The FAMCare Blog

Refugees create unique issues for human services organizations, especially when it comes to creating and maintaining an accurate database to manage the care they need. One of the main things you find with onboarding the refugees into your database is the difficult nature of getting accurate data. It is hard to track that information and store that information and then to get your database to talk to other databases that data.

Government agencies in general tend to stay in their own siloes and be reluctant to share information. Some of it is agency caseworkers being too busy. Some of it is concerns about being HIPAA compliant. And some of it is a healthy paranoia about data security. The right government software solutions can alleviate much of those concerns.

I recently read an article in Forbes about how Electronic Health Records (EHRs) are broken. And while some of the points they made were appalling, they weren’t surprising – at least, not to me. We’ve known about the limitations of the government approved EHRs for some time now.

I have seen first hand how having the right human services software can really make a difference in kids’ lives. How kids that are in the system, for whatever reason, can get better treatment, better understanding and a chance to just be kids.

For a nonprofit organization, gaining a better understanding of the data in their system can go a long way towards helping them achieve their mission. Why is data so important for nonprofit organizations? Ultimately, it all comes down to accountability.

The right nonprofit software solution can help you understand your data and find that accountability. It should be one that is user-friendly, effective and thorough. When buying software, you may think the technology aspect is the most important, but it is truly about having the right attitude and change management in place. If you have the right attitude and right people to involve in that change management, there will be success.

I'm always interested in learning how caseworkers manage their days both when at work and when they leave work. Social work is not easy, not by far, but it can be so rewarding when you have the ability to impact the life of someone in a positive way.  When I come across interesting information or a good article, I always look to share it with our community.

In a database, security is key but is should be kept simple.  

Have you ever had one of those days where you think, "I have no idea what I am doing"?

Having spent years working with troubled youth, I have learned one tool that is both the most useful and the most difficult thing to learn when helping kids: “Shut up and Listen”. Bill Engvall has a stand-up comedy act where his catch phase is “I should have just shut up”.