Guardianship Monitoring and Support Initiative

GMSI Purpose & Mission

The Guardianship Monitoring and Support Initiative (GMSI) is an initiative of the Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) to increase the court's ability to gather information about the physical, emotional, and financial well-being of adults subject to guardianship or conservatorship and enhance the court's ability to monitor the guardianships under their jurisdiction.

Our Mission is to prevent abuse, neglect, exploitation, and the unnecessary restriction of any individual's liberty and autonomy through the development of supports for the courts, guardians, and adults subject to guardianship.

Our Objectives

GMSI's work is guided by three strategic objectives:

• Our first objective is to make sure the courts know about the well-being of the adults under guardianship. We want to help courts have the information they need to ensure an individual's rights are protected.
    How Do We Do This?
  • We partner with courts and state agencies through formal contacts to improve the efficiency of systems, increase oversight of guardianship cases, and leverage shared resources and information.
  • We conduct in-depth research of guardianship cases to verify the circumstances of the adult subject to guardianship.
  • We build relationships with community organizations to remove barriers to access resources.
  
  
  
  
• Our second objective is to provide the courts with good data so they can keep track of guardianship cases and important due dates.
    How Do We Do This?
  • We improve data integrity by identifying and recommending practices for the management of guardianship cases into statewide databases.
  • We conduct a multi-step review of a county's guardianship caseload to facilitate clean-up of cases and decrease delinquency rates.
  • We send reminder letters to guardians with upcoming due dates to ensure they understand their duties and file with the courts in a timely manner.
  
  
  
  
• Our third objective is to help lay guardians understand their responsibilities and how the courts work.
    How Do We Do This?
  • We are developing a toolkit to support lay guardians (unpaid family or friends) and conservators in navigating the courts and fulfilling their duties.
  • We are developing a web-based smart tool to guide lay guardians through key processes such as filing periodic reports or knowing when a change of circumstance is required.
  • We are working to improve the accessibility of forms, documents, and resources to include plain language and to accommodate those for whom English is not their first language.
  • We are developing training materials including videos, manuals, and frequently asked questions to provide the public with clear guidance on understanding guardianship in Washington State.
  
  
  
  

GMSI Annual Reports

Click here to view the 2023 GMSI Annual Report.
Click here to view the 2024 GMSI Annual Report.

GMSI Services

GMSI currently provides county court staff with the following services:

• Case Reviews: A multi-step process to examine your county's guardianship caseload. We review active guardianship cases for compliance across three measures of timeliness. Working with your court, we make recommendations for clean-up, additional research, and data entry practices to improve tracking.
• Records Research: An in-depth review of cases needing more attention when a guardianship has lapsed, or the guardian or adult under guardianship cannot be located.

Current Partner Counties

GMSI has partnered (light purple) or worked on case reviews or records research (dark purple) in the following Washington State counties: