In American child welfare and foster care, the overarching goal is clear: to build stronger families and provide children with safe, nurturing environments where they can thrive.

Achieving this goal requires a multifaceted approach, and case management software is playing a pivotal role in enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of these critical services in the United States.

With over 400,000 children in foster care and over 100,000 adoptable children in the United States, we are passionate about improving the adoption process with the right social services software. The length of the adoption process can vary by state but having the right software in place can help improve the process for all parties involved.

Foster Care to Adoption

Of the 428,000 children in foster care in the U.S., over 30% cannot be returned to their families and are waiting to be adopted. 135,000 children are adopted each year and there are currently 1.5 million adopted children in the United States. 59% are from the child welfare (or foster) system. Children enter foster care through no fault of their own because they have been abused, neglected or abandoned. These children are in the temporary custody of the state while their birth parents are given the opportunity to complete services that will allow the children to be returned to them if it is in the children’s best interest. Unfortunately, 30% of them never make it.

"Getting adopted is like finally being able to sit down after standing up for a painfully long time." — Sam, age 9, in foster care - Social Work Today

This touching testimony from a little boy finally emerging from the foster care system opened our eyes to the ongoing trauma children in state custody experience. 

The winds of change blow steadily through the world of social services. Our colleagues in Child and Family Services recently shared with us the dramatic changes that are occurring in foster care and adoption. Attitudes toward adoption, secrecy, parental rights, and post adoption best practices are evolving rapidly, with the mind set of both the parents seeking to adopt and birth mothers who find themselves in need of surrogate parents for their child, changing dramatically.

As an adopted person who was separated from my twin brother at one year of age, I especially have a strong commitment to this trend. Although, I could not have landed in a better household with very loving parents the entire process was certainly less structured than today’s process.

WHEN CLOUDS FORM

In 2013 this blog reported on the meltdown in service at the Veteran’s Administration (VA). Similar signs of meltdown are beginning to gather in Child Protective Services. IN general – our team has been communicating what our clients have been telling us for years and why they moved to FAMCare.  We’ve talked about problems in child welfare and CPS in the states of Florida, Georgia, California and Texas.  Case Worker colleagues report crushing workloads, fear-based management, impossible expectations, and stress levels that are sending case workers out on medical leave at an alarming rate.

As many of you know, if you’ve been following my other posts, I have a passion for customers we serve because of my experience growing up as the son of house parents.  They can’t call them that any more, and no one actually lives in the same residence as the clients.  Times have really changed.

For many case workers and service providers – managing technology can be challenging. Good technology can improve data collection, process workflow and reporting. However, finding and implementing the right system is often difficult. At the end of the day, how do you know what features to look for in a great case management application? Are those features “out of the box” or something you’ll need to incorporate based on your requirements?