Transcript The Journey to Tribal Data Collection

Making Informed Decisions
MCWIC Tribal Gathering
Tama, Iowa
August 27-28, 2009
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How Many Children are in Care Today? Last
Year?
Number of Licensed Foster Homes?
Total Number of CA/N Reports Last Month?
How Many Were Substantiated Last Year?
Children with Multiple CA/N Reports?
How Many Tribal Children are in State
Custody? – ICWA Compliance?
How Many Children were Returned Home?
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Informs practice--data should
reflect the client’s experiences
through contact with the agency.
Allows the agency to document
actions taken and services
provided to children and families.
Ultimately allows the agency to
determine the impact/outcome of
services to the client.
Permits the agency to proactively
plan for the future.
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It provides the ability to validate that
change is needed in policy and/or practice.
Example:
The number of open child
abuse/neglect reports is
increasing to the point
where each worker has
35 open cases.
What change is needed?
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It provides the ability to track and monitor all
children and families served by the agency.
Where are the children in foster care placed?
 What types of services are being provided to their
parents through the treatment plan?
 Of the currently licensed foster homes, how many
are new this year? How many didn’t renew their
licenses? Why?
 What percentage of the children are in State
custody? When is the next Permanency Hearing? Is
the ICWA worker scheduled to attend?
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Gives the ability to create specific reports to
access information that helps
monitor/manage specific areas of need.
Manager: “How many children in foster care need
a higher level of care? Do we need to give
foster parents additional training?”
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Data can help answer the following training
questions:
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Who needs to be trained?– Supervisors, line
workers, support staff, others? New workers?
What kind of training do they need? – Different
curriculum for each?
Where shall we train? – Training Lab, Office, Remote
(self taught), University?
When do we train? – During Normal office hours,
Nights, Weekends? How often?
Why – Improved Outcomes for Children and
Families!
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The Fostering Connections to Success and
Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008 (Public Law
110-351), was signed into law by the President
on October 7, 2008.
The law provides federally-recognized Indian
Tribes with the option to apply to operate a
title IV-E program and seek Federal
reimbursement of a share of allowable Tribal
expenditures made pursuant to an approved
title IV-E plan.
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As specified by the law, the IV-E requirements
apply to Indian Tribes in the same manner as
they apply to States…. an Indian Tribe wishing
to operate its own title IV-E program must
adhere to the following requirements….
 Mandatory Title IV-E Requirements (8)
 Section 479 of the Act and regulations at 45
CFR 1355.40 and 1356.20(b) require title IV-E
agencies to report data to the Adoption and
Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System
(AFCARS) as a condition of the title IV-E plan.
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Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and
Reporting System (AFCARS)
Don’t Worry, it isn’t a system, it’s just a report!
Requires case-level data on children in foster
care, and children who were placed for
adoption and on those who receive adoption
assistance.
66 data elements on every child in foster care,
and 37 data elements for every child adopted.
Reported two times a year.
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How Many Children in Care, Today?
How Many Children in Care, Last Year?
Number of Licensed Foster Homes?
Number of CA/N Reports Last Month?
How Many Were Substantiated, Last Year?
Children with Multiple CA/N Reports?
How Many Tribal Children are in State
Custody? – ICWA Compliance?
How Many Children were Returned Home?
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How Many Children in Care, Today? - 17
How Many Children in Care, Last Year? - 46
Number of Licensed Foster Homes? - 31
Number of CA/N Reports Last Month? - 8
How Many Were Substantiated, Last Year? - 22
Children with Multiple CA/N Reports? - 17
How Many Tribal Children are in State
Custody? – ICWA Compliance? – 47%, No
How Many Children were Returned Home? - 9
Definition: A structured
method to collect, store,
retrieve, and manage
information.
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Benefits
Costs
Political Climate
Change Management
Training
Policy Development and Consistent
Application of Policy
System of Record
Sustainability
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Information possibilities!!
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More, new , better, timely, and consistent.
Readily available to those who need it.
Can actually be more secure (than paper), and
limited to those with a need to know.
New Abilities!!
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To measure/improve outcomes for children and
families.
Ability to manage effectively by using all the
information.
