The Casebook Blog

If you’re on the lookout for a software solution for your family services organization, proceed with caution. Your choices have exploded in the last few years, but not all of your options are capable of meeting the needs of your organization or the people it serves. To identify and implement your ideal solution, it’s incumbent on you to take some steps to prepare for the change. An Expanding Variety of Family Services Software Family services organizations, like many of those in human services, have been relatively slow in adopting new technologies. This delay threatens to place the most vulnerable in society at an even greater risk than they already endure. With the growing need for real-time access to data about clients as well as internal matters, family services software solutions are proliferating and evolving to meet the changing needs of these organizations. As you consider adopting a new software platform for your organization, you’ll want to stay aware of the following pitfalls that could jeopardize its success. 1. Losing Focus on the Mission Whatever solution you decide on, your organization’s mission must remain your central concern. Software is simply a tool, and your tools should give you exactly what you need — no more and no less. Excessive functionality can present a problem to those looking for a speedy, uncomplicated process and user-friendly experiences. Unless you have in-house software developers or opt for a customized system, you’ll almost certainly be adapting an existing platform to suit the needs of your organization. This requires configurability. Configurability enables you to adjust prebuilt software capabilities, giving you freedom and flexibility to mold a platform to your specifications. Configurable software can be purpose-built for the industries and trades they serve, providing the control needed to help you avoid paying for consulting services that aren’t included with your original purchase. With family services software that can be configured to meet your particular needs, your organization’s mission becomes a much shorter hill to climb. 2. Choosing by Price or Perceived Popularity It’s remarkably easy to do a quick search online and pick a platform that lists high on the results page. It’s equally tempting to select your family services software based on price alone. But finding the right solution for your organization and its mission isn’t likely to be quite as simple as that. By allowing your choice to be guided by what “everybody else” does, you may be shortchanging your organization in the midst of the various options available today. The number of web-based apps dedicated to the needs of family services organizations has skyrocketed. However, brand recognition, bold marketing, and daring pricing tactics can obscure what are actually outdated programs that come up short and don’t deliver what your organization truly needs. Letting the allure of popularity or an outsized fixation on price compel your decision can easily lead you to paying a premium for antiquated technology. This common error could damage your organization and hinder its mission. Your organization’s unique objective imposes specific demands on whatever solution you ultimately choose. To determine what’s best equipped to advance your organization’s mission, product demos are often a vital step of the process. These valuable sessions make it possible to know if a well-known provider is offering essentially the same software that it came out with years ago, or if an unfamiliar new competitor has created the ideal app that your team deserves. 3. Neglecting to Consult the Whole Team Adding the right family services software to your technology stack can certainly help your organization fulfill its mission. But it also makes your team’s jobs easier — from the back office to the workers in the field. Your new solution will have a definite impact across your organization, so why not include your team in the decision? If enough people in your organization aren’t involved in choosing its new system, you may see some backlash. A unilateral approach to this process can make stakeholders feel left out, resulting in a high probability for pushback as you’re transitioning from one system to another. To ensure you’ve gathered sufficient support from those who will be using it, get buy-in from your team members by consulting with them and soliciting their approval of any software platforms you’re seriously considering. Regardless of whatever operational efficiencies a new platform may bring to your organization, your team is liable to be unimpressed if they feel unrepresented in its selection. Since using any new software that you introduce will be an integral part of their jobs, you should regard your teammates as indispensable resources to be consulted before you reach a decision. 4. Forgetting About the Onboarding Phase It’s tempting to think that, after purchasing your new family services software, you can immediately replace your old system. But the transition isn’t quite that simple. Platform implementation can take weeks or even months, depending on your organization’s size, readiness, and other factors. Onboarding your team to the new system is a core part of the implementation process — and it takes up a generous portion of time. To make this transition smooth, it’s important that you select a software provider with an efficient and accommodating onboarding process. Find out how the providers you’re considering handle onboarding. How quickly can they get your team up and running on the platform? How flexible is the onboarding schedule? What will the provider expect from you and your team during the onboarding phase and other phases of implementation? These are the kinds of questions to prepare when you’re shopping around. 5. Expecting Software to Fix a Flawed Process Cloud technology has radically changed business and information management, resulting in abundant new tools for family services organizations. However, since technology is dependent on the people and processes that govern its use, your tools can’t fix broken methods. It would be a mistake to approach your search for a new platform without thoroughly understanding this point. Bear in mind that no software solution can repair an operation with inadequacies in its people or its process. Effective software simply takes what your organization does best and amplifies it, enhancing your clients’ experience. It saves your team time by expediting workflows, creating greater opportunities for assisting more families. But, before you pick up any new tool, it’s a good idea to review your organization from end to end. Try to identify sources of waste and address them well in advance of moving to any new system. This will help ensure the success of your new software. Choosing new software for your organization can be a demanding, stressful process full of promise and uncertainty. With an expanding multitude of options, family services professionals need to take care in their selection, as any change will often carry long-lasting and far-reaching consequences for their organization. By avoiding common mistakes in your search for a software platform, you can maximize the effectiveness of your solution, whatever you finally decide to do. To learn more about choosin If you’re on the lookout for a software solution for your family services organization, proceed with caution. Your choices have exploded in the last few years, but not all of your options are capable of meeting the needs of your organization or the people it serves. To identify and implement your ideal solution, it’s incumbent on you to take some steps to prepare for the change. An Expanding Variety of Family Services Software Family services organizations, like many of those in human services, have been relatively slow in adopting new technologies. This delay threatens to place the most vulnerable in society at an even greater risk than they already endure. With the growing need for real-time access to data about clients as well as internal matters, family services software solutions are proliferating and evolving to meet the changing needs of these organizations. As you consider adopting a new software platform for your organization, you’ll want to stay aware of the following pitfalls that could jeopardize its success. 1. Losing Focus on the Mission Whatever solution you decide on, your organization’s mission must remain your central concern. Software is simply a tool, and your tools should give you exactly what you need — no more and no less. Excessive functionality can present a problem to those looking for a speedy, uncomplicated process and user-friendly experiences. Unless you have in-house software developers or opt for a customized system, you’ll almost certainly be adapting an existing platform to suit the needs of your organization. This requires configurability. Configurability enables you to adjust prebuilt software capabilities, giving you freedom and flexibility to mold a platform to your specifications. Configurable software can be purpose-built for the industries and trades they serve, providing the control needed to help you avoid paying for consulting services that aren’t included with your original purchase. With family services software that can be configured to meet your particular needs, your organization’s mission becomes a much shorter hill to climb. 2. Choosing by Price or Perceived Popularity It’s remarkably easy to do a quick search online and pick a platform that lists high on the results page. It’s equally tempting to select your family services software based on price alone. But finding the right solution for your organization and its mission isn’t likely to be quite as simple as that. By allowing your choice to be guided by what “everybody else” does, you may be shortchanging your organization in the midst of the various options available today. The number of web-based apps dedicated to the needs of family services organizations has skyrocketed. However, brand recognition, bold marketing, and daring pricing tactics can obscure what are actually outdated programs that come up short and don’t deliver what your organization truly needs. Letting the allure of popularity or an outsized fixation on price compel your decision can easily lead you to paying a premium for antiquated technology. This common error could damage your organization and hinder its mission. Your organization’s unique objective imposes specific demands on whatever solution you ultimately choose. To determine what’s best equipped to advance your organization’s mission, product demos are often a vital step of the process. These valuable sessions make it possible to know if a well-known provider is offering essentially the same software that it came out with years ago, or if an unfamiliar new competitor has created the ideal app that your team deserves. 3. Neglecting to Consult the Whole Team Adding the right family services software to your technology stack can certainly help your organization fulfill its mission. But it also makes your team’s jobs easier — from the back office to the workers in the field. Your new solution will have a definite impact across your organization, so why not include your team in the decision? If enough people in your organization aren’t involved in choosing its new system, you may see some backlash. A unilateral approach to this process can make stakeholders feel left out, resulting in a high probability for pushback as you’re transitioning from one system to another. To ensure you’ve gathered sufficient support from those who will be using it, get buy-in from your team members by consulting with them and soliciting their approval of any software platforms you’re seriously considering. Regardless of whatever operational efficiencies a new platform may bring to your organization, your team is liable to be unimpressed if they feel unrepresented in its selection. Since using any new software that you introduce will be an integral part of their jobs, you should regard your teammates as indispensable resources to be consulted before you reach a decision. 4. Forgetting About the Onboarding Phase It’s tempting to think that, after purchasing your new family services software, you can immediately replace your old system. But the transition isn’t quite that simple. Platform implementation can take weeks or even months, depending on your organization’s size, readiness, and other factors. Onboarding your team to the new system is a core part of the implementation process — and it takes up a generous portion of time. To make this transition smooth, it’s important that you select a software provider with an efficient and accommodating onboarding process. Find out how the providers you’re considering handle onboarding. How quickly can they get your team up and running on the platform? How flexible is the onboarding schedule? What will the provider expect from you and your team during the onboarding phase and other phases of implementation? These are the kinds of questions to prepare when you’re shopping around. 5. Expecting Software to Fix a Flawed Process Cloud technology has radically changed business and information management, resulting in abundant new tools for family services organizations. However, since technology is dependent on the people and processes that govern its use, your tools can’t fix broken methods. It would be a mistake to approach your search for a new platform without thoroughly understanding this point. Bear in mind that no software solution can repair an operation with inadequacies in its people or its process. Effective software simply takes what your organization does best and amplifies it, enhancing your clients’ experience. It saves your team time by expediting workflows, creating greater opportunities for assisting more families. But, before you pick up any new tool, it’s a good idea to review your organization from end to end. Try to identify sources of waste and address them well in advance of moving to any new system. This will help ensure the success of your new software. Choosing new software for your organization can be a demanding, stressful process full of promise and uncertainty. With an expanding multitude of options, family services professionals need to take care in their selection, as any change will often carry long-lasting and far-reaching consequences for their organization. By avoiding common mistakes in your search for a software platform, you can maximize the effectiveness of your solution, whatever you finally decide to do. To learn more about choosin If you’re on the lookout for a software solution for your family services organization, proceed with caution. Your choices have exploded in the last few years, but not all of your options are capable of meeting the needs of your organization or the people it serves. To identify and implement your ideal solution, it’s incumbent on you to take some steps to prepare for the change. An Expanding Variety of Family Services Software Family services organizations, like many of those in human services, have been relatively slow in adopting new technologies. This delay threatens to place the most vulnerable in society at an even greater risk than they already endure. With the growing need for real-time access to data about clients as well as internal matters, family services software solutions are proliferating and evolving to meet the changing needs of these organizations. As you consider adopting a new software platform for your organization, you’ll want to stay aware of the following pitfalls that could jeopardize its success. 1. Losing Focus on the Mission Whatever solution you decide on, your organization’s mission must remain your central concern. Software is simply a tool, and your tools should give you exactly what you need — no more and no less. Excessive functionality can present a problem to those looking for a speedy, uncomplicated process and user-friendly experiences. Unless you have in-house software developers or opt for a customized system, you’ll almost certainly be adapting an existing platform to suit the needs of your organization. This requires configurability. Configurability enables you to adjust prebuilt software capabilities, giving you freedom and flexibility to mold a platform to your specifications. Configurable software can be purpose-built for the industries and trades they serve, providing the control needed to help you avoid paying for consulting services that aren’t included with your original purchase. With family services software that can be configured to meet your particular needs, your organization’s mission becomes a much shorter hill to climb. 2. Choosing by Price or Perceived Popularity It’s remarkably easy to do a quick search online and pick a platform that lists high on the results page. It’s equally tempting to select your family services software based on price alone. But finding the right solution for your organization and its mission isn’t likely to be quite as simple as that. By allowing your choice to be guided by what “everybody else” does, you may be shortchanging your organization in the midst of the various options available today. The number of web-based apps dedicated to the needs of family services organizations has skyrocketed. However, brand recognition, bold marketing, and daring pricing tactics can obscure what are actually outdated programs that come up short and don’t deliver what your organization truly needs. Letting the allure of popularity or an outsized fixation on price compel your decision can easily lead you to paying a premium for antiquated technology. This common error could damage your organization and hinder its mission. Your organization’s unique objective imposes specific demands on whatever solution you ultimately choose. To determine what’s best equipped to advance your organization’s mission, product demos are often a vital step of the process. These valuable sessions make it possible to know if a well-known provider is offering essentially the same software that it came out with years ago, or if an unfamiliar new competitor has created the ideal app that your team deserves. 3. Neglecting to Consult the Whole Team Adding the right family services software to your technology stack can certainly help your organization fulfill its mission. But it also makes your team’s jobs easier — from the back office to the workers in the field. Your new solution will have a definite impact across your organization, so why not include your team in the decision? If enough people in your organization aren’t involved in choosing its new system, you may see some backlash. A unilateral approach to this process can make stakeholders feel left out, resulting in a high probability for pushback as you’re transitioning from one system to another. To ensure you’ve gathered sufficient support from those who will be using it, get buy-in from your team members by consulting with them and soliciting their approval of any software platforms you’re seriously considering. Regardless of whatever operational efficiencies a new platform may bring to your organization, your team is liable to be unimpressed if they feel unrepresented in its selection. Since using any new software that you introduce will be an integral part of their jobs, you should regard your teammates as indispensable resources to be consulted before you reach a decision. 4. Forgetting About the Onboarding Phase It’s tempting to think that, after purchasing your new family services software, you can immediately replace your old system. But the transition isn’t quite that simple. Platform implementation can take weeks or even months, depending on your organization’s size, readiness, and other factors. Onboarding your team to the new system is a core part of the implementation process — and it takes up a generous portion of time. To make this transition smooth, it’s important that you select a software provider with an efficient and accommodating onboarding process. Find out how the providers you’re considering handle onboarding. How quickly can they get your team up and running on the platform? How flexible is the onboarding schedule? What will the provider expect from you and your team during the onboarding phase and other phases of implementation? These are the kinds of questions to prepare when you’re shopping around. 5. Expecting Software to Fix a Flawed Process Cloud technology has radically changed business and information management, resulting in abundant new tools for family services organizations. However, since technology is dependent on the people and processes that govern its use, your tools can’t fix broken methods. It would be a mistake to approach your search for a new platform without thoroughly understanding this point. Bear in mind that no software solution can repair an operation with inadequacies in its people or its process. Effective software simply takes what your organization does best and amplifies it, enhancing your clients’ experience. It saves your team time by expediting workflows, creating greater opportunities for assisting more families. But, before you pick up any new tool, it’s a good idea to review your organization from end to end. Try to identify sources of waste and address them well in advance of moving to any new system. This will help ensure the success of your new software. Choosing new software for your organization can be a demanding, stressful process full of promise and uncertainty. With an expanding multitude of options, family services professionals need to take care in their selection, as any change will often carry long-lasting and far-reaching consequences for their organization. By avoiding common mistakes in your search for a software platform, you can maximize the effectiveness of your solution, whatever you finally decide to do. To learn more about choosin If you’re on the lookout for a software solution for your family services organization, proceed with caution. Your choices have exploded in the last few years, but not all of your options are capable of meeting the needs of your organization or the people it serves. To identify and implement your ideal solution, it’s incumbent on you to take some steps to prepare for the change. An Expanding Variety of Family Services Software Family services organizations, like many of those in human services, have been relatively slow in adopting new technologies. This delay threatens to place the most vulnerable in society at an even greater risk than they already endure. With the growing need for real-time access to data about clients as well as internal matters, family services software solutions are proliferating and evolving to meet the changing needs of these organizations. As you consider adopting a new software platform for your organization, you’ll want to stay aware of the following pitfalls that could jeopardize its success. 1. Losing Focus on the Mission Whatever solution you decide on, your organization’s mission must remain your central concern. Software is simply a tool, and your tools should give you exactly what you need — no more and no less. Excessive functionality can present a problem to those looking for a speedy, uncomplicated process and user-friendly experiences. Unless you have in-house software developers or opt for a customized system, you’ll almost certainly be adapting an existing platform to suit the needs of your organization. This requires configurability. Configurability enables you to adjust prebuilt software capabilities, giving you freedom and flexibility to mold a platform to your specifications. Configurable software can be purpose-built for the industries and trades they serve, providing the control needed to help you avoid paying for consulting services that aren’t included with your original purchase. With family services software that can be configured to meet your particular needs, your organization’s mission becomes a much shorter hill to climb. 2. Choosing by Price or Perceived Popularity It’s remarkably easy to do a quick search online and pick a platform that lists high on the results page. It’s equally tempting to select your family services software based on price alone. But finding the right solution for your organization and its mission isn’t likely to be quite as simple as that. By allowing your choice to be guided by what “everybody else” does, you may be shortchanging your organization in the midst of the various options available today. The number of web-based apps dedicated to the needs of family services organizations has skyrocketed. However, brand recognition, bold marketing, and daring pricing tactics can obscure what are actually outdated programs that come up short and don’t deliver what your organization truly needs. Letting the allure of popularity or an outsized fixation on price compel your decision can easily lead you to paying a premium for antiquated technology. This common error could damage your organization and hinder its mission. Your organization’s unique objective imposes specific demands on whatever solution you ultimately choose. To determine what’s best equipped to advance your organization’s mission, product demos are often a vital step of the process. These valuable sessions make it possible to know if a well-known provider is offering essentially the same software that it came out with years ago, or if an unfamiliar new competitor has created the ideal app that your team deserves. 3. Neglecting to Consult the Whole Team Adding the right family services software to your technology stack can certainly help your organization fulfill its mission. But it also makes your team’s jobs easier — from the back office to the workers in the field. Your new solution will have a definite impact across your organization, so why not include your team in the decision? If enough people in your organization aren’t involved in choosing its new system, you may see some backlash. A unilateral approach to this process can make stakeholders feel left out, resulting in a high probability for pushback as you’re transitioning from one system to another. To ensure you’ve gathered sufficient support from those who will be using it, get buy-in from your team members by consulting with them and soliciting their approval of any software platforms you’re seriously considering. Regardless of whatever operational efficiencies a new platform may bring to your organization, your team is liable to be unimpressed if they feel unrepresented in its selection. Since using any new software that you introduce will be an integral part of their jobs, you should regard your teammates as indispensable resources to be consulted before you reach a decision. 4. Forgetting About the Onboarding Phase It’s tempting to think that, after purchasing your new family services software, you can immediately replace your old system. But the transition isn’t quite that simple. Platform implementation can take weeks or even months, depending on your organization’s size, readiness, and other factors. Onboarding your team to the new system is a core part of the implementation process — and it takes up a generous portion of time. To make this transition smooth, it’s important that you select a software provider with an efficient and accommodating onboarding process. Find out how the providers you’re considering handle onboarding. How quickly can they get your team up and running on the platform? How flexible is the onboarding schedule? What will the provider expect from you and your team during the onboarding phase and other phases of implementation? These are the kinds of questions to prepare when you’re shopping around. 5. Expecting Software to Fix a Flawed Process Cloud technology has radically changed business and information management, resulting in abundant new tools for family services organizations. However, since technology is dependent on the people and processes that govern its use, your tools can’t fix broken methods. It would be a mistake to approach your search for a new platform without thoroughly understanding this point. Bear in mind that no software solution can repair an operation with inadequacies in its people or its process. Effective software simply takes what your organization does best and amplifies it, enhancing your clients’ experience. It saves your team time by expediting workflows, creating greater opportunities for assisting more families. But, before you pick up any new tool, it’s a good idea to review your organization from end to end. Try to identify sources of waste and address them well in advance of moving to any new system. This will help ensure the success of your new software. Choosing new software for your organization can be a demanding, stressful process full of promise and uncertainty. With an expanding multitude of options, family services professionals need to take care in their selection, as any change will often carry long-lasting and far-reaching consequences for their organization. By avoiding common mistakes in your search for a software platform, you can maximize the effectiveness of your solution, whatever you finally decide to do. To learn more about choosin If you’re on the lookout for a software solution for your family services organization, proceed with caution. Your choices have exploded in the last few years, but not all of your options are capable of meeting the needs of your organization or the people it serves. To identify and implement your ideal solution, it’s incumbent on you to take some steps to prepare for the change. An Expanding Variety of Family Services Software Family services organizations, like many of those in human services, have been relatively slow in adopting new technologies. This delay threatens to place the most vulnerable in society at an even greater risk than they already endure. With the growing need for real-time access to data about clients as well as internal matters, family services software solutions are proliferating and evolving to meet the changing needs of these organizations. As you consider adopting a new software platform for your organization, you’ll want to stay aware of the following pitfalls that could jeopardize its success. 1. Losing Focus on the Mission Whatever solution you decide on, your organization’s mission must remain your central concern. Software is simply a tool, and your tools should give you exactly what you need — no more and no less. Excessive functionality can present a problem to those looking for a speedy, uncomplicated process and user-friendly experiences. Unless you have in-house software developers or opt for a customized system, you’ll almost certainly be adapting an existing platform to suit the needs of your organization. This requires configurability. Configurability enables you to adjust prebuilt software capabilities, giving you freedom and flexibility to mold a platform to your specifications. Configurable software can be purpose-built for the industries and trades they serve, providing the control needed to help you avoid paying for consulting services that aren’t included with your original purchase. With family services software that can be configured to meet your particular needs, your organization’s mission becomes a much shorter hill to climb. 2. Choosing by Price or Perceived Popularity It’s remarkably easy to do a quick search online and pick a platform that lists high on the results page. It’s equally tempting to select your family services software based on price alone. But finding the right solution for your organization and its mission isn’t likely to be quite as simple as that. By allowing your choice to be guided by what “everybody else” does, you may be shortchanging your organization in the midst of the various options available today. The number of web-based apps dedicated to the needs of family services organizations has skyrocketed. However, brand recognition, bold marketing, and daring pricing tactics can obscure what are actually outdated programs that come up short and don’t deliver what your organization truly needs. Letting the allure of popularity or an outsized fixation on price compel your decision can easily lead you to paying a premium for antiquated technology. This common error could damage your organization and hinder its mission. Your organization’s unique objective imposes specific demands on whatever solution you ultimately choose. To determine what’s best equipped to advance your organization’s mission, product demos are often a vital step of the process. These valuable sessions make it possible to know if a well-known provider is offering essentially the same software that it came out with years ago, or if an unfamiliar new competitor has created the ideal app that your team deserves. 3. Neglecting to Consult the Whole Team Adding the right family services software to your technology stack can certainly help your organization fulfill its mission. But it also makes your team’s jobs easier — from the back office to the workers in the field. Your new solution will have a definite impact across your organization, so why not include your team in the decision? If enough people in your organization aren’t involved in choosing its new system, you may see some backlash. A unilateral approach to this process can make stakeholders feel left out, resulting in a high probability for pushback as you’re transitioning from one system to another. To ensure you’ve gathered sufficient support from those who will be using it, get buy-in from your team members by consulting with them and soliciting their approval of any software platforms you’re seriously considering. Regardless of whatever operational efficiencies a new platform may bring to your organization, your team is liable to be unimpressed if they feel unrepresented in its selection. Since using any new software that you introduce will be an integral part of their jobs, you should regard your teammates as indispensable resources to be consulted before you reach a decision. 4. Forgetting About the Onboarding Phase It’s tempting to think that, after purchasing your new family services software, you can immediately replace your old system. But the transition isn’t quite that simple. Platform implementation can take weeks or even months, depending on your organization’s size, readiness, and other factors. Onboarding your team to the new system is a core part of the implementation process — and it takes up a generous portion of time. To make this transition smooth, it’s important that you select a software provider with an efficient and accommodating onboarding process. Find out how the providers you’re considering handle onboarding. How quickly can they get your team up and running on the platform? How flexible is the onboarding schedule? What will the provider expect from you and your team during the onboarding phase and other phases of implementation? These are the kinds of questions to prepare when you’re shopping around. 5. Expecting Software to Fix a Flawed Process Cloud technology has radically changed business and information management, resulting in abundant new tools for family services organizations. However, since technology is dependent on the people and processes that govern its use, your tools can’t fix broken methods. It would be a mistake to approach your search for a new platform without thoroughly understanding this point. Bear in mind that no software solution can repair an operation with inadequacies in its people or its process. Effective software simply takes what your organization does best and amplifies it, enhancing your clients’ experience. It saves your team time by expediting workflows, creating greater opportunities for assisting more families. But, before you pick up any new tool, it’s a good idea to review your organization from end to end. Try to identify sources of waste and address them well in advance of moving to any new system. This will help ensure the success of your new software. Choosing new software for your organization can be a demanding, stressful process full of promise and uncertainty. With an expanding multitude of options, family services professionals need to take care in their selection, as any change will often carry long-lasting and far-reaching consequences for their organization. By avoiding common mistakes in your search for a software platform, you can maximize the effectiveness of your solution, whatever you finally decide to do. To learn more about choosin If you’re on the lookout for a software solution for your family services organization, proceed with caution. Your choices have exploded in the last few years, but not all of your options are capable of meeting the needs of your organization or the people it serves. To identify and implement your ideal solution, it’s incumbent on you to take some steps to prepare for the change. An Expanding Variety of Family Services Software Family services organizations, like many of those in human services, have been relatively slow in adopting new technologies. This delay threatens to place the most vulnerable in society at an even greater risk than they already endure. With the growing need for real-time access to data about clients as well as internal matters, family services software solutions are proliferating and evolving to meet the changing needs of these organizations. As you consider adopting a new software platform for your organization, you’ll want to stay aware of the following pitfalls that could jeopardize its success. 1. Losing Focus on the Mission Whatever solution you decide on, your organization’s mission must remain your central concern. Software is simply a tool, and your tools should give you exactly what you need — no more and no less. Excessive functionality can present a problem to those looking for a speedy, uncomplicated process and user-friendly experiences. Unless you have in-house software developers or opt for a customized system, you’ll almost certainly be adapting an existing platform to suit the needs of your organization. This requires configurability. Configurability enables you to adjust prebuilt software capabilities, giving you freedom and flexibility to mold a platform to your specifications. Configurable software can be purpose-built for the industries and trades they serve, providing the control needed to help you avoid paying for consulting services that aren’t included with your original purchase. With family services software that can be configured to meet your particular needs, your organization’s mission becomes a much shorter hill to climb. 2. Choosing by Price or Perceived Popularity It’s remarkably easy to do a quick search online and pick a platform that lists high on the results page. It’s equally tempting to select your family services software based on price alone. But finding the right solution for your organization and its mission isn’t likely to be quite as simple as that. By allowing your choice to be guided by what “everybody else” does, you may be shortchanging your organization in the midst of the various options available today. The number of web-based apps dedicated to the needs of family services organizations has skyrocketed. However, brand recognition, bold marketing, and daring pricing tactics can obscure what are actually outdated programs that come up short and don’t deliver what your organization truly needs. Letting the allure of popularity or an outsized fixation on price compel your decision can easily lead you to paying a premium for antiquated technology. This common error could damage your organization and hinder its mission. Your organization’s unique objective imposes specific demands on whatever solution you ultimately choose. To determine what’s best equipped to advance your organization’s mission, product demos are often a vital step of the process. These valuable sessions make it possible to know if a well-known provider is offering essentially the same software that it came out with years ago, or if an unfamiliar new competitor has created the ideal app that your team deserves. 3. Neglecting to Consult the Whole Team Adding the right family services software to your technology stack can certainly help your organization fulfill its mission. But it also makes your team’s jobs easier — from the back office to the workers in the field. Your new solution will have a definite impact across your organization, so why not include your team in the decision? If enough people in your organization aren’t involved in choosing its new system, you may see some backlash. A unilateral approach to this process can make stakeholders feel left out, resulting in a high probability for pushback as you’re transitioning from one system to another. To ensure you’ve gathered sufficient support from those who will be using it, get buy-in from your team members by consulting with them and soliciting their approval of any software platforms you’re seriously considering. Regardless of whatever operational efficiencies a new platform may bring to your organization, your team is liable to be unimpressed if they feel unrepresented in its selection. Since using any new software that you introduce will be an integral part of their jobs, you should regard your teammates as indispensable resources to be consulted before you reach a decision. 4. Forgetting About the Onboarding Phase It’s tempting to think that, after purchasing your new family services software, you can immediately replace your old system. But the transition isn’t quite that simple. Platform implementation can take weeks or even months, depending on your organization’s size, readiness, and other factors. Onboarding your team to the new system is a core part of the implementation process — and it takes up a generous portion of time. To make this transition smooth, it’s important that you select a software provider with an efficient and accommodating onboarding process. Find out how the providers you’re considering handle onboarding. How quickly can they get your team up and running on the platform? How flexible is the onboarding schedule? What will the provider expect from you and your team during the onboarding phase and other phases of implementation? These are the kinds of questions to prepare when you’re shopping around. 5. Expecting Software to Fix a Flawed Process Cloud technology has radically changed business and information management, resulting in abundant new tools for family services organizations. However, since technology is dependent on the people and processes that govern its use, your tools can’t fix broken methods. It would be a mistake to approach your search for a new platform without thoroughly understanding this point. Bear in mind that no software solution can repair an operation with inadequacies in its people or its process. Effective software simply takes what your organization does best and amplifies it, enhancing your clients’ experience. It saves your team time by expediting workflows, creating greater opportunities for assisting more families. But, before you pick up any new tool, it’s a good idea to review your organization from end to end. Try to identify sources of waste and address them well in advance of moving to any new system. This will help ensure the success of your new software. Choosing new software for your organization can be a demanding, stressful process full of promise and uncertainty. With an expanding multitude of options, family services professionals need to take care in their selection, as any change will often carry long-lasting and far-reaching consequences for their organization. By avoiding common mistakes in your search for a software platform, you can maximize the effectiveness of your solution, whatever you finally decide to do. To learn more about choosin If you’re on the lookout for a software solution for your family services organization, proceed with caution. Your choices have exploded in the last few years, but not all of your options are capable of meeting the needs of your organization or the people it serves. To identify and implement your ideal solution, it’s incumbent on you to take some steps to prepare for the change. An Expanding Variety of Family Services Software Family services organizations, like many of those in human services, have been relatively slow in adopting new technologies. This delay threatens to place the most vulnerable in society at an even greater risk than they already endure. With the growing need for real-time access to data about clients as well as internal matters, family services software solutions are proliferating and evolving to meet the changing needs of these organizations. As you consider adopting a new software platform for your organization, you’ll want to stay aware of the following pitfalls that could jeopardize its success. 1. Losing Focus on the Mission Whatever solution you decide on, your organization’s mission must remain your central concern. Software is simply a tool, and your tools should give you exactly what you need — no more and no less. Excessive functionality can present a problem to those looking for a speedy, uncomplicated process and user-friendly experiences. Unless you have in-house software developers or opt for a customized system, you’ll almost certainly be adapting an existing platform to suit the needs of your organization. This requires configurability. Configurability enables you to adjust prebuilt software capabilities, giving you freedom and flexibility to mold a platform to your specifications. Configurable software can be purpose-built for the industries and trades they serve, providing the control needed to help you avoid paying for consulting services that aren’t included with your original purchase. With family services software that can be configured to meet your particular needs, your organization’s mission becomes a much shorter hill to climb. 2. Choosing by Price or Perceived Popularity It’s remarkably easy to do a quick search online and pick a platform that lists high on the results page. It’s equally tempting to select your family services software based on price alone. But finding the right solution for your organization and its mission isn’t likely to be quite as simple as that. By allowing your choice to be guided by what “everybody else” does, you may be shortchanging your organization in the midst of the various options available today. The number of web-based apps dedicated to the needs of family services organizations has skyrocketed. However, brand recognition, bold marketing, and daring pricing tactics can obscure what are actually outdated programs that come up short and don’t deliver what your organization truly needs. Letting the allure of popularity or an outsized fixation on price compel your decision can easily lead you to paying a premium for antiquated technology. This common error could damage your organization and hinder its mission. Your organization’s unique objective imposes specific demands on whatever solution you ultimately choose. To determine what’s best equipped to advance your organization’s mission, product demos are often a vital step of the process. These valuable sessions make it possible to know if a well-known provider is offering essentially the same software that it came out with years ago, or if an unfamiliar new competitor has created the ideal app that your team deserves. 3. Neglecting to Consult the Whole Team Adding the right family services software to your technology stack can certainly help your organization fulfill its mission. But it also makes your team’s jobs easier — from the back office to the workers in the field. Your new solution will have a definite impact across your organization, so why not include your team in the decision? If enough people in your organization aren’t involved in choosing its new system, you may see some backlash. A unilateral approach to this process can make stakeholders feel left out, resulting in a high probability for pushback as you’re transitioning from one system to another. To ensure you’ve gathered sufficient support from those who will be using it, get buy-in from your team members by consulting with them and soliciting their approval of any software platforms you’re seriously considering. Regardless of whatever operational efficiencies a new platform may bring to your organization, your team is liable to be unimpressed if they feel unrepresented in its selection. Since using any new software that you introduce will be an integral part of their jobs, you should regard your teammates as indispensable resources to be consulted before you reach a decision. 4. Forgetting About the Onboarding Phase It’s tempting to think that, after purchasing your new family services software, you can immediately replace your old system. But the transition isn’t quite that simple. Platform implementation can take weeks or even months, depending on your organization’s size, readiness, and other factors. Onboarding your team to the new system is a core part of the implementation process — and it takes up a generous portion of time. To make this transition smooth, it’s important that you select a software provider with an efficient and accommodating onboarding process. Find out how the providers you’re considering handle onboarding. How quickly can they get your team up and running on the platform? How flexible is the onboarding schedule? What will the provider expect from you and your team during the onboarding phase and other phases of implementation? These are the kinds of questions to prepare when you’re shopping around. 5. Expecting Software to Fix a Flawed Process Cloud technology has radically changed business and information management, resulting in abundant new tools for family services organizations. However, since technology is dependent on the people and processes that govern its use, your tools can’t fix broken methods. It would be a mistake to approach your search for a new platform without thoroughly understanding this point. Bear in mind that no software solution can repair an operation with inadequacies in its people or its process. Effective software simply takes what your organization does best and amplifies it, enhancing your clients’ experience. It saves your team time by expediting workflows, creating greater opportunities for assisting more families. But, before you pick up any new tool, it’s a good idea to review your organization from end to end. Try to identify sources of waste and address them well in advance of moving to any new system. This will help ensure the success of your new software. Choosing new software for your organization can be a demanding, stressful process full of promise and uncertainty. With an expanding multitude of options, family services professionals need to take care in their selection, as any change will often carry long-lasting and far-reaching consequences for their organization. By avoiding common mistakes in your search for a software platform, you can maximize the effectiveness of your solution, whatever you finally decide to do. To learn more about choosin If you’re on the lookout for a software solution for your family services organization, proceed with caution. Your choices have exploded in the last few years, but not all of your options are capable of meeting the needs of your organization or the people it serves. To identify and implement your ideal solution, it’s incumbent on you to take some steps to prepare for the change. An Expanding Variety of Family Services Software Family services organizations, like many of those in human services, have been relatively slow in adopting new technologies. This delay threatens to place the most vulnerable in society at an even greater risk than they already endure. With the growing need for real-time access to data about clients as well as internal matters, family services software solutions are proliferating and evolving to meet the changing needs of these organizations. As you consider adopting a new software platform for your organization, you’ll want to stay aware of the following pitfalls that could jeopardize its success. 1. Losing Focus on the Mission Whatever solution you decide on, your organization’s mission must remain your central concern. Software is simply a tool, and your tools should give you exactly what you need — no more and no less. Excessive functionality can present a problem to those looking for a speedy, uncomplicated process and user-friendly experiences. Unless you have in-house software developers or opt for a customized system, you’ll almost certainly be adapting an existing platform to suit the needs of your organization. This requires configurability. Configurability enables you to adjust prebuilt software capabilities, giving you freedom and flexibility to mold a platform to your specifications. Configurable software can be purpose-built for the industries and trades they serve, providing the control needed to help you avoid paying for consulting services that aren’t included with your original purchase. With family services software that can be configured to meet your particular needs, your organization’s mission becomes a much shorter hill to climb. 2. Choosing by Price or Perceived Popularity It’s remarkably easy to do a quick search online and pick a platform that lists high on the results page. It’s equally tempting to select your family services software based on price alone. But finding the right solution for your organization and its mission isn’t likely to be quite as simple as that. By allowing your choice to be guided by what “everybody else” does, you may be shortchanging your organization in the midst of the various options available today. The number of web-based apps dedicated to the needs of family services organizations has skyrocketed. However, brand recognition, bold marketing, and daring pricing tactics can obscure what are actually outdated programs that come up short and don’t deliver what your organization truly needs. Letting the allure of popularity or an outsized fixation on price compel your decision can easily lead you to paying a premium for antiquated technology. This common error could damage your organization and hinder its mission. Your organization’s unique objective imposes specific demands on whatever solution you ultimately choose. To determine what’s best equipped to advance your organization’s mission, product demos are often a vital step of the process. These valuable sessions make it possible to know if a well-known provider is offering essentially the same software that it came out with years ago, or if an unfamiliar new competitor has created the ideal app that your team deserves. 3. Neglecting to Consult the Whole Team Adding the right family services software to your technology stack can certainly help your organization fulfill its mission. But it also makes your team’s jobs easier — from the back office to the workers in the field. Your new solution will have a definite impact across your organization, so why not include your team in the decision? If enough people in your organization aren’t involved in choosing its new system, you may see some backlash. A unilateral approach to this process can make stakeholders feel left out, resulting in a high probability for pushback as you’re transitioning from one system to another. To ensure you’ve gathered sufficient support from those who will be using it, get buy-in from your team members by consulting with them and soliciting their approval of any software platforms you’re seriously considering. Regardless of whatever operational efficiencies a new platform may bring to your organization, your team is liable to be unimpressed if they feel unrepresented in its selection. Since using any new software that you introduce will be an integral part of their jobs, you should regard your teammates as indispensable resources to be consulted before you reach a decision. 4. Forgetting About the Onboarding Phase It’s tempting to think that, after purchasing your new family services software, you can immediately replace your old system. But the transition isn’t quite that simple. Platform implementation can take weeks or even months, depending on your organization’s size, readiness, and other factors. Onboarding your team to the new system is a core part of the implementation process — and it takes up a generous portion of time. To make this transition smooth, it’s important that you select a software provider with an efficient and accommodating onboarding process. Find out how the providers you’re considering handle onboarding. How quickly can they get your team up and running on the platform? How flexible is the onboarding schedule? What will the provider expect from you and your team during the onboarding phase and other phases of implementation? These are the kinds of questions to prepare when you’re shopping around. 5. Expecting Software to Fix a Flawed Process Cloud technology has radically changed business and information management, resulting in abundant new tools for family services organizations. However, since technology is dependent on the people and processes that govern its use, your tools can’t fix broken methods. It would be a mistake to approach your search for a new platform without thoroughly understanding this point. Bear in mind that no software solution can repair an operation with inadequacies in its people or its process. Effective software simply takes what your organization does best and amplifies it, enhancing your clients’ experience. It saves your team time by expediting workflows, creating greater opportunities for assisting more families. But, before you pick up any new tool, it’s a good idea to review your organization from end to end. Try to identify sources of waste and address them well in advance of moving to any new system. This will help ensure the success of your new software. Choosing new software for your organization can be a demanding, stressful process full of promise and uncertainty. With an expanding multitude of options, family services professionals need to take care in their selection, as any change will often carry long-lasting and far-reaching consequences for their organization. By avoiding common mistakes in your search for a software platform, you can maximize the effectiveness of your solution, whatever you finally decide to do. To learn more about choosin If you’re on the lookout for a software solution for your family services organization, proceed with caution. Your choices have exploded in the last few years, but not all of your options are capable of meeting the needs of your organization or the people it serves. To identify and implement your ideal solution, it’s incumbent on you to take some steps to prepare for the change. An Expanding Variety of Family Services Software Family services organizations, like many of those in human services, have been relatively slow in adopting new technologies. This delay threatens to place the most vulnerable in society at an even greater risk than they already endure. With the growing need for real-time access to data about clients as well as internal matters, family services software solutions are proliferating and evolving to meet the changing needs of these organizations. As you consider adopting a new software platform for your organization, you’ll want to stay aware of the following pitfalls that could jeopardize its success. 1. Losing Focus on the Mission Whatever solution you decide on, your organization’s mission must remain your central concern. Software is simply a tool, and your tools should give you exactly what you need — no more and no less. Excessive functionality can present a problem to those looking for a speedy, uncomplicated process and user-friendly experiences. Unless you have in-house software developers or opt for a customized system, you’ll almost certainly be adapting an existing platform to suit the needs of your organization. This requires configurability. Configurability enables you to adjust prebuilt software capabilities, giving you freedom and flexibility to mold a platform to your specifications. Configurable software can be purpose-built for the industries and trades they serve, providing the control needed to help you avoid paying for consulting services that aren’t included with your original purchase. With family services software that can be configured to meet your particular needs, your organization’s mission becomes a much shorter hill to climb. 2. Choosing by Price or Perceived Popularity It’s remarkably easy to do a quick search online and pick a platform that lists high on the results page. It’s equally tempting to select your family services software based on price alone. But finding the right solution for your organization and its mission isn’t likely to be quite as simple as that. By allowing your choice to be guided by what “everybody else” does, you may be shortchanging your organization in the midst of the various options available today. The number of web-based apps dedicated to the needs of family services organizations has skyrocketed. However, brand recognition, bold marketing, and daring pricing tactics can obscure what are actually outdated programs that come up short and don’t deliver what your organization truly needs. Letting the allure of popularity or an outsized fixation on price compel your decision can easily lead you to paying a premium for antiquated technology. This common error could damage your organization and hinder its mission. Your organization’s unique objective imposes specific demands on whatever solution you ultimately choose. To determine what’s best equipped to advance your organization’s mission, product demos are often a vital step of the process. These valuable sessions make it possible to know if a well-known provider is offering essentially the same software that it came out with years ago, or if an unfamiliar new competitor has created the ideal app that your team deserves. 3. Neglecting to Consult the Whole Team Adding the right family services software to your technology stack can certainly help your organization fulfill its mission. But it also makes your team’s jobs easier — from the back office to the workers in the field. Your new solution will have a definite impact across your organization, so why not include your team in the decision? If enough people in your organization aren’t involved in choosing its new system, you may see some backlash. A unilateral approach to this process can make stakeholders feel left out, resulting in a high probability for pushback as you’re transitioning from one system to another. To ensure you’ve gathered sufficient support from those who will be using it, get buy-in from your team members by consulting with them and soliciting their approval of any software platforms you’re seriously considering. Regardless of whatever operational efficiencies a new platform may bring to your organization, your team is liable to be unimpressed if they feel unrepresented in its selection. Since using any new software that you introduce will be an integral part of their jobs, you should regard your teammates as indispensable resources to be consulted before you reach a decision. 4. Forgetting About the Onboarding Phase It’s tempting to think that, after purchasing your new family services software, you can immediately replace your old system. But the transition isn’t quite that simple. Platform implementation can take weeks or even months, depending on your organization’s size, readiness, and other factors. Onboarding your team to the new system is a core part of the implementation process — and it takes up a generous portion of time. To make this transition smooth, it’s important that you select a software provider with an efficient and accommodating onboarding process. Find out how the providers you’re considering handle onboarding. How quickly can they get your team up and running on the platform? How flexible is the onboarding schedule? What will the provider expect from you and your team during the onboarding phase and other phases of implementation? These are the kinds of questions to prepare when you’re shopping around. 5. Expecting Software to Fix a Flawed Process Cloud technology has radically changed business and information management, resulting in abundant new tools for family services organizations. However, since technology is dependent on the people and processes that govern its use, your tools can’t fix broken methods. It would be a mistake to approach your search for a new platform without thoroughly understanding this point. Bear in mind that no software solution can repair an operation with inadequacies in its people or its process. Effective software simply takes what your organization does best and amplifies it, enhancing your clients’ experience. It saves your team time by expediting workflows, creating greater opportunities for assisting more families. But, before you pick up any new tool, it’s a good idea to review your organization from end to end. Try to identify sources of waste and address them well in advance of moving to any new system. This will help ensure the success of your new software. Choosing new software for your organization can be a demanding, stressful process full of promise and uncertainty. With an expanding multitude of options, family services professionals need to take care in their selection, as any change will often carry long-lasting and far-reaching consequences for their organization. By avoiding common mistakes in your search for a software platform, you can maximize the effectiveness of your solution, whatever you finally decide to do. To learn more about choosin If you’re on the lookout for a software solution for your family services organization, proceed with caution. Your choices have exploded in the last few years, but not all of your options are capable of meeting the needs of your organization or the people it serves. To identify and implement your ideal solution, it’s incumbent on you to take some steps to prepare for the change. An Expanding Variety of Family Services Software Family services organizations, like many of those in human services, have been relatively slow in adopting new technologies. This delay threatens to place the most vulnerable in society at an even greater risk than they already endure. With the growing need for real-time access to data about clients as well as internal matters, family services software solutions are proliferating and evolving to meet the changing needs of these organizations. As you consider adopting a new software platform for your organization, you’ll want to stay aware of the following pitfalls that could jeopardize its success. 1. Losing Focus on the Mission Whatever solution you decide on, your organization’s mission must remain your central concern. Software is simply a tool, and your tools should give you exactly what you need — no more and no less. Excessive functionality can present a problem to those looking for a speedy, uncomplicated process and user-friendly experiences. Unless you have in-house software developers or opt for a customized system, you’ll almost certainly be adapting an existing platform to suit the needs of your organization. This requires configurability. Configurability enables you to adjust prebuilt software capabilities, giving you freedom and flexibility to mold a platform to your specifications. Configurable software can be purpose-built for the industries and trades they serve, providing the control needed to help you avoid paying for consulting services that aren’t included with your original purchase. With family services software that can be configured to meet your particular needs, your organization’s mission becomes a much shorter hill to climb. 2. Choosing by Price or Perceived Popularity It’s remarkably easy to do a quick search online and pick a platform that lists high on the results page. It’s equally tempting to select your family services software based on price alone. But finding the right solution for your organization and its mission isn’t likely to be quite as simple as that. By allowing your choice to be guided by what “everybody else” does, you may be shortchanging your organization in the midst of the various options available today. The number of web-based apps dedicated to the needs of family services organizations has skyrocketed. However, brand recognition, bold marketing, and daring pricing tactics can obscure what are actually outdated programs that come up short and don’t deliver what your organization truly needs. Letting the allure of popularity or an outsized fixation on price compel your decision can easily lead you to paying a premium for antiquated technology. This common error could damage your organization and hinder its mission. Your organization’s unique objective imposes specific demands on whatever solution you ultimately choose. To determine what’s best equipped to advance your organization’s mission, product demos are often a vital step of the process. These valuable sessions make it possible to know if a well-known provider is offering essentially the same software that it came out with years ago, or if an unfamiliar new competitor has created the ideal app that your team deserves. 3. Neglecting to Consult the Whole Team Adding the right family services software to your technology stack can certainly help your organization fulfill its mission. But it also makes your team’s jobs easier — from the back office to the workers in the field. Your new solution will have a definite impact across your organization, so why not include your team in the decision? If enough people in your organization aren’t involved in choosing its new system, you may see some backlash. A unilateral approach to this process can make stakeholders feel left out, resulting in a high probability for pushback as you’re transitioning from one system to another. To ensure you’ve gathered sufficient support from those who will be using it, get buy-in from your team members by consulting with them and soliciting their approval of any software platforms you’re seriously considering. Regardless of whatever operational efficiencies a new platform may bring to your organization, your team is liable to be unimpressed if they feel unrepresented in its selection. Since using any new software that you introduce will be an integral part of their jobs, you should regard your teammates as indispensable resources to be consulted before you reach a decision. 4. Forgetting About the Onboarding Phase It’s tempting to think that, after purchasing your new family services software, you can immediately replace your old system. But the transition isn’t quite that simple. Platform implementation can take weeks or even months, depending on your organization’s size, readiness, and other factors. Onboarding your team to the new system is a core part of the implementation process — and it takes up a generous portion of time. To make this transition smooth, it’s important that you select a software provider with an efficient and accommodating onboarding process. Find out how the providers you’re considering handle onboarding. How quickly can they get your team up and running on the platform? How flexible is the onboarding schedule? What will the provider expect from you and your team during the onboarding phase and other phases of implementation? These are the kinds of questions to prepare when you’re shopping around. 5. Expecting Software to Fix a Flawed Process Cloud technology has radically changed business and information management, resulting in abundant new tools for family services organizations. However, since technology is dependent on the people and processes that govern its use, your tools can’t fix broken methods. It would be a mistake to approach your search for a new platform without thoroughly understanding this point. Bear in mind that no software solution can repair an operation with inadequacies in its people or its process. Effective software simply takes what your organization does best and amplifies it, enhancing your clients’ experience. It saves your team time by expediting workflows, creating greater opportunities for assisting more families. But, before you pick up any new tool, it’s a good idea to review your organization from end to end. Try to identify sources of waste and address them well in advance of moving to any new system. This will help ensure the success of your new software. Choosing new software for your organization can be a demanding, stressful process full of promise and uncertainty. With an expanding multitude of options, family services professionals need to take care in their selection, as any change will often carry long-lasting and far-reaching consequences for their organization. By avoiding common mistakes in your search for a software platform, you can maximize the effectiveness of your solution, whatever you finally decide to do. To learn more about choosin

This causes recruiters to source the community for prospects, heartfelt PSAs to be playing on media outlets, and foster parent certification personnel to train and approve foster parents with haste. That’s not to say that they are negligent in any of those actions, but having spent nearly 13 years in that very field, it makes me extremely nervous when looking at the process from the outside. Even when I was the Assistant Director for a fairly large foster parent and adoption program, certifying a new parent was perhaps one of the more perilous decisions what we would make on any given day. Foster Parents Certification is Rarely an Obvious Decision As long as I worked with youth and parents, I wanted to think that I’ve reached sort of the Farmers Insurance level of intelligence. You know the commercials with the tagline, “We know a thing or two because we’ve seen a thing or two.” In 13 years working these youth and families, I had indeed seen a thing or two. However, that rarely manifested itself in any kind of predictive ability as to how a particular foster parent was going to turn out. The variables were just too many and human nature rarely followed a predictable course. Foster parents who seem to check all of the boxes in what you would think would make an ideal foster parent often fail in spectacular fashion. Meanwhile, foster parents who are not always the most compliant or textbook can produce some of the most loving homes and in fact, wind up adopting with great success some of the most difficult youth. Agency compliance, it would seem, is not synonymous with a loving and therapeutic milieu. Who knew? We worked with excellent parents who seemed very focused on the per diems and yet, took excellent care of the youth in their homes. Meanwhile, rich homes in the suburbs thought they could buy affection and behavior compliance only to find out this was a path riddled with folly. However, foster parent performance is now what kept me up at night. Certifying a home was a frightful experience for me because I knew that every child welfare agency from coast to coast has certified a home at some point that led to terrible abuse. Any private provider or state agency can deny this all they want, but those in the industry know this to be true. The Right Tools Are Needed to Make the Right Decision Now, I was blessed to work within an agency that truly attempted to equip us with the best tools available and was very dedicated to outcomes and safety. I shudder to think of smaller agencies with smaller budgets trying to make these consequential decisions with less tools or less time. Yet, all of us were faced with the need to place youth. An urgent need as quite often, the youth is sitting in your office and you have no idea where he is going to go tonight. That’s ultimately pressure that drives the certification process. You need homes and you need them yesterday. Personally, I hope that advancements in artificial intelligence will come about that will be more accurate and predictive of foster parent success than us humans. Let the robots feel the ethical and moral responsibility for a change. In the meantime, the child welfare industry would do well to examine what tools are currently available that will buy frontline workers, foster parent recruiters/trainers and administrators more time to make the right decision. Tools that will aid the recruitment and certification process so that foster parents can be recruited in large enough numbers to ensure that the first placement is the right placement. The First Placement Can Be the Right Placement I know that child mental health and welfare services are complex, but if I could swing an ax and chop down just one tree it would be the one that makes that above statement true. Namely, that the first placement is the right placement. So much would be alleviated if we could make that a reality as an industry. It doesn’t get a lot of press, until it goes terribly wrong that is, but certifying a foster parent is one of the most consequential decisions in child welfare. That we can all labor to get that decision right with the best tools in the industry at our disposal would truly transform the face of child welfare. I didn’t always get it right and I’m guessing that neither did you. Yet, we both know the kids we serve deserved our very best. So a final salute to those out there on the frontlines making these decisions right now and I sincerely hope you are equipped with all the tools and time it takes to do your very best. This causes recruiters to source the community for prospects, heartfelt PSAs to be playing on media outlets, and foster parent certification personnel to train and approve foster parents with haste. That’s not to say that they are negligent in any of those actions, but having spent nearly 13 years in that very field, it makes me extremely nervous when looking at the process from the outside. Even when I was the Assistant Director for a fairly large foster parent and adoption program, certifying a new parent was perhaps one of the more perilous decisions what we would make on any given day. Foster Parents Certification is Rarely an Obvious Decision As long as I worked with youth and parents, I wanted to think that I’ve reached sort of the Farmers Insurance level of intelligence. You know the commercials with the tagline, “We know a thing or two because we’ve seen a thing or two.” In 13 years working these youth and families, I had indeed seen a thing or two. However, that rarely manifested itself in any kind of predictive ability as to how a particular foster parent was going to turn out. The variables were just too many and human nature rarely followed a predictable course. Foster parents who seem to check all of the boxes in what you would think would make an ideal foster parent often fail in spectacular fashion. Meanwhile, foster parents who are not always the most compliant or textbook can produce some of the most loving homes and in fact, wind up adopting with great success some of the most difficult youth. Agency compliance, it would seem, is not synonymous with a loving and therapeutic milieu. Who knew? We worked with excellent parents who seemed very focused on the per diems and yet, took excellent care of the youth in their homes. Meanwhile, rich homes in the suburbs thought they could buy affection and behavior compliance only to find out this was a path riddled with folly. However, foster parent performance is now what kept me up at night. Certifying a home was a frightful experience for me because I knew that every child welfare agency from coast to coast has certified a home at some point that led to terrible abuse. Any private provider or state agency can deny this all they want, but those in the industry know this to be true. The Right Tools Are Needed to Make the Right Decision Now, I was blessed to work within an agency that truly attempted to equip us with the best tools available and was very dedicated to outcomes and safety. I shudder to think of smaller agencies with smaller budgets trying to make these consequential decisions with less tools or less time. Yet, all of us were faced with the need to place youth. An urgent need as quite often, the youth is sitting in your office and you have no idea where he is going to go tonight. That’s ultimately pressure that drives the certification process. You need homes and you need them yesterday. Personally, I hope that advancements in artificial intelligence will come about that will be more accurate and predictive of foster parent success than us humans. Let the robots feel the ethical and moral responsibility for a change. In the meantime, the child welfare industry would do well to examine what tools are currently available that will buy frontline workers, foster parent recruiters/trainers and administrators more time to make the right decision. Tools that will aid the recruitment and certification process so that foster parents can be recruited in large enough numbers to ensure that the first placement is the right placement. The First Placement Can Be the Right Placement I know that child mental health and welfare services are complex, but if I could swing an ax and chop down just one tree it would be the one that makes that above statement true. Namely, that the first placement is the right placement. So much would be alleviated if we could make that a reality as an industry. It doesn’t get a lot of press, until it goes terribly wrong that is, but certifying a foster parent is one of the most consequential decisions in child welfare. That we can all labor to get that decision right with the best tools in the industry at our disposal would truly transform the face of child welfare. I didn’t always get it right and I’m guessing that neither did you. Yet, we both know the kids we serve deserved our very best. So a final salute to those out there on the frontlines making these decisions right now and I sincerely hope you are equipped with all the tools and time it takes to do your very best. This causes recruiters to source the community for prospects, heartfelt PSAs to be playing on media outlets, and foster parent certification personnel to train and approve foster parents with haste. That’s not to say that they are negligent in any of those actions, but having spent nearly 13 years in that very field, it makes me extremely nervous when looking at the process from the outside. Even when I was the Assistant Director for a fairly large foster parent and adoption program, certifying a new parent was perhaps one of the more perilous decisions what we would make on any given day. Foster Parents Certification is Rarely an Obvious Decision As long as I worked with youth and parents, I wanted to think that I’ve reached sort of the Farmers Insurance level of intelligence. You know the commercials with the tagline, “We know a thing or two because we’ve seen a thing or two.” In 13 years working these youth and families, I had indeed seen a thing or two. However, that rarely manifested itself in any kind of predictive ability as to how a particular foster parent was going to turn out. The variables were just too many and human nature rarely followed a predictable course. Foster parents who seem to check all of the boxes in what you would think would make an ideal foster parent often fail in spectacular fashion. Meanwhile, foster parents who are not always the most compliant or textbook can produce some of the most loving homes and in fact, wind up adopting with great success some of the most difficult youth. Agency compliance, it would seem, is not synonymous with a loving and therapeutic milieu. Who knew? We worked with excellent parents who seemed very focused on the per diems and yet, took excellent care of the youth in their homes. Meanwhile, rich homes in the suburbs thought they could buy affection and behavior compliance only to find out this was a path riddled with folly. However, foster parent performance is now what kept me up at night. Certifying a home was a frightful experience for me because I knew that every child welfare agency from coast to coast has certified a home at some point that led to terrible abuse. Any private provider or state agency can deny this all they want, but those in the industry know this to be true. The Right Tools Are Needed to Make the Right Decision Now, I was blessed to work within an agency that truly attempted to equip us with the best tools available and was very dedicated to outcomes and safety. I shudder to think of smaller agencies with smaller budgets trying to make these consequential decisions with less tools or less time. Yet, all of us were faced with the need to place youth. An urgent need as quite often, the youth is sitting in your office and you have no idea where he is going to go tonight. That’s ultimately pressure that drives the certification process. You need homes and you need them yesterday. Personally, I hope that advancements in artificial intelligence will come about that will be more accurate and predictive of foster parent success than us humans. Let the robots feel the ethical and moral responsibility for a change. In the meantime, the child welfare industry would do well to examine what tools are currently available that will buy frontline workers, foster parent recruiters/trainers and administrators more time to make the right decision. Tools that will aid the recruitment and certification process so that foster parents can be recruited in large enough numbers to ensure that the first placement is the right placement. The First Placement Can Be the Right Placement I know that child mental health and welfare services are complex, but if I could swing an ax and chop down just one tree it would be the one that makes that above statement true. Namely, that the first placement is the right placement. So much would be alleviated if we could make that a reality as an industry. It doesn’t get a lot of press, until it goes terribly wrong that is, but certifying a foster parent is one of the most consequential decisions in child welfare. That we can all labor to get that decision right with the best tools in the industry at our disposal would truly transform the face of child welfare. I didn’t always get it right and I’m guessing that neither did you. Yet, we both know the kids we serve deserved our very best. So a final salute to those out there on the frontlines making these decisions right now and I sincerely hope you are equipped with all the tools and time it takes to do your very best. This causes recruiters to source the community for prospects, heartfelt PSAs to be playing on media outlets, and foster parent certification personnel to train and approve foster parents with haste. That’s not to say that they are negligent in any of those actions, but having spent nearly 13 years in that very field, it makes me extremely nervous when looking at the process from the outside. Even when I was the Assistant Director for a fairly large foster parent and adoption program, certifying a new parent was perhaps one of the more perilous decisions what we would make on any given day. Foster Parents Certification is Rarely an Obvious Decision As long as I worked with youth and parents, I wanted to think that I’ve reached sort of the Farmers Insurance level of intelligence. You know the commercials with the tagline, “We know a thing or two because we’ve seen a thing or two.” In 13 years working these youth and families, I had indeed seen a thing or two. However, that rarely manifested itself in any kind of predictive ability as to how a particular foster parent was going to turn out. The variables were just too many and human nature rarely followed a predictable course. Foster parents who seem to check all of the boxes in what you would think would make an ideal foster parent often fail in spectacular fashion. Meanwhile, foster parents who are not always the most compliant or textbook can produce some of the most loving homes and in fact, wind up adopting with great success some of the most difficult youth. Agency compliance, it would seem, is not synonymous with a loving and therapeutic milieu. Who knew? We worked with excellent parents who seemed very focused on the per diems and yet, took excellent care of the youth in their homes. Meanwhile, rich homes in the suburbs thought they could buy affection and behavior compliance only to find out this was a path riddled with folly. However, foster parent performance is now what kept me up at night. Certifying a home was a frightful experience for me because I knew that every child welfare agency from coast to coast has certified a home at some point that led to terrible abuse. Any private provider or state agency can deny this all they want, but those in the industry know this to be true. The Right Tools Are Needed to Make the Right Decision Now, I was blessed to work within an agency that truly attempted to equip us with the best tools available and was very dedicated to outcomes and safety. I shudder to think of smaller agencies with smaller budgets trying to make these consequential decisions with less tools or less time. Yet, all of us were faced with the need to place youth. An urgent need as quite often, the youth is sitting in your office and you have no idea where he is going to go tonight. That’s ultimately pressure that drives the certification process. You need homes and you need them yesterday. Personally, I hope that advancements in artificial intelligence will come about that will be more accurate and predictive of foster parent success than us humans. Let the robots feel the ethical and moral responsibility for a change. In the meantime, the child welfare industry would do well to examine what tools are currently available that will buy frontline workers, foster parent recruiters/trainers and administrators more time to make the right decision. Tools that will aid the recruitment and certification process so that foster parents can be recruited in large enough numbers to ensure that the first placement is the right placement. The First Placement Can Be the Right Placement I know that child mental health and welfare services are complex, but if I could swing an ax and chop down just one tree it would be the one that makes that above statement true. Namely, that the first placement is the right placement. So much would be alleviated if we could make that a reality as an industry. It doesn’t get a lot of press, until it goes terribly wrong that is, but certifying a foster parent is one of the most consequential decisions in child welfare. That we can all labor to get that decision right with the best tools in the industry at our disposal would truly transform the face of child welfare. I didn’t always get it right and I’m guessing that neither did you. Yet, we both know the kids we serve deserved our very best. So a final salute to those out there on the frontlines making these decisions right now and I sincerely hope you are equipped with all the tools and time it takes to do your very best. This causes recruiters to source the community for prospects, heartfelt PSAs to be playing on media outlets, and foster parent certification personnel to train and approve foster parents with haste. That’s not to say that they are negligent in any of those actions, but having spent nearly 13 years in that very field, it makes me extremely nervous when looking at the process from the outside. Even when I was the Assistant Director for a fairly large foster parent and adoption program, certifying a new parent was perhaps one of the more perilous decisions what we would make on any given day. Foster Parents Certification is Rarely an Obvious Decision As long as I worked with youth and parents, I wanted to think that I’ve reached sort of the Farmers Insurance level of intelligence. You know the commercials with the tagline, “We know a thing or two because we’ve seen a thing or two.” In 13 years working these youth and families, I had indeed seen a thing or two. However, that rarely manifested itself in any kind of predictive ability as to how a particular foster parent was going to turn out. The variables were just too many and human nature rarely followed a predictable course. Foster parents who seem to check all of the boxes in what you would think would make an ideal foster parent often fail in spectacular fashion. Meanwhile, foster parents who are not always the most compliant or textbook can produce some of the most loving homes and in fact, wind up adopting with great success some of the most difficult youth. Agency compliance, it would seem, is not synonymous with a loving and therapeutic milieu. Who knew? We worked with excellent parents who seemed very focused on the per diems and yet, took excellent care of the youth in their homes. Meanwhile, rich homes in the suburbs thought they could buy affection and behavior compliance only to find out this was a path riddled with folly. However, foster parent performance is now what kept me up at night. Certifying a home was a frightful experience for me because I knew that every child welfare agency from coast to coast has certified a home at some point that led to terrible abuse. Any private provider or state agency can deny this all they want, but those in the industry know this to be true. The Right Tools Are Needed to Make the Right Decision Now, I was blessed to work within an agency that truly attempted to equip us with the best tools available and was very dedicated to outcomes and safety. I shudder to think of smaller agencies with smaller budgets trying to make these consequential decisions with less tools or less time. Yet, all of us were faced with the need to place youth. An urgent need as quite often, the youth is sitting in your office and you have no idea where he is going to go tonight. That’s ultimately pressure that drives the certification process. You need homes and you need them yesterday. Personally, I hope that advancements in artificial intelligence will come about that will be more accurate and predictive of foster parent success than us humans. Let the robots feel the ethical and moral responsibility for a change. In the meantime, the child welfare industry would do well to examine what tools are currently available that will buy frontline workers, foster parent recruiters/trainers and administrators more time to make the right decision. Tools that will aid the recruitment and certification process so that foster parents can be recruited in large enough numbers to ensure that the first placement is the right placement. The First Placement Can Be the Right Placement I know that child mental health and welfare services are complex, but if I could swing an ax and chop down just one tree it would be the one that makes that above statement true. Namely, that the first placement is the right placement. So much would be alleviated if we could make that a reality as an industry. It doesn’t get a lot of press, until it goes terribly wrong that is, but certifying a foster parent is one of the most consequential decisions in child welfare. That we can all labor to get that decision right with the best tools in the industry at our disposal would truly transform the face of child welfare. I didn’t always get it right and I’m guessing that neither did you. Yet, we both know the kids we serve deserved our very best. So a final salute to those out there on the frontlines making these decisions right now and I sincerely hope you are equipped with all the tools and time it takes to do your very best. This causes recruiters to source the community for prospects, heartfelt PSAs to be playing on media outlets, and foster parent certification personnel to train and approve foster parents with haste. That’s not to say that they are negligent in any of those actions, but having spent nearly 13 years in that very field, it makes me extremely nervous when looking at the process from the outside. Even when I was the Assistant Director for a fairly large foster parent and adoption program, certifying a new parent was perhaps one of the more perilous decisions what we would make on any given day. Foster Parents Certification is Rarely an Obvious Decision As long as I worked with youth and parents, I wanted to think that I’ve reached sort of the Farmers Insurance level of intelligence. You know the commercials with the tagline, “We know a thing or two because we’ve seen a thing or two.” In 13 years working these youth and families, I had indeed seen a thing or two. However, that rarely manifested itself in any kind of predictive ability as to how a particular foster parent was going to turn out. The variables were just too many and human nature rarely followed a predictable course. Foster parents who seem to check all of the boxes in what you would think would make an ideal foster parent often fail in spectacular fashion. Meanwhile, foster parents who are not always the most compliant or textbook can produce some of the most loving homes and in fact, wind up adopting with great success some of the most difficult youth. Agency compliance, it would seem, is not synonymous with a loving and therapeutic milieu. Who knew? We worked with excellent parents who seemed very focused on the per diems and yet, took excellent care of the youth in their homes. Meanwhile, rich homes in the suburbs thought they could buy affection and behavior compliance only to find out this was a path riddled with folly. However, foster parent performance is now what kept me up at night. Certifying a home was a frightful experience for me because I knew that every child welfare agency from coast to coast has certified a home at some point that led to terrible abuse. Any private provider or state agency can deny this all they want, but those in the industry know this to be true. The Right Tools Are Needed to Make the Right Decision Now, I was blessed to work within an agency that truly attempted to equip us with the best tools available and was very dedicated to outcomes and safety. I shudder to think of smaller agencies with smaller budgets trying to make these consequential decisions with less tools or less time. Yet, all of us were faced with the need to place youth. An urgent need as quite often, the youth is sitting in your office and you have no idea where he is going to go tonight. That’s ultimately pressure that drives the certification process. You need homes and you need them yesterday. Personally, I hope that advancements in artificial intelligence will come about that will be more accurate and predictive of foster parent success than us humans. Let the robots feel the ethical and moral responsibility for a change. In the meantime, the child welfare industry would do well to examine what tools are currently available that will buy frontline workers, foster parent recruiters/trainers and administrators more time to make the right decision. Tools that will aid the recruitment and certification process so that foster parents can be recruited in large enough numbers to ensure that the first placement is the right placement. The First Placement Can Be the Right Placement I know that child mental health and welfare services are complex, but if I could swing an ax and chop down just one tree it would be the one that makes that above statement true. Namely, that the first placement is the right placement. So much would be alleviated if we could make that a reality as an industry. It doesn’t get a lot of press, until it goes terribly wrong that is, but certifying a foster parent is one of the most consequential decisions in child welfare. That we can all labor to get that decision right with the best tools in the industry at our disposal would truly transform the face of child welfare. I didn’t always get it right and I’m guessing that neither did you. Yet, we both know the kids we serve deserved our very best. So a final salute to those out there on the frontlines making these decisions right now and I sincerely hope you are equipped with all the tools and time it takes to do your very best. This causes recruiters to source the community for prospects, heartfelt PSAs to be playing on media outlets, and foster parent certification personnel to train and approve foster parents with haste. That’s not to say that they are negligent in any of those actions, but having spent nearly 13 years in that very field, it makes me extremely nervous when looking at the process from the outside. Even when I was the Assistant Director for a fairly large foster parent and adoption program, certifying a new parent was perhaps one of the more perilous decisions what we would make on any given day. Foster Parents Certification is Rarely an Obvious Decision As long as I worked with youth and parents, I wanted to think that I’ve reached sort of the Farmers Insurance level of intelligence. You know the commercials with the tagline, “We know a thing or two because we’ve seen a thing or two.” In 13 years working these youth and families, I had indeed seen a thing or two. However, that rarely manifested itself in any kind of predictive ability as to how a particular foster parent was going to turn out. The variables were just too many and human nature rarely followed a predictable course. Foster parents who seem to check all of the boxes in what you would think would make an ideal foster parent often fail in spectacular fashion. Meanwhile, foster parents who are not always the most compliant or textbook can produce some of the most loving homes and in fact, wind up adopting with great success some of the most difficult youth. Agency compliance, it would seem, is not synonymous with a loving and therapeutic milieu. Who knew? We worked with excellent parents who seemed very focused on the per diems and yet, took excellent care of the youth in their homes. Meanwhile, rich homes in the suburbs thought they could buy affection and behavior compliance only to find out this was a path riddled with folly. However, foster parent performance is now what kept me up at night. Certifying a home was a frightful experience for me because I knew that every child welfare agency from coast to coast has certified a home at some point that led to terrible abuse. Any private provider or state agency can deny this all they want, but those in the industry know this to be true. The Right Tools Are Needed to Make the Right Decision Now, I was blessed to work within an agency that truly attempted to equip us with the best tools available and was very dedicated to outcomes and safety. I shudder to think of smaller agencies with smaller budgets trying to make these consequential decisions with less tools or less time. Yet, all of us were faced with the need to place youth. An urgent need as quite often, the youth is sitting in your office and you have no idea where he is going to go tonight. That’s ultimately pressure that drives the certification process. You need homes and you need them yesterday. Personally, I hope that advancements in artificial intelligence will come about that will be more accurate and predictive of foster parent success than us humans. Let the robots feel the ethical and moral responsibility for a change. In the meantime, the child welfare industry would do well to examine what tools are currently available that will buy frontline workers, foster parent recruiters/trainers and administrators more time to make the right decision. Tools that will aid the recruitment and certification process so that foster parents can be recruited in large enough numbers to ensure that the first placement is the right placement. The First Placement Can Be the Right Placement I know that child mental health and welfare services are complex, but if I could swing an ax and chop down just one tree it would be the one that makes that above statement true. Namely, that the first placement is the right placement. So much would be alleviated if we could make that a reality as an industry. It doesn’t get a lot of press, until it goes terribly wrong that is, but certifying a foster parent is one of the most consequential decisions in child welfare. That we can all labor to get that decision right with the best tools in the industry at our disposal would truly transform the face of child welfare. I didn’t always get it right and I’m guessing that neither did you. Yet, we both know the kids we serve deserved our very best. So a final salute to those out there on the frontlines making these decisions right now and I sincerely hope you are equipped with all the tools and time it takes to do your very best. This causes recruiters to source the community for prospects, heartfelt PSAs to be playing on media outlets, and foster parent certification personnel to train and approve foster parents with haste. That’s not to say that they are negligent in any of those actions, but having spent nearly 13 years in that very field, it makes me extremely nervous when looking at the process from the outside. Even when I was the Assistant Director for a fairly large foster parent and adoption program, certifying a new parent was perhaps one of the more perilous decisions what we would make on any given day. Foster Parents Certification is Rarely an Obvious Decision As long as I worked with youth and parents, I wanted to think that I’ve reached sort of the Farmers Insurance level of intelligence. You know the commercials with the tagline, “We know a thing or two because we’ve seen a thing or two.” In 13 years working these youth and families, I had indeed seen a thing or two. However, that rarely manifested itself in any kind of predictive ability as to how a particular foster parent was going to turn out. The variables were just too many and human nature rarely followed a predictable course. Foster parents who seem to check all of the boxes in what you would think would make an ideal foster parent often fail in spectacular fashion. Meanwhile, foster parents who are not always the most compliant or textbook can produce some of the most loving homes and in fact, wind up adopting with great success some of the most difficult youth. Agency compliance, it would seem, is not synonymous with a loving and therapeutic milieu. Who knew? We worked with excellent parents who seemed very focused on the per diems and yet, took excellent care of the youth in their homes. Meanwhile, rich homes in the suburbs thought they could buy affection and behavior compliance only to find out this was a path riddled with folly. However, foster parent performance is now what kept me up at night. Certifying a home was a frightful experience for me because I knew that every child welfare agency from coast to coast has certified a home at some point that led to terrible abuse. Any private provider or state agency can deny this all they want, but those in the industry know this to be true. The Right Tools Are Needed to Make the Right Decision Now, I was blessed to work within an agency that truly attempted to equip us with the best tools available and was very dedicated to outcomes and safety. I shudder to think of smaller agencies with smaller budgets trying to make these consequential decisions with less tools or less time. Yet, all of us were faced with the need to place youth. An urgent need as quite often, the youth is sitting in your office and you have no idea where he is going to go tonight. That’s ultimately pressure that drives the certification process. You need homes and you need them yesterday. Personally, I hope that advancements in artificial intelligence will come about that will be more accurate and predictive of foster parent success than us humans. Let the robots feel the ethical and moral responsibility for a change. In the meantime, the child welfare industry would do well to examine what tools are currently available that will buy frontline workers, foster parent recruiters/trainers and administrators more time to make the right decision. Tools that will aid the recruitment and certification process so that foster parents can be recruited in large enough numbers to ensure that the first placement is the right placement. The First Placement Can Be the Right Placement I know that child mental health and welfare services are complex, but if I could swing an ax and chop down just one tree it would be the one that makes that above statement true. Namely, that the first placement is the right placement. So much would be alleviated if we could make that a reality as an industry. It doesn’t get a lot of press, until it goes terribly wrong that is, but certifying a foster parent is one of the most consequential decisions in child welfare. That we can all labor to get that decision right with the best tools in the industry at our disposal would truly transform the face of child welfare. I didn’t always get it right and I’m guessing that neither did you. Yet, we both know the kids we serve deserved our very best. So a final salute to those out there on the frontlines making these decisions right now and I sincerely hope you are equipped with all the tools and time it takes to do your very best. This causes recruiters to source the community for prospects, heartfelt PSAs to be playing on media outlets, and foster parent certification personnel to train and approve foster parents with haste. That’s not to say that they are negligent in any of those actions, but having spent nearly 13 years in that very field, it makes me extremely nervous when looking at the process from the outside. Even when I was the Assistant Director for a fairly large foster parent and adoption program, certifying a new parent was perhaps one of the more perilous decisions what we would make on any given day. Foster Parents Certification is Rarely an Obvious Decision As long as I worked with youth and parents, I wanted to think that I’ve reached sort of the Farmers Insurance level of intelligence. You know the commercials with the tagline, “We know a thing or two because we’ve seen a thing or two.” In 13 years working these youth and families, I had indeed seen a thing or two. However, that rarely manifested itself in any kind of predictive ability as to how a particular foster parent was going to turn out. The variables were just too many and human nature rarely followed a predictable course. Foster parents who seem to check all of the boxes in what you would think would make an ideal foster parent often fail in spectacular fashion. Meanwhile, foster parents who are not always the most compliant or textbook can produce some of the most loving homes and in fact, wind up adopting with great success some of the most difficult youth. Agency compliance, it would seem, is not synonymous with a loving and therapeutic milieu. Who knew? We worked with excellent parents who seemed very focused on the per diems and yet, took excellent care of the youth in their homes. Meanwhile, rich homes in the suburbs thought they could buy affection and behavior compliance only to find out this was a path riddled with folly. However, foster parent performance is now what kept me up at night. Certifying a home was a frightful experience for me because I knew that every child welfare agency from coast to coast has certified a home at some point that led to terrible abuse. Any private provider or state agency can deny this all they want, but those in the industry know this to be true. The Right Tools Are Needed to Make the Right Decision Now, I was blessed to work within an agency that truly attempted to equip us with the best tools available and was very dedicated to outcomes and safety. I shudder to think of smaller agencies with smaller budgets trying to make these consequential decisions with less tools or less time. Yet, all of us were faced with the need to place youth. An urgent need as quite often, the youth is sitting in your office and you have no idea where he is going to go tonight. That’s ultimately pressure that drives the certification process. You need homes and you need them yesterday. Personally, I hope that advancements in artificial intelligence will come about that will be more accurate and predictive of foster parent success than us humans. Let the robots feel the ethical and moral responsibility for a change. In the meantime, the child welfare industry would do well to examine what tools are currently available that will buy frontline workers, foster parent recruiters/trainers and administrators more time to make the right decision. Tools that will aid the recruitment and certification process so that foster parents can be recruited in large enough numbers to ensure that the first placement is the right placement. The First Placement Can Be the Right Placement I know that child mental health and welfare services are complex, but if I could swing an ax and chop down just one tree it would be the one that makes that above statement true. Namely, that the first placement is the right placement. So much would be alleviated if we could make that a reality as an industry. It doesn’t get a lot of press, until it goes terribly wrong that is, but certifying a foster parent is one of the most consequential decisions in child welfare. That we can all labor to get that decision right with the best tools in the industry at our disposal would truly transform the face of child welfare. I didn’t always get it right and I’m guessing that neither did you. Yet, we both know the kids we serve deserved our very best. So a final salute to those out there on the frontlines making these decisions right now and I sincerely hope you are equipped with all the tools and time it takes to do your very best. This causes recruiters to source the community for prospects, heartfelt PSAs to be playing on media outlets, and foster parent certification personnel to train and approve foster parents with haste. That’s not to say that they are negligent in any of those actions, but having spent nearly 13 years in that very field, it makes me extremely nervous when looking at the process from the outside. Even when I was the Assistant Director for a fairly large foster parent and adoption program, certifying a new parent was perhaps one of the more perilous decisions what we would make on any given day. Foster Parents Certification is Rarely an Obvious Decision As long as I worked with youth and parents, I wanted to think that I’ve reached sort of the Farmers Insurance level of intelligence. You know the commercials with the tagline, “We know a thing or two because we’ve seen a thing or two.” In 13 years working these youth and families, I had indeed seen a thing or two. However, that rarely manifested itself in any kind of predictive ability as to how a particular foster parent was going to turn out. The variables were just too many and human nature rarely followed a predictable course. Foster parents who seem to check all of the boxes in what you would think would make an ideal foster parent often fail in spectacular fashion. Meanwhile, foster parents who are not always the most compliant or textbook can produce some of the most loving homes and in fact, wind up adopting with great success some of the most difficult youth. Agency compliance, it would seem, is not synonymous with a loving and therapeutic milieu. Who knew? We worked with excellent parents who seemed very focused on the per diems and yet, took excellent care of the youth in their homes. Meanwhile, rich homes in the suburbs thought they could buy affection and behavior compliance only to find out this was a path riddled with folly. However, foster parent performance is now what kept me up at night. Certifying a home was a frightful experience for me because I knew that every child welfare agency from coast to coast has certified a home at some point that led to terrible abuse. Any private provider or state agency can deny this all they want, but those in the industry know this to be true. The Right Tools Are Needed to Make the Right Decision Now, I was blessed to work within an agency that truly attempted to equip us with the best tools available and was very dedicated to outcomes and safety. I shudder to think of smaller agencies with smaller budgets trying to make these consequential decisions with less tools or less time. Yet, all of us were faced with the need to place youth. An urgent need as quite often, the youth is sitting in your office and you have no idea where he is going to go tonight. That’s ultimately pressure that drives the certification process. You need homes and you need them yesterday. Personally, I hope that advancements in artificial intelligence will come about that will be more accurate and predictive of foster parent success than us humans. Let the robots feel the ethical and moral responsibility for a change. In the meantime, the child welfare industry would do well to examine what tools are currently available that will buy frontline workers, foster parent recruiters/trainers and administrators more time to make the right decision. Tools that will aid the recruitment and certification process so that foster parents can be recruited in large enough numbers to ensure that the first placement is the right placement. The First Placement Can Be the Right Placement I know that child mental health and welfare services are complex, but if I could swing an ax and chop down just one tree it would be the one that makes that above statement true. Namely, that the first placement is the right placement. So much would be alleviated if we could make that a reality as an industry. It doesn’t get a lot of press, until it goes terribly wrong that is, but certifying a foster parent is one of the most consequential decisions in child welfare. That we can all labor to get that decision right with the best tools in the industry at our disposal would truly transform the face of child welfare. I didn’t always get it right and I’m guessing that neither did you. Yet, we both know the kids we serve deserved our very best. So a final salute to those out there on the frontlines making these decisions right now and I sincerely hope you are equipped with all the tools and time it takes to do your very best.

