4 minute read
TECHNOLOGY
SMART SOLUTIONS
TO IMPROVE CHILD WELL-BEING
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Public child welfare systems around the country suffer from inadequate investment in technology. Budget writers are often forced to choose between delivering critical services and investing in technology infrastructure. As a result, valuable data about child outcomes gets locked within outdated, incompatible systems, never to be shared or analyzed to inform service improvements. At the same time, paperwork and routine administrative tasks consume valuable time that social workers could be spending with children and families.
Partners for Our Children, a UW School of Social Work research and innovation center, is rethinking child welfare practices from the ground up by developing technology platforms and tools that can empower social service providers in transformative ways and help meet the needs of children at a greatly reduced cost.
The mission is multifaceted, which means that POC’s work goes far beyond data analytics and software engineering to include policy analysis, political advocacy, engagement with public and private funders, and mentoring a new generation of tech-savvy social work students. One example of the POC approach is a new education program for parents in Washington state who have court-ordered supervised visits with their children to regain custody following problems of reported abuse or neglect. These visits are the first step in reuniting families and reducing the human and economic costs of keeping children in foster care. They can also be stressful and intimidating for both parents and children.
SUPPORTING PARENTS FOR SUCCESS
The program, called Strive, transforms court-appointed supervisors into coaches and the actual visits into learning experiences. Developed by POC with private philanthropic funding and in partnership with the state’s child welfare agency, Strive includes 15 learning modules that emphasize effective parenting practices.
Parents learn what to expect during supervised visits, gain practice in interacting with their children through playing and reading, and learn strategies for problemsolving, self-care, dealing with trauma and managing setbacks. Strive also helps improve communication among parents, the child’s caregiver and others on the case. When a parent and child are reunited, the consistent use of these skills can serve as the foundation for successful parenting at home.
Service providers can adapt the modules to the needs of the families they serve, and they can also share their changes and input online to inform future updates to the program. This makes Strive the first open-source program in the nation’s child welfare system. Strive is being piloted in Tacoma, Washington, and will be launched in 2016.
INNOVATION WITH A TWIST
Another POC priority is finding ways for social service providers to spend more time with their clients and less time on routine tasks. Now there’s an app for that: Oliver. Currently in development, this cloud-based technology allows child welfare service providers in Washington state to use their smartphone, tablet or computer to schedule parent-child visits, fill out forms and track relevant information to gain insight into their clients’ needs. Oliver streamlines ’’When we bring all these innovations data collection, workflow and feedback, allowing providers to focus more to bear on the child on their clients and less welfare system, we can on paperwork. transform the human- Oliver is part of POC’s services model for larger effort to develop vulnerable children holistic technology and families.’’ solutions for child and youth welfare that help BEN DE HAAN integrate the current POC EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR patchwork of systems. “At POC, our goal is to increase access, harness relevant data and build technological capacity,” says de Haan. “When we bring all these innovations to bear on the child welfare system, we can transform the human-services model for vulnerable children and families.” n
Ben de Haan on transforming social services
The silos within social services systems have historically prevented us from sharing data effectively, and they have also prevented us from benefiting from new technology. The solution to this challenge is both political and technological. POC is uniquely positioned to advocate for use of new technology by creating public and legal mandates and then building the tools necessary for successful compliance and implementation.
The best example of this is performance-based contracting with service providers. POC worked with the state legislature to shape the statutory framework for this law. We are currently building Oliver, the data system that will support its implementation. Simultaneously, we are creating affordable programs such as Strive to better meet the needs of families within the new service delivery model. POC has learned how to navigate the turbulence of systems change by building durable political relationships, producing unbiased information for policymakers, and by bringing private funders to the table.
Our long-term vision takes us beyond the state of Washington and beyond the field of child welfare. Our technology solutions are applicable to any domain where managing services more efficiently, aggregating encounter data, and evaluating service effectiveness are the desired outcomes.
[MORE ] partnersforourchildren.org
