Seamless System of Information Sharing Safe Children’s Action Group Plenary Session June 26, 2002

Preliminary Findings 1.Current data systems that provide information needed to make placement decisions are fragmented and incomplete. 2. The Department of Juvenile Justice has made commendable strides in improving access to and quality of needed information through the implementation of the Juvenile Tracking System; however, some data remains in manual files and several access issues must be resolved.

Preliminary Findings 3. DHR is making progress in integrating its information systems and providing online access to information. 4.The Georgia Association of Homes and Services for Children has developed Referral Central, a web-based database of placement options for children.

Preliminary Findings 5. The information systems share many data elements, however, system protocols, definitions, identifiers, and other components will need to be modified to create a seamless, integrated system of information. 6. Juvenile Court Judges and providers are not always provided the information they need to make appropriate placement decisions.

Preliminary Findings 7. Various Judicial processes and statutory requirements hinder DFCS' and DJJ's efforts to provide needed information for the Courts. 8. Information on current systems is not always accurate, current, or complete. 9. The implementation of the planned SACWIS project has the potential for improved operations and a quality information system.

Preliminary Findings 10. Adding a Business Process Re-engineering module to the SACWIS has the potential to contribute to improved service delivery and case tracking. 11. Project management and accountability relating to the development of SACWIS need to be improved if the system is to gain user support and confidence.

Preliminary Findings 12. GTA will need to complete the child welfare module of the Heath and Human Services portal before Georgia has a seamless, integrated information system for children in out-of-home placement.

Preliminary Recommendations 1.The Department of Juvenile Justice should continue its efforts to give all juvenile and family courts appropriate access to JTS information, including the development of access and confidentiality protocols. 2.Resources should be made available to allow DJJ to hire data input personnel so that professional juvenile justice staff can be relieved from clerical duties to perform needed job functions.

Preliminary Recommendations 3.Decentralized management strategies have helped insure that SACWIS addresses a wide variety of information needs. However, the Project Director for the SACWIS project should have both the clear authority and responsibility for ensuring the successful completion of the system. That person must be clearly identified to all parties involved in the project. 4.DHR should routinely update its web page to disclose progress and milestones in SACWIS development.

Preliminary Recommendations 5. The Georgia Technology Authority should continue to work with DHR, DCH, and DJJ to plan for a seamless system of inquiry, including the development of timelines and milestones for the human services module. 6. DHR needs to take steps to ensure that problems with inaccurate and incomplete data do not carry over to the SACWIS system.

Preliminary Recommendations 7. Any systems developed must include such management features as: – Identifying when more than 30 days has elapsed since a caseworker completed an on-site visit for children in foster care –Identifying when a set interval of time has elapsed between the times a child was diagnosed as needing medical, mental health, behavioral, or dental care and the time the services were received. Information on the services received should also be included.

Preliminary Recommendations Recommendation #7 Continued – A complete case history of placements and services received by both the child and the child’s family. – Protocols to insure that all caseworkers and offices use common definitions and practices (for example, in determining repeat child abuse while a case is still open) – Other “reminder” and “exception” flags to ensure that referrals are followed through, supervisors review workers’ decisions, and other key activities

Preliminary Recommendations Recommendation #7 Continued – Information on the progress children are making towards desired outcomes. – The ability to track individual children so that all services and contacts with the state can be identified. – Relational data bases that, for example, provide the ability to link family and child files – Systems that, to the extent feasible, allow workers to record data only once – directly onto an automated system

Preliminary Recommendations Recommendation #7 Continued – Information on eligibility requirements and financing of services 8. System alerts that inform users when a child has had more than 3 placements. 9. GTA should work with the Georgia Merit System, DHR, DJJ, DCH, the Juvenile Court system, and providers to develop and provide training on the use of SACWIS and the Health and Human Services Portal.

Preliminary Recommendations 10. Between now and the time SACWIS is operational, DHR should continue to link information from their various systems and expand online accessibility as much as possible. One option might be to integrate CPRS, PSDS, and IDS-Online. 11. DHR, DJJ, and the Courts should work together to identify temporary protocols for accessing needed information.

Preliminary Recommendations 12. DFCS, DJJ, and the Georgia Association of Homes and Services for Children should collaborate to build upon Referral Central to provide a complete and current online listing of placement options. 13.DHR and DJJ should institute procedures to ensure that electronic records on all children in, or at risk of being in, out-of-home placement contain complete information on all prior incidents of maltreatment, mental and physical health assessments, special needs, and all mental and physical health services received and the results of those services.

Preliminary Recommendations 14. DHR officials may wish to consider either adding to SAWCIS or interfacing with SACWIS a data base that automatically compares caseworker education, training, and service requirements with work histories to determine training needs, maintains training available to address requirements, and schedules time for needed training.