It was a scene that I would see play out time and time again during my 13-year career, serving some of our nation’s most vulnerable youth. A child comes into care needing foster care, and the youth and their caseworker shows up with a couple of black garbage bags full of everything the child owned in the world. Now, I’m not really trying to play on your sympathy by asking you to imagine what it must feel like for a child to be removed from their family and watch their clothes and toys bagged up like trash. That such a scene requires empathy is self-evident, but not the point of this article. I Tried the Obvious Only To Fail Lest you think I was incompetent, let me reassure you that I tried all of the obvious answers. As a private provider, I didn’t have access to the youth prior to their arrival in state custody and their placement with our agency. So in that regard, there was nothing I could do to stop children from showing up with all their belongings in a garbage bag. Starting where I could, we put out the call for donated luggage, and the public readily supplied us with enough baggage to get the job done. My next step was to issue the directive that any child who showed up in our building with garbage bags as luggage was to be issued proper luggage. As a seasoned manager, I knew how to deliver the message with the appropriate intensity, and as a Marine veteran, my directions were rarely ignored. Moreover, I knew this was taking place as I would see staff helping the youth with luggage, and so it was a win in my mind. I’d solved the problem, or so I thought. I Kept Seeing Garbage Bags Over and Over The first time I knew that I had a bigger problem on my hands was when I started to notice youth, who I personally knew received luggage, sitting in our lobby with their belongings in black garbage bags. I question the staff and the foster parents, and no one seems to know what happened to the luggage. You see, it is common for youths placed into foster care to occasionally have to replace from one home to the next. Somewhere between them leaving our office for their first home and returning to the office to go to another new home, the plastic garbage bag came back to life. In some cases, it was just that their personal belongings grew in number, and thus, they had a nice piece of luggage next to two or three garbage bags full of belongings. So we would give them some more luggage, and lo and behold, the garbage bags kept coming back. A National Problem with No Easy Solution In doing some basic research, I realized that I was not alone with regards to this problem. It’s a nationwide issue in the foster care system, and there are actually countless nonprofits that exist solely for the purpose of providing foster kids with luggage. There was actually no shortage of luggage in the foster care system, and rather, a lack of a functional answer seemed to elude us all. Towards the end of my time in foster care, I had finally settled on the belief both the adults and youth involved were just overwhelmed. As much as I tried to impute the importance of a piece of luggage on foster parents and staff, the truth of the matter was that when a child is disrupting a home, the luggage isn’t your primary concern. Sadly, and perhaps most tragic, no matter how much we try to impress upon the youth that they have value, as does their belongings, they don’t believe it enough. The youths themselves readily load up their belongings in a garbage bag as they feel a garbage bag is indeed where their property belongs. I don’t accept defeat easily, but Hefty and Glad would be thrilled to know their garbage bags were sturdy enough to take me down. It was a scene that I would see play out time and time again during my 13-year career, serving some of our nation’s most vulnerable youth. A child comes into care needing foster care, and the youth and their caseworker shows up with a couple of black garbage bags full of everything the child owned in the world. Now, I’m not really trying to play on your sympathy by asking you to imagine what it must feel like for a child to be removed from their family and watch their clothes and toys bagged up like trash. That such a scene requires empathy is self-evident, but not the point of this article. I Tried the Obvious Only To Fail Lest you think I was incompetent, let me reassure you that I tried all of the obvious answers. As a private provider, I didn’t have access to the youth prior to their arrival in state custody and their placement with our agency. So in that regard, there was nothing I could do to stop children from showing up with all their belongings in a garbage bag. Starting where I could, we put out the call for donated luggage, and the public readily supplied us with enough baggage to get the job done. My next step was to issue the directive that any child who showed up in our building with garbage bags as luggage was to be issued proper luggage. As a seasoned manager, I knew how to deliver the message with the appropriate intensity, and as a Marine veteran, my directions were rarely ignored. Moreover, I knew this was taking place as I would see staff helping the youth with luggage, and so it was a win in my mind. I’d solved the problem, or so I thought. I Kept Seeing Garbage Bags Over and Over The first time I knew that I had a bigger problem on my hands was when I started to notice youth, who I personally knew received luggage, sitting in our lobby with their belongings in black garbage bags. I question the staff and the foster parents, and no one seems to know what happened to the luggage. You see, it is common for youths placed into foster care to occasionally have to replace from one home to the next. Somewhere between them leaving our office for their first home and returning to the office to go to another new home, the plastic garbage bag came back to life. In some cases, it was just that their personal belongings grew in number, and thus, they had a nice piece of luggage next to two or three garbage bags full of belongings. So we would give them some more luggage, and lo and behold, the garbage bags kept coming back. A National Problem with No Easy Solution In doing some basic research, I realized that I was not alone with regards to this problem. It’s a nationwide issue in the foster care system, and there are actually countless nonprofits that exist solely for the purpose of providing foster kids with luggage. There was actually no shortage of luggage in the foster care system, and rather, a lack of a functional answer seemed to elude us all. Towards the end of my time in foster care, I had finally settled on the belief both the adults and youth involved were just overwhelmed. As much as I tried to impute the importance of a piece of luggage on foster parents and staff, the truth of the matter was that when a child is disrupting a home, the luggage isn’t your primary concern. Sadly, and perhaps most tragic, no matter how much we try to impress upon the youth that they have value, as does their belongings, they don’t believe it enough. The youths themselves readily load up their belongings in a garbage bag as they feel a garbage bag is indeed where their property belongs. I don’t accept defeat easily, but Hefty and Glad would be thrilled to know their garbage bags were sturdy enough to take me down. It was a scene that I would see play out time and time again during my 13-year career, serving some of our nation’s most vulnerable youth. A child comes into care needing foster care, and the youth and their caseworker shows up with a couple of black garbage bags full of everything the child owned in the world. Now, I’m not really trying to play on your sympathy by asking you to imagine what it must feel like for a child to be removed from their family and watch their clothes and toys bagged up like trash. That such a scene requires empathy is self-evident, but not the point of this article. I Tried the Obvious Only To Fail Lest you think I was incompetent, let me reassure you that I tried all of the obvious answers. As a private provider, I didn’t have access to the youth prior to their arrival in state custody and their placement with our agency. So in that regard, there was nothing I could do to stop children from showing up with all their belongings in a garbage bag. Starting where I could, we put out the call for donated luggage, and the public readily supplied us with enough baggage to get the job done. My next step was to issue the directive that any child who showed up in our building with garbage bags as luggage was to be issued proper luggage. As a seasoned manager, I knew how to deliver the message with the appropriate intensity, and as a Marine veteran, my directions were rarely ignored. Moreover, I knew this was taking place as I would see staff helping the youth with luggage, and so it was a win in my mind. I’d solved the problem, or so I thought. I Kept Seeing Garbage Bags Over and Over The first time I knew that I had a bigger problem on my hands was when I started to notice youth, who I personally knew received luggage, sitting in our lobby with their belongings in black garbage bags. I question the staff and the foster parents, and no one seems to know what happened to the luggage. You see, it is common for youths placed into foster care to occasionally have to replace from one home to the next. Somewhere between them leaving our office for their first home and returning to the office to go to another new home, the plastic garbage bag came back to life. In some cases, it was just that their personal belongings grew in number, and thus, they had a nice piece of luggage next to two or three garbage bags full of belongings. So we would give them some more luggage, and lo and behold, the garbage bags kept coming back. A National Problem with No Easy Solution In doing some basic research, I realized that I was not alone with regards to this problem. It’s a nationwide issue in the foster care system, and there are actually countless nonprofits that exist solely for the purpose of providing foster kids with luggage. There was actually no shortage of luggage in the foster care system, and rather, a lack of a functional answer seemed to elude us all. Towards the end of my time in foster care, I had finally settled on the belief both the adults and youth involved were just overwhelmed. As much as I tried to impute the importance of a piece of luggage on foster parents and staff, the truth of the matter was that when a child is disrupting a home, the luggage isn’t your primary concern. Sadly, and perhaps most tragic, no matter how much we try to impress upon the youth that they have value, as does their belongings, they don’t believe it enough. The youths themselves readily load up their belongings in a garbage bag as they feel a garbage bag is indeed where their property belongs. I don’t accept defeat easily, but Hefty and Glad would be thrilled to know their garbage bags were sturdy enough to take me down. It was a scene that I would see play out time and time again during my 13-year career, serving some of our nation’s most vulnerable youth. A child comes into care needing foster care, and the youth and their caseworker shows up with a couple of black garbage bags full of everything the child owned in the world. Now, I’m not really trying to play on your sympathy by asking you to imagine what it must feel like for a child to be removed from their family and watch their clothes and toys bagged up like trash. That such a scene requires empathy is self-evident, but not the point of this article. I Tried the Obvious Only To Fail Lest you think I was incompetent, let me reassure you that I tried all of the obvious answers. As a private provider, I didn’t have access to the youth prior to their arrival in state custody and their placement with our agency. So in that regard, there was nothing I could do to stop children from showing up with all their belongings in a garbage bag. Starting where I could, we put out the call for donated luggage, and the public readily supplied us with enough baggage to get the job done. My next step was to issue the directive that any child who showed up in our building with garbage bags as luggage was to be issued proper luggage. As a seasoned manager, I knew how to deliver the message with the appropriate intensity, and as a Marine veteran, my directions were rarely ignored. Moreover, I knew this was taking place as I would see staff helping the youth with luggage, and so it was a win in my mind. I’d solved the problem, or so I thought. I Kept Seeing Garbage Bags Over and Over The first time I knew that I had a bigger problem on my hands was when I started to notice youth, who I personally knew received luggage, sitting in our lobby with their belongings in black garbage bags. I question the staff and the foster parents, and no one seems to know what happened to the luggage. You see, it is common for youths placed into foster care to occasionally have to replace from one home to the next. Somewhere between them leaving our office for their first home and returning to the office to go to another new home, the plastic garbage bag came back to life. In some cases, it was just that their personal belongings grew in number, and thus, they had a nice piece of luggage next to two or three garbage bags full of belongings. So we would give them some more luggage, and lo and behold, the garbage bags kept coming back. A National Problem with No Easy Solution In doing some basic research, I realized that I was not alone with regards to this problem. It’s a nationwide issue in the foster care system, and there are actually countless nonprofits that exist solely for the purpose of providing foster kids with luggage. There was actually no shortage of luggage in the foster care system, and rather, a lack of a functional answer seemed to elude us all. Towards the end of my time in foster care, I had finally settled on the belief both the adults and youth involved were just overwhelmed. As much as I tried to impute the importance of a piece of luggage on foster parents and staff, the truth of the matter was that when a child is disrupting a home, the luggage isn’t your primary concern. Sadly, and perhaps most tragic, no matter how much we try to impress upon the youth that they have value, as does their belongings, they don’t believe it enough. The youths themselves readily load up their belongings in a garbage bag as they feel a garbage bag is indeed where their property belongs. I don’t accept defeat easily, but Hefty and Glad would be thrilled to know their garbage bags were sturdy enough to take me down. It was a scene that I would see play out time and time again during my 13-year career, serving some of our nation’s most vulnerable youth. A child comes into care needing foster care, and the youth and their caseworker shows up with a couple of black garbage bags full of everything the child owned in the world. Now, I’m not really trying to play on your sympathy by asking you to imagine what it must feel like for a child to be removed from their family and watch their clothes and toys bagged up like trash. That such a scene requires empathy is self-evident, but not the point of this article. I Tried the Obvious Only To Fail Lest you think I was incompetent, let me reassure you that I tried all of the obvious answers. As a private provider, I didn’t have access to the youth prior to their arrival in state custody and their placement with our agency. So in that regard, there was nothing I could do to stop children from showing up with all their belongings in a garbage bag. Starting where I could, we put out the call for donated luggage, and the public readily supplied us with enough baggage to get the job done. My next step was to issue the directive that any child who showed up in our building with garbage bags as luggage was to be issued proper luggage. As a seasoned manager, I knew how to deliver the message with the appropriate intensity, and as a Marine veteran, my directions were rarely ignored. Moreover, I knew this was taking place as I would see staff helping the youth with luggage, and so it was a win in my mind. I’d solved the problem, or so I thought. I Kept Seeing Garbage Bags Over and Over The first time I knew that I had a bigger problem on my hands was when I started to notice youth, who I personally knew received luggage, sitting in our lobby with their belongings in black garbage bags. I question the staff and the foster parents, and no one seems to know what happened to the luggage. You see, it is common for youths placed into foster care to occasionally have to replace from one home to the next. Somewhere between them leaving our office for their first home and returning to the office to go to another new home, the plastic garbage bag came back to life. In some cases, it was just that their personal belongings grew in number, and thus, they had a nice piece of luggage next to two or three garbage bags full of belongings. So we would give them some more luggage, and lo and behold, the garbage bags kept coming back. A National Problem with No Easy Solution In doing some basic research, I realized that I was not alone with regards to this problem. It’s a nationwide issue in the foster care system, and there are actually countless nonprofits that exist solely for the purpose of providing foster kids with luggage. There was actually no shortage of luggage in the foster care system, and rather, a lack of a functional answer seemed to elude us all. Towards the end of my time in foster care, I had finally settled on the belief both the adults and youth involved were just overwhelmed. As much as I tried to impute the importance of a piece of luggage on foster parents and staff, the truth of the matter was that when a child is disrupting a home, the luggage isn’t your primary concern. Sadly, and perhaps most tragic, no matter how much we try to impress upon the youth that they have value, as does their belongings, they don’t believe it enough. The youths themselves readily load up their belongings in a garbage bag as they feel a garbage bag is indeed where their property belongs. I don’t accept defeat easily, but Hefty and Glad would be thrilled to know their garbage bags were sturdy enough to take me down. It was a scene that I would see play out time and time again during my 13-year career, serving some of our nation’s most vulnerable youth. A child comes into care needing foster care, and the youth and their caseworker shows up with a couple of black garbage bags full of everything the child owned in the world. Now, I’m not really trying to play on your sympathy by asking you to imagine what it must feel like for a child to be removed from their family and watch their clothes and toys bagged up like trash. That such a scene requires empathy is self-evident, but not the point of this article. I Tried the Obvious Only To Fail Lest you think I was incompetent, let me reassure you that I tried all of the obvious answers. As a private provider, I didn’t have access to the youth prior to their arrival in state custody and their placement with our agency. So in that regard, there was nothing I could do to stop children from showing up with all their belongings in a garbage bag. Starting where I could, we put out the call for donated luggage, and the public readily supplied us with enough baggage to get the job done. My next step was to issue the directive that any child who showed up in our building with garbage bags as luggage was to be issued proper luggage. As a seasoned manager, I knew how to deliver the message with the appropriate intensity, and as a Marine veteran, my directions were rarely ignored. Moreover, I knew this was taking place as I would see staff helping the youth with luggage, and so it was a win in my mind. I’d solved the problem, or so I thought. I Kept Seeing Garbage Bags Over and Over The first time I knew that I had a bigger problem on my hands was when I started to notice youth, who I personally knew received luggage, sitting in our lobby with their belongings in black garbage bags. I question the staff and the foster parents, and no one seems to know what happened to the luggage. You see, it is common for youths placed into foster care to occasionally have to replace from one home to the next. Somewhere between them leaving our office for their first home and returning to the office to go to another new home, the plastic garbage bag came back to life. In some cases, it was just that their personal belongings grew in number, and thus, they had a nice piece of luggage next to two or three garbage bags full of belongings. So we would give them some more luggage, and lo and behold, the garbage bags kept coming back. A National Problem with No Easy Solution In doing some basic research, I realized that I was not alone with regards to this problem. It’s a nationwide issue in the foster care system, and there are actually countless nonprofits that exist solely for the purpose of providing foster kids with luggage. There was actually no shortage of luggage in the foster care system, and rather, a lack of a functional answer seemed to elude us all. Towards the end of my time in foster care, I had finally settled on the belief both the adults and youth involved were just overwhelmed. As much as I tried to impute the importance of a piece of luggage on foster parents and staff, the truth of the matter was that when a child is disrupting a home, the luggage isn’t your primary concern. Sadly, and perhaps most tragic, no matter how much we try to impress upon the youth that they have value, as does their belongings, they don’t believe it enough. The youths themselves readily load up their belongings in a garbage bag as they feel a garbage bag is indeed where their property belongs. I don’t accept defeat easily, but Hefty and Glad would be thrilled to know their garbage bags were sturdy enough to take me down. It was a scene that I would see play out time and time again during my 13-year career, serving some of our nation’s most vulnerable youth. A child comes into care needing foster care, and the youth and their caseworker shows up with a couple of black garbage bags full of everything the child owned in the world. Now, I’m not really trying to play on your sympathy by asking you to imagine what it must feel like for a child to be removed from their family and watch their clothes and toys bagged up like trash. That such a scene requires empathy is self-evident, but not the point of this article. I Tried the Obvious Only To Fail Lest you think I was incompetent, let me reassure you that I tried all of the obvious answers. As a private provider, I didn’t have access to the youth prior to their arrival in state custody and their placement with our agency. So in that regard, there was nothing I could do to stop children from showing up with all their belongings in a garbage bag. Starting where I could, we put out the call for donated luggage, and the public readily supplied us with enough baggage to get the job done. My next step was to issue the directive that any child who showed up in our building with garbage bags as luggage was to be issued proper luggage. As a seasoned manager, I knew how to deliver the message with the appropriate intensity, and as a Marine veteran, my directions were rarely ignored. Moreover, I knew this was taking place as I would see staff helping the youth with luggage, and so it was a win in my mind. I’d solved the problem, or so I thought. I Kept Seeing Garbage Bags Over and Over The first time I knew that I had a bigger problem on my hands was when I started to notice youth, who I personally knew received luggage, sitting in our lobby with their belongings in black garbage bags. I question the staff and the foster parents, and no one seems to know what happened to the luggage. You see, it is common for youths placed into foster care to occasionally have to replace from one home to the next. Somewhere between them leaving our office for their first home and returning to the office to go to another new home, the plastic garbage bag came back to life. In some cases, it was just that their personal belongings grew in number, and thus, they had a nice piece of luggage next to two or three garbage bags full of belongings. So we would give them some more luggage, and lo and behold, the garbage bags kept coming back. A National Problem with No Easy Solution In doing some basic research, I realized that I was not alone with regards to this problem. It’s a nationwide issue in the foster care system, and there are actually countless nonprofits that exist solely for the purpose of providing foster kids with luggage. There was actually no shortage of luggage in the foster care system, and rather, a lack of a functional answer seemed to elude us all. Towards the end of my time in foster care, I had finally settled on the belief both the adults and youth involved were just overwhelmed. As much as I tried to impute the