Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC)
This civil tort action for declaratory relief was brought against the State of Washington and the Administrative Office of the Courts regarding the systemic failure to adequately regulate and oversee the Guardian ad Litem statute. Bloom asserts that the State’s negligent regulatory conduct and failure to implement mandatory oversight protocols created an environment where court-appointed professionals could violate fundamental constitutional rights without accountability. The lawsuit argues that the refusal of the Administrative Office of the Courts to exercise its authority to manage and supervise professional conduct resulted in an unlawful deprivation of the Plaintiff’s liberty interest in the care, custody, and control of her children.
Regulatory Negligence and Institutional Abdication
The litigation filed in Thurston County addresses a critical structural gap in the Washington judiciary regarding the administration and supervision of court-authorized child advocates. The complaint asserts that the State of Washington and its administrative bodies exhibited deliberate indifference by failing to enforce uniform professional standards or functional grievance procedures as contemplated by RCW 26.12.175. Bloom maintains that the State’s negligent regulatory conduct and failure to intervene in documented cases of misconduct allowed for severe and unlawful deprivations of her fundamental liberty interests.
Central to this legal challenge is the assertion that the State has effectively abdicated its responsibility for the oversight of the Guardian ad Litem statute by opting for a fragmented system where accountability is deferred to individual counties. During the proceedings, the State argued that it held no direct liability or duty to supervise the conduct of these professionals at the state level. Bloom characterizes this position as a total abdication of constitutional duty and argues that it leaves families vulnerable to unsupervised court actors who operate with state-sanctioned authority but without state-level guardrails. This case highlights the reality that court-appointed professionals often operate outside the bounds of their assignments because there is no centralized body willing to exercise oversight.
Despite Bloom’s efforts to convince the State to implement a Washington Administrative Code or similar regulatory framework, the State maintained that it had no authority to interfere in county-level programs. Consequently, the Thurston County Superior Court dismissed the action with prejudice and sustained the State’s argument of non-liability. This outcome underscores a profound lack of oversight and serves as a primary driver for the ongoing pursuit of legislative reform to ensure that no government entity can abdicate its responsibility to protect the constitutional rights of its citizens. All materials presented here serve as a transparent record of the push for a more accountable and unified judicial administrative process.