Foster Care

Foster Care Awareness Month
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Foster Care Awareness Month

Foster Care Awareness Month

April has been designated as National Child Abuse Prevention Month to create awareness about the importance of strengthening families and preventing child abuse and neglect.

Capacity to Help Foster Homes Do Even More Good
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Capacity to Help Foster Homes Do Even More Good

Capacity to Help Foster Homes Do Even More Good

The current state of licensed foster families in the United States could be better, as there is a decrease in available homes. Licensing agencies must increase the capacity of licensing specialists to provide continuous support and simplify the licensing process to increase the number of licensed homes.

By Laura Tibbets|May 2023|Categories: Business Process Redesign|Tags: Capacity, Capacity Crisis, Child Protection, Child Welfare, Child welfare agencies, Children in Care, Foster Care, Foster care licensing, Foster Family, Foster Parent, Government, Laura Tibbets, Placement, Safety decision, Streamline, Thriving Families|

How Will Your Child Welfare System Stack Up Against the Laws of Gravity

Our child welfare systems can feel like we are in a game of Jenga. We are attempting to grow and expand our systems by moving pieces one by one - while stretching our limited capacity. But with each move, the entire system risks collapse, particularly with worker shortages.

By Sean Toole|May 2023|Categories: Business Process Redesign, Innovation, Social Worker Staffing Shortages|Tags: Accountability, Accountability System, Accountable, Accuracy, Administrative Burden, Adoption, Analytics, Andi West, Assessment, Authoritative Data, Automation, Backlog, Batches, Benefits, Bill Bott, Blake Shaw, Bottlenecks, BPR, Broken System, Business Process Redesign, Call Center, Capacity, Capacity Crisis, Case flow, Case management, Case Manager, Caseflow, Caseloads, Caseworker, CCWIS, Change, Change Agent, Change Management, Child Abuse, Child Abuse Prevention Month, Child Protection, Child Welfare, Child welfare agencies, Children and Families, Children in Care, Churn, CIO, City, CMS, Constraint, Continuous Coverage, Continuous Enrollment, Continuous Improvement, County, COVID-19, Customer, Customer Satisfaction, Customer Service, CYA, Dashboard, Data, Do Good, Do more good, Documentation, Efficiencies, Efficient, Eligibility life cycle, Eligibility Systems, Eligibility Workers, Employees, Engagement, Enrollment, Extreme Government Makeover, Failure Demand, Family First, Family First Prevention Services Act, FFPSA, First Contact Resolution, Flow, Flow of Work, Foster Care, Foster care licensing, Foster Family, Governing, Government, Healthcare Exchange, Human Services, Human services agencies, Human-Centered Design, Idaho, Improvement, Increase Capacity, Innovate, Innovation, Insights, Investigations, IT, Job satisfaction, Keep Kids Safe, Ken Miller, Laura Tibbets, Leader, Leadership, Lean, Manage, Management, Manager, Managers, Measures, Measuring for Results, Medicaid, Metrics, Michael Jones, Modernize, No Touch Eligibility, Normal, Normal Operations, Outcomes, Pandemic, Parent Engagement, Passion, Peak Performance, Performance, Performance Management, Permanency, PHE, PHE Unwinding, Pipes, Post-pandemic, Prevention services, Process, Process Improvement, Process Management, Process redesign, Public, Public Assistance, Public Health Emergency, Public Health Emergency unwinding, Public Servant, Public Service, Quality, Radical, Radical Change, Real-time data, Recovery, Redesign process, Redetermination, Remote, Remote Workforce, Removal, Results, Reunification, Rework, Saas, Safety ass, Safety decision, Safety net programs, Safety nets, Same-day Determination, Scorecard, Sean Toole, Service Delivery, Smart process, SNAP, Social safety net, Social Worker shortage, Social workers, Staffing shortage, State, Streamline, Supervise, Supervisor, Supervisors, System, TANF, Technology, Thought Leadership, Thriving Families, Transform, Transformation, Turnover, Unsafe, Unwinding, Virtual Court Hearings, Virtual hearings, Virtual Meetings, Virtual Office, Virtual Workforce, Visibility, We Don't Make Widgets, Widget, Work-life bala, Workers, Workflow, Workforce, Working Remotely, Workload|

Capacity to Prevent Child Abuse All Year Long

Strategies to create a system that is aligned, prepared, and has the capacity needed to meet demand…regardless of the month, 365 days out of the year.

Fostering Hope: Rethink Foster Care to Increase Capacity
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Fostering Hope: Rethink Foster Care to Increase Capacity

Fostering Hope: Rethink Foster Care to Increase Capacity

While it is wonderful to recognize the heroes during National Foster Care Month, we must also be aware of the realities of the foster care system and be willing to make a change. A change that will allow the heroes we celebrate to shine, unencumbered by complicated, outdated processes. If we take a glance through the lens of capacity, we will find a starting point so that we can do more good for children and families.

Redefining Social Worker Appreciation: How to create a system of capacity rather than a position of sacrifice
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Redefining Social Worker Appreciation: How to create a system of capacity rather than a position of sacrifice

Redefining Social Worker Appreciation: How to create a system of capacity rather than a position of sacrifice

What if, instead of working so hard to appreciate the sacrifice, child welfare leaders took a long look in the mirror to see why social workers must sacrifice work-life balance in the first place? Maybe the question isn't about how we appreciate social workers well. Maybe the real question is how we get off the hamster wheel and create system capacity, so appreciation is reserved for a job well done, not to make up for a personal life lost.

Family First… Second: Finding a solution to managing the workflow
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Family First… Second: Finding a solution to managing the workflow

Family First… Second: Finding a solution to managing the workflow

The goals associated with Family First are both noble and needed. If we do not fix our capacity crisis in child welfare, we may never see the results we hope to achieve.

Never Getting Behind Again: How One Child Welfare Agency Used the Pandemic to Transform Their Work to Help Children and Families
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Never Getting Behind Again: How One Child Welfare Agency Used the Pandemic to Transform Their Work to Help Children and Families

Never Getting Behind Again: How One Child Welfare Agency Used the Pandemic to Transform Their Work to Help Children and Families

How the Indiana Department of Child Services used the pandemic to transform their work to help children and families.