importance of a piece of luggage on foster parents and staff, the truth of the matter was that when a child is disrupting a home, the luggage isn’t your primary concern. Sadly, and perhaps most tragic, no matter how much we try to impress upon the youth that they have value, as does their belongings, they don’t believe it enough. The youths themselves readily load up their belongings in a garbage bag as they feel a garbage bag is indeed where their property belongs. I don’t accept defeat easily, but Hefty and Glad would be thrilled to know their garbage bags were sturdy enough to take me down. It was a scene that I would see play out time and time again during my 13-year career, serving some of our nation’s most vulnerable youth. A child comes into care needing foster care, and the youth and their caseworker shows up with a couple of black garbage bags full of everything the child owned in the world. Now, I’m not really trying to play on your sympathy by asking you to imagine what it must feel like for a child to be removed from their family and watch their clothes and toys bagged up like trash. That such a scene requires empathy is self-evident, but not the point of this article. I Tried the Obvious Only To Fail Lest you think I was incompetent, let me reassure you that I tried all of the obvious answers. As a private provider, I didn’t have access to the youth prior to their arrival in state custody and their placement with our agency. So in that regard, there was nothing I could do to stop children from showing up with all their belongings in a garbage bag. Starting where I could, we put out the call for donated luggage, and the public readily supplied us with enough baggage to get the job done. My next step was to issue the directive that any child who showed up in our building with garbage bags as luggage was to be issued proper luggage. As a seasoned manager, I knew how to deliver the message with the appropriate intensity, and as a Marine veteran, my directions were rarely ignored. Moreover, I knew this was taking place as I would see staff helping the youth with luggage, and so it was a win in my mind. I’d solved the problem, or so I thought. I Kept Seeing Garbage Bags Over and Over The first time I knew that I had a bigger problem on my hands was when I started to notice youth, who I personally knew received luggage, sitting in our lobby with their belongings in black garbage bags. I question the staff and the foster parents, and no one seems to know what happened to the luggage. You see, it is common for youths placed into foster care to occasionally have to replace from one home to the next. Somewhere between them leaving our office for their first home and returning to the office to go to another new home, the plastic garbage bag came back to life. In some cases, it was just that their personal belongings grew in number, and thus, they had a nice piece of luggage next to two or three garbage bags full of belongings. So we would give them some more luggage, and lo and behold, the garbage bags kept coming back. A National Problem with No Easy Solution In doing some basic research, I realized that I was not alone with regards to this problem. It’s a nationwide issue in the foster care system, and there are actually countless nonprofits that exist solely for the purpose of providing foster kids with luggage. There was actually no shortage of luggage in the foster care system, and rather, a lack of a functional answer seemed to elude us all. Towards the end of my time in foster care, I had finally settled on the belief both the adults and youth involved were just overwhelmed. As much as I tried to impute the importance of a piece of luggage on foster parents and staff, the truth of the matter was that when a child is disrupting a home, the luggage isn’t your primary concern. Sadly, and perhaps most tragic, no matter how much we try to impress upon the youth that they have value, as does their belongings, they don’t believe it enough. The youths themselves readily load up their belongings in a garbage bag as they feel a garbage bag is indeed where their property belongs. I don’t accept defeat easily, but Hefty and Glad would be thrilled to know their garbage bags were sturdy enough to take me down. It was a scene that I would see play out time and time again during my 13-year career, serving some of our nation’s most vulnerable youth. A child comes into care needing foster care, and the youth and their caseworker shows up with a couple of black garbage bags full of everything the child owned in the world. Now, I’m not really trying to play on your sympathy by asking you to imagine what it must feel like for a child to be removed from their family and watch their clothes and toys bagged up like trash. That such a scene requires empathy is self-evident, but not the point of this article. I Tried the Obvious Only To Fail Lest you think I was incompetent, let me reassure you that I tried all of the obvious answers. As a private provider, I didn’t have access to the youth prior to their arrival in state custody and their placement with our agency. So in that regard, there was nothing I could do to stop children from showing up with all their belongings in a garbage bag. Starting where I could, we put out the call for donated luggage, and the public readily supplied us with enough baggage to get the job done. My next step was to issue the directive that any child who showed up in our building with garbage bags as luggage was to be issued proper luggage. As a seasoned manager, I knew how to deliver the message with the appropriate intensity, and as a Marine veteran, my directions were rarely ignored. Moreover, I knew this was taking place as I would see staff helping the youth with luggage, and so it was a win in my mind. I’d solved the problem, or so I thought. I Kept Seeing Garbage Bags Over and Over The first time I knew that I had a bigger problem on my hands was when I started to notice youth, who I personally knew received luggage, sitting in our lobby with their belongings in black garbage bags. I question the staff and the foster parents, and no one seems to know what happened to the luggage. You see, it is common for youths placed into foster care to occasionally have to replace from one home to the next. Somewhere between them leaving our office for their first home and returning to the office to go to another new home, the plastic garbage bag came back to life. In some cases, it was just that their personal belongings grew in number, and thus, they had a nice piece of luggage next to two or three garbage bags full of belongings. So we would give them some more luggage, and lo and behold, the garbage bags kept coming back. A National Problem with No Easy Solution In doing some basic research, I realized that I was not alone with regards to this problem. It’s a nationwide issue in the foster care system, and there are actually countless nonprofits that exist solely for the purpose of providing foster kids with luggage. There was actually no shortage of luggage in the foster care system, and rather, a lack of a functional answer seemed to elude us all. Towards the end of my time in foster care, I had finally settled on the belief both the adults and youth involved were just overwhelmed. As much as I tried to impute the importance of a piece of luggage on foster parents and staff, the truth of the matter was that when a child is disrupting a home, the luggage isn’t your primary concern. Sadly, and perhaps most tragic, no matter how much we try to impress upon the youth that they have value, as does their belongings, they don’t believe it enough. The youths themselves readily load up their belongings in a garbage bag as they feel a garbage bag is indeed where their property belongs. I don’t accept defeat easily, but Hefty and Glad would be thrilled to know their garbage bags were sturdy enough to take me down. It was a scene that I would see play out time and time again during my 13-year career, serving some of our nation’s most vulnerable youth. A child comes into care needing foster care, and the youth and their caseworker shows up with a couple of black garbage bags full of everything the child owned in the world. Now, I’m not really trying to play on your sympathy by asking you to imagine what it must feel like for a child to be removed from their family and watch their clothes and toys bagged up like trash. That such a scene requires empathy is self-evident, but not the point of this article. I Tried the Obvious Only To Fail Lest you think I was incompetent, let me reassure you that I tried all of the obvious answers. As a private provider, I didn’t have access to the youth prior to their arrival in state custody and their placement with our agency. So in that regard, there was nothing I could do to stop children from showing up with all their belongings in a garbage bag. Starting where I could, we put out the call for donated luggage, and the public readily supplied us with enough baggage to get the job done. My next step was to issue the directive that any child who showed up in our building with garbage bags as luggage was to be issued proper luggage. As a seasoned manager, I knew how to deliver the message with the appropriate intensity, and as a Marine veteran, my directions were rarely ignored. Moreover, I knew this was taking place as I would see staff helping the youth with luggage, and so it was a win in my mind. I’d solved the problem, or so I thought. I Kept Seeing Garbage Bags Over and Over The first time I knew that I had a bigger problem on my hands was when I started to notice youth, who I personally knew received luggage, sitting in our lobby with their belongings in black garbage bags. I question the staff and the foster parents, and no one seems to know what happened to the luggage. You see, it is common for youths placed into foster care to occasionally have to replace from one home to the next. Somewhere between them leaving our office for their first home and returning to the office to go to another new home, the plastic garbage bag came back to life. In some cases, it was just that their personal belongings grew in number, and thus, they had a nice piece of luggage next to two or three garbage bags full of belongings. So we would give them some more luggage, and lo and behold, the garbage bags kept coming back. A National Problem with No Easy Solution In doing some basic research, I realized that I was not alone with regards to this problem. It’s a nationwide issue in the foster care system, and there are actually countless nonprofits that exist solely for the purpose of providing foster kids with luggage. There was actually no shortage of luggage in the foster care system, and rather, a lack of a functional answer seemed to elude us all. Towards the end of my time in foster care, I had finally settled on the belief both the adults and youth involved were just overwhelmed. As much as I tried to impute the importance of a piece of luggage on foster parents and staff, the truth of the matter was that when a child is disrupting a home, the luggage isn’t your primary concern. Sadly, and perhaps most tragic, no matter how much we try to impress upon the youth that they have value, as does their belongings, they don’t believe it enough. The youths themselves readily load up their belongings in a garbage bag as they feel a garbage bag is indeed where their property belongs. I don’t accept defeat easily, but Hefty and Glad would be thrilled to know their garbage bags were sturdy enough to take me down.

On June 2, 2016, the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) issued a final Comprehensive Child Welfare Information System (CCWIS) rule to replace the Statewide and Tribal Automated Child Welfare Information Systems (S/TACWIS) rule, which for more than twenty years had been the vehicle through which states sought federal assistance for funding child welfare technology efforts. This brief provides our analysis of the final rule and its implications for states and tribes seeking to modernize their technology portfolios. Note: States should consult with ACF regarding definitive interpretations of the rule. CCWIS as a Force for Innovation A key purpose of the CCWIS rule is to specify how states and tribes may obtain federal financial participation (FFP) for a CCWIS project. As with S/TACWIS, ACF determines CCWIS compliance through review and approval of a state’s or tribe’s Advance Planning Document (APD) or a Notice of Intent (for projects below the APD threshold), as well as through periodic federal monitoring. The rule does not change the APD process or the FFP rate, which remains at 50% of project costs. CCWIS, like its predecessor, is optional for states and tribes. The nature of what qualifies as a “project,” however, has changed significantly with CCWIS. Under the old S/TACWIS rules, FFP was only available to a state or tribe that developed and operated a single, large system that all public and private child welfare workers used. Moreover, ACF mandated fifty-one distinct functions that any such monolithic S/TACWIS system had to support. Under the new CCWIS rule, ACF does not specify such functional requirements. Instead, IV-E agencies are encouraged to innovate in keeping with their individual needs and practices. For example, states and tribes may obtain FFP to build smaller, more modular subsets of functionality aligned with their practice models, or perhaps with an incremental legacy system replacement plan. They might choose to obtain certain types of data through automated integrations rather than collect it within the child welfare application itself. From an implementation perspective, they might opt for a project approach based on modern Agile software development techniques, as California and other states have done. The states’ early responses to CCWIS—as embodied in procurements issued around the time the final rule was released—have already shown an eagerness to experiment with such new approaches. On June 2, 2016, the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) issued a final Comprehensive Child Welfare Information System (CCWIS) rule to replace the Statewide and Tribal Automated Child Welfare Information Systems (S/TACWIS) rule, which for more than twenty years had been the vehicle through which states sought federal assistance for funding child welfare technology efforts. This brief provides our analysis of the final rule and its implications for states and tribes seeking to modernize their technology portfolios. Note: States should consult with ACF regarding definitive interpretations of the rule. CCWIS as a Force for Innovation A key purpose of the CCWIS rule is to specify how states and tribes may obtain federal financial participation (FFP) for a CCWIS project. As with S/TACWIS, ACF determines CCWIS compliance through review and approval of a state’s or tribe’s Advance Planning Document (APD) or a Notice of Intent (for projects below the APD threshold), as well as through periodic federal monitoring. The rule does not change the APD process or the FFP rate, which remains at 50% of project costs. CCWIS, like its predecessor, is optional for states and tribes. The nature of what qualifies as a “project,” however, has changed significantly with CCWIS. Under the old S/TACWIS rules, FFP was only available to a state or tribe that developed and operated a single, large system that all public and private child welfare workers used. Moreover, ACF mandated fifty-one distinct functions that any such monolithic S/TACWIS system had to support. Under the new CCWIS rule, ACF does not specify such functional requirements. Instead, IV-E agencies are encouraged to innovate in keeping with their individual needs and practices. For example, states and tribes may obtain FFP to build smaller, more modular subsets of functionality aligned with their practice models, or perhaps with an incremental legacy system replacement plan. They might choose to obtain certain types of data through automated integrations rather than collect it within the child welfare application itself. From an implementation perspective, they might opt for a project approach based on modern Agile software development techniques, as California and other states have done. The states’ early responses to CCWIS—as embodied in procurements issued around the time the final rule was released—have already shown an eagerness to experiment with such new approaches. On June 2, 2016, the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) issued a final Comprehensive Child Welfare Information System (CCWIS) rule to replace the Statewide and Tribal Automated Child Welfare Information Systems (S/TACWIS) rule, which for more than twenty years had been the vehicle through which states sought federal assistance for funding child welfare technology efforts. This brief provides our analysis of the final rule and its implications for states and tribes seeking to modernize their technology portfolios. Note: States should consult with ACF regarding definitive interpretations of the rule. CCWIS as a Force for Innovation A key purpose of the CCWIS rule is to specify how states and tribes may obtain federal financial participation (FFP) for a CCWIS project. As with S/TACWIS, ACF determines CCWIS compliance through review and approval of a state’s or tribe’s Advance Planning Document (APD) or a Notice of Intent (for projects below the APD threshold), as well as through periodic federal monitoring. The rule does not change the APD process or the FFP rate, which remains at 50% of project costs. CCWIS, like its predecessor, is optional for states and tribes. The nature of what qualifies as a “project,” however, has changed significantly with CCWIS. Under the old S/TACWIS rules, FFP was only available to a state or tribe that developed and operated a single, large system that all public and private child welfare workers used. Moreover, ACF mandated fifty-one distinct functions that any such monolithic S/TACWIS system had to support. Under the new CCWIS rule, ACF does not specify such functional requirements. Instead, IV-E agencies are encouraged to innovate in keeping with their individual needs and practices. For example, states and tribes may obtain FFP to build smaller, more modular subsets of functionality aligned with their practice models, or perhaps with an incremental legacy system replacement plan. They might choose to obtain certain types of data through automated integrations rather than collect it within the child welfare application itself. From an implementation perspective, they might opt for a project approach based on modern Agile software development techniques, as California and other states have done. The states’ early responses to CCWIS—as embodied in procurements issued around the time the final rule was released—have already shown an eagerness to experiment with such new approaches. On June 2, 2016, the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) issued a final Comprehensive Child Welfare Information System (CCWIS) rule to replace the Statewide and Tribal Automated Child Welfare Information Systems (S/TACWIS) rule, which for more than twenty years had been the vehicle through which states sought federal assistance for funding child welfare technology efforts. This brief provides our analysis of the final rule and its implications for states and tribes seeking to modernize their technology portfolios. Note: States should consult with ACF regarding definitive interpretations of the rule. CCWIS as a Force for Innovation A key purpose of the CCWIS rule is to specify how states and tribes may obtain federal financial participation (FFP) for a CCWIS project. As with S/TACWIS, ACF determines CCWIS compliance through review and approval of a state’s or tribe’s Advance Planning Document (APD) or a Notice of Intent (for projects below the APD threshold), as well as through periodic federal monitoring. The rule does not change the APD process or the FFP rate, which remains at 50% of project costs. CCWIS, like its predecessor, is optional for states and tribes. The nature of what qualifies as a “project,” however, has changed significantly with CCWIS. Under the old S/TACWIS rules, FFP was only available to a state or tribe that developed and operated a single, large system that all public and private child welfare workers used. Moreover, ACF mandated fifty-one distinct functions that any such monolithic S/TACWIS system had to support. Under the new CCWIS rule, ACF does not specify such functional requirements. Instead, IV-E agencies are encouraged to innovate in keeping with their individual needs and practices. For example, states and tribes may obtain FFP to build smaller, more modular subsets of functionality aligned with their practice models, or perhaps with an incremental legacy system replacement plan. They might choose to obtain certain types of data through automated integrations rather than collect it within the child welfare application itself. From an implementation perspective, they might opt for a project approach based on modern Agile software development techniques, as California and other states have done. The states’ early responses to CCWIS—as embodied in procurements issued around the time the final rule was released—have already shown an eagerness to experiment with such new approaches. On June 2, 2016, the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) issued a final Comprehensive Child Welfare Information System (CCWIS) rule to replace the Statewide and Tribal Automated Child Welfare Information Systems (S/TACWIS) rule, which for more than twenty years had been the vehicle through which states sought federal assistance for funding child welfare technology efforts. This brief provides our analysis of the final rule and its implications for states and tribes seeking to modernize their technology portfolios. Note: States should consult with ACF regarding definitive interpretations of the rule. CCWIS as a Force for Innovation A key purpose of the CCWIS rule is to specify how states and tribes may obtain federal financial participation (FFP) for a CCWIS project. As with S/TACWIS, ACF determines CCWIS compliance through review and approval of a state’s or tribe’s Advance Planning Document (APD) or a Notice of Intent (for projects below the APD threshold), as well as through periodic federal monitoring. The rule does not change the APD process or the FFP rate, which remains at 50% of project costs. CCWIS, like its predecessor, is optional for states and tribes. The nature of what qualifies as a “project,” however, has changed significantly with CCWIS. Under the old S/TACWIS rules, FFP was only available to a state or tribe that developed and operated a single, large system that all public and private child welfare workers used. Moreover, ACF mandated fifty-one distinct functions that any such monolithic S/TACWIS system had to support. Under the new CCWIS rule, ACF does not specify such functional requirements. Instead, IV-E agencies are encouraged to innovate in keeping with their individual needs and practices. For example, states and tribes may obtain FFP to build smaller, more modular subsets of functionality aligned with their practice models, or perhaps with an incremental legacy system replacement plan. They might choose to obtain certain types of data through automated integrations rather than collect it within the child welfare application itself. From an implementation perspective, they might opt for a project approach based on modern Agile software development techniques, as California and other states have done. The states’ early responses to CCWIS—as embodied in procurements issued around the time the final rule was released—have already shown an eagerness to experiment with such new approaches. On June 2, 2016, the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) issued a final Comprehensive Child Welfare Information System (CCWIS) rule to replace the Statewide and Tribal Automated Child Welfare Information Systems (S/TACWIS) rule, which for more than twenty years had been the vehicle through which states sought federal assistance for funding child welfare technology efforts. This brief provides our analysis of the final rule and its implications for states and tribes seeking to modernize their technology portfolios. Note: States should consult with ACF regarding definitive interpretations of the rule. CCWIS as a Force for Innovation A key purpose of the CCWIS rule is to specify how states and tribes may obtain federal financial participation (FFP) for a CCWIS project. As with S/TACWIS, ACF determines CCWIS compliance through review and approval of a state’s or tribe’s Advance Planning Document (APD) or a Notice of Intent (for projects below the APD threshold), as well as through periodic federal monitoring. The rule does not change the APD process or the FFP rate, which remains at 50% of project costs. CCWIS, like its predecessor, is optional for states