[oh] Former Customer Is In A Nursing Home Under Guardianship. Longtime Family Friends Abroad Want To Help, But Don't Know The Us Legal System. Where Do I Point Them?

Location: Ohio

A few years ago, when I worked as a bank teller, I had a regular customer ("S"). She was this eccentric, lonely older woman who’d come in for a quick withdrawal and stay for 45 minutes just talking. Over time, we got pretty close. She didn’t have anyone around to help, so outside of work she’d asked if I could help her a few times with small things like setting up her TV, fixing her iPad, or moving heavy furniture.

She always talked about a close family in India she had visited, sent gifts to, and stayed in contact with for years. At the time, I didn’t know how much was actually real and how much was a product of mental decline. Especially after I caught an unrelated guy from India she was kind of dating, draining about $6,000 from her PayPal. I flagged the fraud and got her money back, but after that, I was on high alert that anyone overseas was taking advantage of her.

Eventually, S came into the bank immediately after being in a car accident, in complete shock, disoriented, and visibly bloodied. She said she lost her checkbook and needed to move her money to a new account, which meant I had to cancel all her checks and freeze her debit card right then and there. A neighbor had driven her, and I begged her to let them take her straight to the ER. Two days later, I couldn't stop worrying about her because I knew she had no money and no car. I brought groceries over to her house, and it was heartbreaking. The place was trashed; she was still wearing the same bloodstained clothes, unable to even locate her ID. She was having an active mental crisis. I knew she couldn't care for herself in that state, so I contacted local authorities to do a welfare check.

Right around then, someone from that family in India messaged me. They knew she had been in an accident and had lost touch, and they were trying to find out what had happened to her. They reached out to me because she spoke to them about me frequently, and they had no other points of contact in the US. Initially, I snapped and accused them of just wanting her money, mixing them up with the bad actor from before.

Because she couldn't live independently, a longtime family acquaintance ("A") stepped up. S’s mother had actually helped raise him, so he’s known the family his whole life. He was the only person willing to step into probate court so she wouldn’t become an abandoned ward of the state. He was granted legal guardianship and got her into a full-time nursing facility where she could receive proper care.

Recently, one of the adult kids from that Indian family tracked me down on social media. I had brushed it off, and I thought it was really weird, and I didn’t like that they were reaching out to me through a few different mediums online. Yesterday I really took some time to look into the situation seriously. After reading their messages, I really don’t think they’re after her money. They genuinely wanted to know if she was safe, and they expressed a desire to bring her to India so they could care for her for the remainder of her life. They’ve sent me photographs of her in India with their family, and remembering all her old accounts of being in India, I really believe the connection to these people in India is not a delusion, and they have a genuine documented history.

They also looked into public records from abroad and came across her Guardian, A’s background: years ago, public court records show an appellate-affirmed felony conviction in Ohio. He used to be a corrections officer at a prison, and he was convicted of sexual battery against an inmate in his custody.

I don't think A is a bad person or that he's mistreating S. He stepped up when nobody else would, and he did it for a family that helped raise him. But looking at it objectively, having that on paper makes his guardianship vulnerable if outside parties or lawyers get involved in probate court, while the family abroad is dealing with distance, time zones, and language barriers, trying to figure out what options exist.

I'm just a former teller who feels terrible for misjudging this family years ago. I want to give them the right direction without inserting myself into something I have no legal authority over.

My questions:

1. What realistic legal paths exist for an overseas family to establish contact, request video calls/updates, or be recognized as interested parties in an Ohio probate guardianship?
2. If an overseas party contacts the probate court or an elder attorney regarding a ward's placement, how does the court typically handle foreign inquiries?
3. How can I ethically and responsibly hand this off to the proper legal channels so they can communicate directly without me in the middle?