Child Welfare Practice, Supported by Modern Technology Solutions
One of the fundamental tenants of child welfare practice is collaboration with a variety of stakeholders who are part of a broad system of care. All of these people are committed to providing services that families need. These stakeholders include child welfare state federal partners, organizations, counties, providers, courts, and other community partners. There are many processes that are performed between these various entities (and others) to achieve successful and timely collaboration.
There are a variety of technology solutions in place to support these processes. In some cases, the state has no authority to dictate use of a monolithic system to entities outside of their purview. The result is fragmented system of care that includes manual and laborious processes, duplicative data sources, and data quality and timeliness issues. Worse than all of that is that you could have a frustrated workforce, compliance issues, and a negative client experience. It doesn’t have to be that way.
When the Comprehensive Child Welfare Information System (CCWIS) final rule became effective in August of 2016, the original intent was that it would allow for states to decide what type of system best supports their program and practice. This was a monumental opportunity to rethink how the work is done, how to engage with the broader system of care, and most importantly how to engage with children and families. Unfortunately, there were constraints relative to the language for data exchanges and what was referred to as Child Welfare Contributing Agencies (CWCA). These constraints impacted funding, which meant some states were less incentivized to pursue more innovative technology designs.
On February 1, 2022 the Children’s Bureau announced publication of Technical Bulletin #8, CCWIS Data Exchanges. TB#8 provides information about data exchange standards and factors for organizations to consider when developing data exchanges. The Children’s Bureau clearly recognizes the value of bidirectional data exchanges and provides information about those specific benefits. The TB#8 also includes a summary of data exchanges and examples of data that may be exchanged to provide value to the program.
Perhaps the most interesting aspect of this announcement, however, is the revision of their interpretation of CWCA duplication. They state,
““A CCWIS automated function is duplicated within the CCWIS if more than one automated function within the CCWIS itself supports the same child welfare business practice. If automated functions supporting child welfare business processes in the CCWIS are duplicated in a child welfare contributing agency (CWCA), we no longer consider that to conflict with the regulatory requirement for non-duplication.””
The TB#8 further states, “For example, it is no longer considered a duplicated function if the CCWIS supports foster care placement activities and a CWCA system duplicates that support. Therefore, CCWIS automated functions that are duplicated by automated functions in a CWCA may qualify for CCWIS cost allocation.”
First, the Children’s Bureau should be commended for recognizing the unintended constraint that organizations faced in innovating, as it related to the previous guidance. They have recognized that data originates and exists in a variety of places. With the appropriate standards in place, it is more valuable to allow these exchanges to better support practice. This forward-thinking opens the door for organizations to work more collaboratively with the community of partners involved in the care and well-being of children and more wholly families. As always, states should work with their federal analysts to discuss solution designs and funding. More information can be found at the Federal Guidance for Child Welfare IT Systems page.
Regardless of where you are now with CCWIS modernization efforts, you can consider Commercial-off-the-Shelf (COTS) solutions that are quickly and cost-effectively implemented. For example, some states have already adopted a mobile first strategy which allows them to take the time they need to replace their decades old legacy system. You may choose to extend capabilities of your CCWIS to families for uploading documents or filling out forms to automate and improve current manual processes. Perhaps you want to provide capabilities to youth in care allowing them access to their own information and documents. Another example is allowing providers to access data they need, leveraging COTS products in the field.
The new guidance issued by the Children’s Bureau has the potential, should states choose to act on it, to have significant impacts. By supporting program and practice with modern system designs and products, states will realize measurable results in operational efficiencies, data quality, compliance, and workforce retention. These are issues that child welfare organizations and their systems of care struggle with every day. And, most importantly, through these changes and subsequent results, organizations can build more trusting relationships with children and families to achieve improved outcomes.
Organizations such as Clark County Department of Family Services, North Carolina Department of health and human services and Erie County (NY) Department of Social Services are already leveraging modern systems of engagement. To know more about how these organizations are leveraging Diona solutions, please contact us.