Integrated guardianship information system

An integrated guardianship system comprising:

• a guardianship information system provided by a Clerk of the Court for processing ward data and guardianship data;
• a guardian background investigation system communicatively linked to said guardianship information system over a computer communications network, said guardian background investigation system conducting background investigations of guardians based on guardian data electronically provided by said Clerk of the Court via said guardianship information system over said computer communications network, said background investigations producing guardian background data, said guardian background investigation system electronically providing said guardian background data to said Clerk of the Court via said guardianship information system over said computer communications network;
• and,
• at least one database for storing said ward, guardianship and background data, wherein said ward, guardianship and background data can be accessed by an authorized system communicatively linked to said computer communications network.

A system for processing a legal guardianship in a computer communications network, comprising:

• a data capture device for capturing guardianship data from at least one guardianship form, said guardianship data comprising ward data and guardian data;
• a transmitting device for electronically transmitting said ward data and guardian data over the computer communications network to a guardian background investigator, said background investigator conducting a background investigation based on said guardian data, said background investigation producing background investigation data;
• a receiving device for electronically receiving over the computer communications network said background investigation data from said guardian background investigator;
• a guardianship information system for electronically obtaining said guardianship data from said data capture device and for electronically obtaining said background investigation data from said receiving device, said guardianship information system processing said guardianship data and said background investigation data to create a guardianship plan;
• and
• a data storage device for storing said ward data, guardian data, background investigation data, and said guardianship plan in a guardianship file;
• wherein said guardianship file is accessed from said data storage by an authorized client computer communicatively linked to the computer communications network.

A machine readable storage, having stored thereon a computer program for processing a legal guardianship in a computer communications network, said computer program having a plurality of code sections executable by a machine for causing the machine to perform the steps of:

• capturing guardianship data from at least one guardianship form, said guardianship data comprising ward data and guardian data;
• electronically transmitting said ward data and guardian data over the computer communications network to a guardian background investigator, said background investigator conducting a background investigation based on said guardian data, said background investigation producing background investigation data;
• electronically receiving over the computer communications network said background investigation data from said guardian background investigator;
• electronically processing said ward data, guardian data, and background investigation data to create a guardianship plan in a guardianship file;
• and,
• storing said guardianship file in a fixed storage in the computer communications network which can be accessed by a client computer communicatively linked to the computer communications network when said client computer is authorized to access said guardianship file.