“The advance of technology is based on making it fit in so that you don’t really even notice it, so it’s part of everyday life.”
— Bill Gates
Innovative solutions to the challenges of child welfare come in all shapes and sizes. Below we describe a few common types of work that are essential for modern child welfare agencies and how they can be improved as technology advances.
Documenting Case Information
Now: Streamline data entry, provide document storage, and make it easy to retrieve and analyze data for caseworkers. System such as Binti, CoBRIS, extendedReach, and mCase provide these sorts of functionalities for child welfare agencies along with many other custom solutions.
The Future: These systems will increasingly introduce AI, machine learning, and advanced reporting tools and modules that will make data entry faster and data displays more intuitive and customizable. Many of the features and functions described below will become more accessible within these systems.
Family Matching and Recruitment
Now: Identify and enhance new outreach to families in order to find better matches, which will lead to better experiences for children and families in care. Systems like ECAP, Family-Match, and AdoptUSKids make these activities easier.
The Future: Expect improvements in the way predictive analytics are integrated and interpreted. These systems will get even better at helping to identify trends and refine searches in ways that lead to more effective tactics, resulting in better matches and outcomes.
Immersive Training
Now: Give staff the tools they need to experience challenging situations before they happen. Tools such as Avenues VRL help to introduce staff to elements of these situations by immersing them in virtual reality and augmented reality environments.
The Future: These environments will get better as virtual reality development becomes cheaper and more widespread. Graphics processing will improve, which will lead to more immersive environments that simulate (and, therefore, train workers) more effectively.
Resource Allocation
Now: Use predictive analytics to prioritize resources so that at-risk populations can get the interventions they need more efficiently. Companies like Mindshare and Merative (formerly IBM Watson Health) provide these types of tools and services.
The Future: Expect these tools to become more accurate and easier to integrate into other platforms. They will be able to offer narratives alongside the data they display, which will become more digestible and intuitive for staff who are looking for answers to specific questions about interventions and policies.
Communication and Collaboration
Now: Help staff communicate with each other, families, and children to better coordinate care. Microsoft’s Teams, Alphabet’s Google Meet, and Salesforce’s Slack, and Zoom all provide these capabilities.
The Future: These tools will improve by offering better transcription and summaries. Integrations of virtual reality and augmented reality will begin to become more common, as will enhanced audio and collaboration tools. These tools will be embedded in other software platforms through seamless integrations.
Electronic Signature Collection
Now: As more and more governments and agencies allow digital signatures in place of “wet” (handwritten) signatures, paper documentation will continue to move into the digital realm. Systems like PandaDoc, Docusign, and Dropbox Sign can provide electronic signature collection on a variety of devices.
The Future: Expect these signature services to integrate more seamlessly into various applications where they are needed while more institutions begin to accept them as valid forms of approval.
Data Analysis and Presentation
Now: Display data to help illuminate trends that help ensure accountability, meet requirements, and inform policies that serve children and families. Systems such as KU’s ROM provide child welfare data in formats curated specifically for child welfare agencies; tools such as Microsoft’s Power BI and Salesforce’s Tableau provide tools for agencies with analytics professionals on staff
The Future: These systems integrate more seamlessly with other platforms and will offer more flexibility and variety in how they display data. Better data collection tools will allow reporting to be richer and more accurate while the displays and layouts will become more imaginative.
Blog post written by Paul Epp