century. The court proceedings are secret; dishonest statements abound. There is hope, but it’s going to take an enormous amount of work by people of goodwill in many different fields to solve this.
How did you first learn about CALA?
I received an email that advertised the program. At the time, I was in a situation that approached house arrest due to a very restrictive court-imposed gag order. I knew that I would eventually write the book as I’d promised Mama, but I didn’t dare write it then because the gag order forbade me to write either about my mother or about the entire subject of elder care/guardianship. Taking writing courses kept me writing while avoiding subjects the court had forbidden me to touch.
How have CALA courses supported your work?
This goes to the whole notion of “deepening one’s craft.” I took those courses to make sure I kept practicing writing. And then I stayed on to take more courses even after the gag order was lifted. I’m grateful for the online classes. They saved my sanity during the time the gag order was in effect.
What else are you working on right now/looking forward to working on in the future?
Calumet Editions has already accepted a second book from me. This volume explains how family lies and secrets—some of them kept over generations—helped to create a situation in which my mother ended up prey to the commercial guardianship system. This second book, which is really a prequel to Protecting Mama, is slated for publication in 2023. I have created an online course, summit and coaching program for U.S. residents, and am now finishing a website to unite all these services with a legal database to help people who need more information to support in their decision-making for and with their elders..
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Thank you to Léonie Rosenstiel for speaking with CALA about her latest work. For more about her and her story, check out this interview video with Jack Canfield, or this podcast episode about Protecting Mama.
Registration for CALA’s Spring 2022 writing courses is now open.