Ability to meet Federal, State, BIA, or Tribal
reporting requirements.
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Initial equipment purchase
Initial software purchase
Software customization
Software license and maintenance
Training, training, and more training
Data conversion from old system (automated
or paper)
Requirements development
Policy development
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Is funding available for initial purchase, and all
future maintenance needs?
Do you have, or are you willing to develop
policy that supports the business rules in the
system?
Are you willing to make decisions based on
what the information in your system tells you?
How willing are your staff to conform to using
a system?
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"It's easiest to ride a horse in the direction it is
going." In other words, don't struggle against
change; learn to use it to your advantage.
Change management, or the lack of, is always
the most overlooked aspect of system
implementation.
“Managing change” refers to making changes in
a planned and managed or systematic fashion.
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Awareness – of why the change is needed
Desire – to support and participate in the
change
Knowledge – of how to change
Ability – to implement new skills
and behaviors
Reinforcement – to sustain the change
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Every system has built in “rules.” These rules
generally monitor, prompt, or require a user to
perform a function, enter information, or
prohibit the same.
Likewise, Agencies generally have written
policy that dictates a certain “practice model.”
In order for a “system” to work there must be
developed policy (standards), and the system
rules must be consistent with policy.
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A continuation of policy and its
consistent application.
If it isn’t in the system, it didn’t happen.
Opportunity to guide, monitor, require,
and enforce certain actions that reflect
written policy.
Putting all the Pieces Together!
THIS?
OR THIS?
Which example is easier to share with decision makers and
stakeholders?
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With so many competing needs, it is important
to be as clear as you can about why a “system”
is needed and what it is expected to
accomplish.
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Are you trying to meet the performance and
reporting requirements of funding sources?
Are you trying to help program staff stay on top of
their cases, and/or help supervisors better manage
resources?
Is your goal to gather research data and/or
document participant outcomes?
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Who will use the System?
How often will it be used?
What will it be used for?
How big are caseloads?
What type of support and training is
required?
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Systems can store many different types of data,
but they don’t automatically collect it!
When you are deciding what information to
collect consider:
 Where the information will come from;
 How it will be collected;
 How often it will be collected;
 The quality and integrity of the available data;
 And the effort needed to collect it.
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Technical Architecture
 WI-FI
 Internet
 WAN or LAN
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Be clear, in any
contract, about what
the vendor expects
from you, and what
you expect from the
vendor.
Make sure that you
understand who
“owns” the system
(software code).
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A common saying in
this line of work is
that “a system is
never completed.”
We don’t all think
alike. It is often
difficult to get
programmers to
understand users
needs.
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Strong Team
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Need to have a strong champion at the executive
leadership level to drive the project.
Need to have a proficient programmatic lead who can
make decisions on behalf of program. IT should work
at direction of and in support of program, otherwise
you get an automated system which does not meet
programmatic needs.
Training
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Start training your own IT staff once platform and
products have been determined and include them in
the project, so that they are planning for
implementation and maintenance of the system.
Whatever you plan for training of user staff - double it.
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Communication
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Keep communication flowing constantly.
Keep users involved at every point in the process.
Keep executive leadership informed on a regular
basis. You will need more resources and will need a
top manager to support your requests.
Keep federal partners informed.
Submit regular communications to all staff on
project progress.
Consider adding program subject matter experts to
your IT staff to serve as liaisons between program
and technical.
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Reality
Do not sell the system as an answer
to all problems. If you have process
issues before automation and do not resolve them,
you will just be doing things wrong quicker.
 Realize up front that you are re-engineering both
programmatic jobs and technical jobs. Do not turn
everything over to a contractor, as you will not be
able to maintain the monster you have created.
 Whatever you initially plan for expenditures for the
system will not be enough.
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More Reality
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Manage expectations on the system. For example,
your new system will not reduce the need for
technical staff - it will definitely require new skill
sets.
Plan on losing some technical and programmatic
staff after implementation - some will not be able to
adjust to the use of new technology - some IT staff
prefer to work on a project rather than ongoing
maintenance.
In
conclusion…
Never forget
why you are
taking this
journey in the
first place… to
affect positive
outcomes for
children and
families