and tribes. The nature of what qualifies as a “project,” however, has changed significantly with CCWIS. Under the old S/TACWIS rules, FFP was only available to a state or tribe that developed and operated a single, large system that all public and private child welfare workers used. Moreover, ACF mandated fifty-one distinct functions that any such monolithic S/TACWIS system had to support. Under the new CCWIS rule, ACF does not specify such functional requirements. Instead, IV-E agencies are encouraged to innovate in keeping with their individual needs and practices. For example, states and tribes may obtain FFP to build smaller, more modular subsets of functionality aligned with their practice models, or perhaps with an incremental legacy system replacement plan. They might choose to obtain certain types of data through automated integrations rather than collect it within the child welfare application itself. From an implementation perspective, they might opt for a project approach based on modern Agile software development techniques, as California and other states have done. The states’ early responses to CCWIS—as embodied in procurements issued around the time the final rule was released—have already shown an eagerness to experiment with such new approaches. On June 2, 2016, the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) issued a final Comprehensive Child Welfare Information System (CCWIS) rule to replace the Statewide and Tribal Automated Child Welfare Information Systems (S/TACWIS) rule, which for more than twenty years had been the vehicle through which states sought federal assistance for funding child welfare technology efforts. This brief provides our analysis of the final rule and its implications for states and tribes seeking to modernize their technology portfolios. Note: States should consult with ACF regarding definitive interpretations of the rule. CCWIS as a Force for Innovation A key purpose of the CCWIS rule is to specify how states and tribes may obtain federal financial participation (FFP) for a CCWIS project. As with S/TACWIS, ACF determines CCWIS compliance through review and approval of a state’s or tribe’s Advance Planning Document (APD) or a Notice of Intent (for projects below the APD threshold), as well as through periodic federal monitoring. The rule does not change the APD process or the FFP rate, which remains at 50% of project costs. CCWIS, like its predecessor, is optional for states and tribes. The nature of what qualifies as a “project,” however, has changed significantly with CCWIS. Under the old S/TACWIS rules, FFP was only available to a state or tribe that developed and operated a single, large system that all public and private child welfare workers used. Moreover, ACF mandated fifty-one distinct functions that any such monolithic S/TACWIS system had to support. Under the new CCWIS rule, ACF does not specify such functional requirements. Instead, IV-E agencies are encouraged to innovate in keeping with their individual needs and practices. For example, states and tribes may obtain FFP to build smaller, more modular subsets of functionality aligned with their practice models, or perhaps with an incremental legacy system replacement plan. They might choose to obtain certain types of data through automated integrations rather than collect it within the child welfare application itself. From an implementation perspective, they might opt for a project approach based on modern Agile software development techniques, as California and other states have done. The states’ early responses to CCWIS—as embodied in procurements issued around the time the final rule was released—have already shown an eagerness to experiment with such new approaches. On June 2, 2016, the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) issued a final Comprehensive Child Welfare Information System (CCWIS) rule to replace the Statewide and Tribal Automated Child Welfare Information Systems (S/TACWIS) rule, which for more than twenty years had been the vehicle through which states sought federal assistance for funding child welfare technology efforts. This brief provides our analysis of the final rule and its implications for states and tribes seeking to modernize their technology portfolios. Note: States should consult with ACF regarding definitive interpretations of the rule. CCWIS as a Force for Innovation A key purpose of the CCWIS rule is to specify how states and tribes may obtain federal financial participation (FFP) for a CCWIS project. As with S/TACWIS, ACF determines CCWIS compliance through review and approval of a state’s or tribe’s Advance Planning Document (APD) or a Notice of Intent (for projects below the APD threshold), as well as through periodic federal monitoring. The rule does not change the APD process or the FFP rate, which remains at 50% of project costs. CCWIS, like its predecessor, is optional for states and tribes. The nature of what qualifies as a “project,” however, has changed significantly with CCWIS. Under the old S/TACWIS rules, FFP was only available to a state or tribe that developed and operated a single, large system that all public and private child welfare workers used. Moreover, ACF mandated fifty-one distinct functions that any such monolithic S/TACWIS system had to support. Under the new CCWIS rule, ACF does not specify such functional requirements. Instead, IV-E agencies are encouraged to innovate in keeping with their individual needs and practices. For example, states and tribes may obtain FFP to build smaller, more modular subsets of functionality aligned with their practice models, or perhaps with an incremental legacy system replacement plan. They might choose to obtain certain types of data through automated integrations rather than collect it within the child welfare application itself. From an implementation perspective, they might opt for a project approach based on modern Agile software development techniques, as California and other states have done. The states’ early responses to CCWIS—as embodied in procurements issued around the time the final rule was released—have already shown an eagerness to experiment with such new approaches. On June 2, 2016, the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) issued a final Comprehensive Child Welfare Information System (CCWIS) rule to replace the Statewide and Tribal Automated Child Welfare Information Systems (S/TACWIS) rule, which for more than twenty years had been the vehicle through which states sought federal assistance for funding child welfare technology efforts. This brief provides our analysis of the final rule and its implications for states and tribes seeking to modernize their technology portfolios. Note: States should consult with ACF regarding definitive interpretations of the rule. CCWIS as a Force for Innovation A key purpose of the CCWIS rule is to specify how states and tribes may obtain federal financial participation (FFP) for a CCWIS project. As with S/TACWIS, ACF determines CCWIS compliance through review and approval of a state’s or tribe’s Advance Planning Document (APD) or a Notice of Intent (for projects below the APD threshold), as well as through periodic federal monitoring. The rule does not change the APD process or the FFP rate, which remains at 50% of project costs. CCWIS, like its predecessor, is optional for states and tribes. The nature of what qualifies as a “project,” however, has changed significantly with CCWIS. Under the old S/TACWIS rules, FFP was only available to a state or tribe that developed and operated a single, large system that all public and private child welfare workers used. Moreover, ACF mandated fifty-one distinct functions that any such monolithic S/TACWIS system had to support. Under the new CCWIS rule, ACF does not specify such functional requirements. Instead, IV-E agencies are encouraged to innovate in keeping with their individual needs and practices. For example, states and tribes may obtain FFP to build smaller, more modular subsets of functionality aligned with their practice models, or perhaps with an incremental legacy system replacement plan. They might choose to obtain certain types of data through automated integrations rather than collect it within the child welfare application itself. From an implementation perspective, they might opt for a project approach based on modern Agile software development techniques, as California and other states have done. The states’ early responses to CCWIS—as embodied in procurements issued around the time the final rule was released—have already shown an eagerness to experiment with such new approaches. On June 2, 2016, the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) issued a final Comprehensive Child Welfare Information System (CCWIS) rule to replace the Statewide and Tribal Automated Child Welfare Information Systems (S/TACWIS) rule, which for more than twenty years had been the vehicle through which states sought federal assistance for funding child welfare technology efforts. This brief provides our analysis of the final rule and its implications for states and tribes seeking to modernize their technology portfolios. Note: States should consult with ACF regarding definitive interpretations of the rule. CCWIS as a Force for Innovation A key purpose of the CCWIS rule is to specify how states and tribes may obtain federal financial participation (FFP) for a CCWIS project. As with S/TACWIS, ACF determines CCWIS compliance through review and approval of a state’s or tribe’s Advance Planning Document (APD) or a Notice of Intent (for projects below the APD threshold), as well as through periodic federal monitoring. The rule does not change the APD process or the FFP rate, which remains at 50% of project costs. CCWIS, like its predecessor, is optional for states and tribes. The nature of what qualifies as a “project,” however, has changed significantly with CCWIS. Under the old S/TACWIS rules, FFP was only available to a state or tribe that developed and operated a single, large system that all public and private child welfare workers used. Moreover, ACF mandated fifty-one distinct functions that any such monolithic S/TACWIS system had to support. Under the new CCWIS rule, ACF does not specify such functional requirements. Instead, IV-E agencies are encouraged to innovate in keeping with their individual needs and practices. For example, states and tribes may obtain FFP to build smaller, more modular subsets of functionality aligned with their practice models, or perhaps with an incremental legacy system replacement plan. They might choose to obtain certain types of data through automated integrations rather than collect it within the child welfare application itself. From an implementation perspective, they might opt for a project approach based on modern Agile software development techniques, as California and other states have done. The states’ early responses to CCWIS—as embodied in procurements issued around the time the final rule was released—have already shown an eagerness to experiment with such new approaches.

Teachers face a challenge to keep children focused on their lesson plans. For some, the student's needs exceed their expertise, time for individual attention, or the resources and support to help children with special needs. That’s where you come in. Wraparound services address the underlying factors in the child’s life. Effective wraparound services don’t happen in a vacuum. They are built with a collaboration of committed representatives from the organizations that serve the child. They could include: School-linked and school-based services Non-educational or supportive services Parental or caregiver involvement Program funders Business leaders Law enforcement agencies Health care providers Mental health/substance abuse service providers Other organizations with needed resources or expertise Teachers face a challenge to keep children focused on their lesson plans. For some, the student's needs exceed their expertise, time for individual attention, or the resources and support to help children with special needs. That’s where you come in. Wraparound services address the underlying factors in the child’s life. Effective wraparound services don’t happen in a vacuum. They are built with a collaboration of committed representatives from the organizations that serve the child. They could include: School-linked and school-based services Non-educational or supportive services Parental or caregiver involvement Program funders Business leaders Law enforcement agencies Health care providers Mental health/substance abuse service providers Other organizations with needed resources or expertise Teachers face a challenge to keep children focused on their lesson plans. For some, the student's needs exceed their expertise, time for individual attention, or the resources and support to help children with special needs. That’s where you come in. Wraparound services address the underlying factors in the child’s life. Effective wraparound services don’t happen in a vacuum. They are built with a collaboration of committed representatives from the organizations that serve the child. They could include: School-linked and school-based services Non-educational or supportive services Parental or caregiver involvement Program funders Business leaders Law enforcement agencies Health care providers Mental health/substance abuse service providers Other organizations with needed resources or expertise Teachers face a challenge to keep children focused on their lesson plans. For some, the student's needs exceed their expertise, time for individual attention, or the resources and support to help children with special needs. That’s where you come in. Wraparound services address the underlying factors in the child’s life. Effective wraparound services don’t happen in a vacuum. They are built with a collaboration of committed representatives from the organizations that serve the child. They could include: School-linked and school-based services Non-educational or supportive services Parental or caregiver involvement Program funders Business leaders Law enforcement agencies Health care providers Mental health/substance abuse service providers Other organizations with needed resources or expertise Teachers face a challenge to keep children focused on their lesson plans. For some, the student's needs exceed their expertise, time for individual attention, or the resources and support to help children with special needs. That’s where you come in. Wraparound services address the underlying factors in the child’s life. Effective wraparound services don’t happen in a vacuum. They are built with a collaboration of committed representatives from the organizations that serve the child. They could include: School-linked and school-based services Non-educational or supportive services Parental or caregiver involvement Program funders Business leaders Law enforcement agencies Health care providers Mental health/substance abuse service providers Other organizations with needed resources or expertise Teachers face a challenge to keep children focused on their lesson plans. For some, the student's needs exceed their expertise, time for individual attention, or the resources and support to help children with special needs. That’s where you come in. Wraparound services address the underlying factors in the child’s life. Effective wraparound services don’t happen in a vacuum. They are built with a collaboration of committed representatives from the organizations that serve the child. They could include: School-linked and school-based services Non-educational or supportive services Parental or caregiver involvement Program funders Business leaders Law enforcement agencies Health care providers Mental health/substance abuse service providers Other organizations with needed resources or expertise Teachers face a challenge to keep children focused on their lesson plans. For some, the student's needs exceed their expertise, time for individual attention, or the resources and support to help children with special needs. That’s where you come in. Wraparound services address the underlying factors in the child’s life. Effective wraparound services don’t happen in a vacuum. They are built with a collaboration of committed representatives from the organizations that serve the child. They could include: School-linked and school-based services Non-educational or supportive services Parental or caregiver involvement Program funders Business leaders Law enforcement agencies Health care providers Mental health/substance abuse service providers Other organizations with needed resources or expertise Teachers face a challenge to keep children focused on their lesson plans. For some, the student's needs exceed their expertise, time for individual attention, or the resources and support to help children with special needs. That’s where you come in. Wraparound services address the underlying factors in the child’s life. Effective wraparound services don’t happen in a vacuum. They are built with a collaboration of committed representatives from the organizations that serve the child. They could include: School-linked and school-based services Non-educational or supportive services Parental or caregiver involvement Program funders Business leaders Law enforcement agencies Health care providers Mental health/substance abuse service providers Other organizations with needed resources or expertise Teachers face a challenge to keep children focused on their lesson plans. For some, the student's needs exceed their expertise, time for individual attention, or the resources and support to help children with special needs. That’s where you come in. Wraparound services address the underlying factors in the child’s life. Effective wraparound services don’t happen in a vacuum. They are built with a collaboration of committed representatives from the organizations that serve the child. They could include: School-linked and school-based services Non-educational or supportive services Parental or caregiver involvement Program funders Business leaders Law enforcement agencies Health care providers Mental health/substance abuse service providers Other organizations with needed resources or expertise Teachers face a challenge to keep children focused on their lesson plans. For some, the student's needs exceed their expertise, time for individual attention, or the resources and support to help children with special needs. That’s where you come in. Wraparound services address the underlying factors in the child’s life. Effective wraparound services don’t happen in a vacuum. They are built with a collaboration of committed representatives from the organizations that serve the child. They could include: School-linked and school-based services Non-educational or supportive services Parental or caregiver involvement Program funders Business leaders Law enforcement agencies Health care providers Mental health/substance abuse service providers Other organizations with needed resources or expertise

For the vast majority of teenagers turning into adults, turning 21 represents a time of wonder and excitement. This is a time of planning for the future that includes job training, college applications and attendance, and learning practical skills. However, for the more than 400,000 children currently in foster care in the United States, this is not always a time of wonder and excitement, but rather of anxiety and the unknown. Aging out of the foster care system is not always a seamless process due to the lack of resources that are often available for transition services, however, when child welfare workers use their strong cross-systems collaboration skills, foster care children in transition are often far more prepared to enter the adult world than they would otherwise be. What is cross-systems collaboration? Cross-systems collaboration is the process to which professionals partner with other professionals and agencies for the wellbeing of the client. Because many children who enter the foster care system have experienced trauma, may have mental health disorders or behavioral concerns, and often have few skills to utilize, the child welfare workers job is to support the entire person and not just find them housing. Picture this: a 15 year old boy enters a foster care facility after his mother dies of an overdose. This is a vulnerable time for him that could result in his own substance use, lack of finishing high school, and other negative outcomes because he has no family to support him and is in the middle of terrible grief. His child welfare worker finds him foster housing that meets his needs and allows him to continue attending the same high school he was enrolled in prior to the death of his mother. This welfare worker also helps him access mental health services for processing grief, attend a driver’s education program to get his driver’s license, and apply for grants and funds for college tuition. She did this by supporting him in getting a case manager in the community mental health system, connecting him to an after school tutoring program, and continuously answering his calls and processing through his feelings. She coordinated quarterly meetings with his counselor, school counselor, herself, and him to meet and discuss his needs and progress. They met quarterly for several years until he was prepared to graduate high school and age out of the foster care system, as he was never adopted. In the meetings they discussed the following: How he was feeling What is going well and not going well What his goals were and plans to achieve them How his mental health was He was always able to self-direct the meetings and be his own advocate. This example of strong cross-systems work with providers who were equally as invested in his wellbeing really made the difference for him. Every quarter, he knew he had a team of people who would show up and care for him. He knew that this team would support him, plan with him, and answer any and all questions he had that his mother was no longer around to answer for him. Why is cross-systems work essential during transition for foster children? Foster children, not unlike children still living in their biological parents homes, are complex. They have complex needs, desires, and wants. They often have been witness to adversity that is difficult to understand and contextualize. This puts them at risk for a variety of negative outcomes such as substance use, houselessness, and mental illness during foster care and after they transition out. Cross-systems collaboration supports a trauma-informed approach to care by recognizing those complexities and understanding that no goals can be supported and achieved in isolation. For example, a student with a mental illness will have a difficult time in school. Therefore, their school and counselors should work together to ensure they have the skills and resources needed to be successful. A student with a disability and a trauma history may find coping with their disability difficult because their trauma makes them feel hopeless. Therefore, their direct care provider and their mental health counselor should partner with them to develop a plan for the best way to complete daily tasks. Cross-systems work believes the following: systems are inherently connected to other systems when they work towards similar goals; systems should focus on the common interest of the youth they are supporting; and agencies must make commitments to partner for the best partnerships to occur. Because of this, any person who is going into child welfare or a system that operates in partnership with child welfare to support foster care children, should be knowledgeable about cross-systems planning and be prepared to partner with other professionals, while also allowing the child to lead the way based on their interests and goals. All foster care children in transition have the ability to, like this child, graduate and be successful after foster care. To do this, they need to know that they have people supporting them and helping them. This kind of strong support by foster families, child welfare providers, teachers, mental health professionals, and other people supporting them is what will empower them to support themselves. This is how foster care children realize they are worthy of love and belonging: by being shown that to begin with. For the vast majority of teenagers turning into adults, turning 21 represents a time of wonder and excitement. This is a time of planning for the future that includes job training, college applications and attendance, and learning practical skills. However, for the more than 400,000 children currently in foster care in the United States, this is not always a time of wonder and excitement, but rather of anxiety and the unknown. Aging out of the foster care system is not always a seamless process due to the lack of resources that are often available for transition services, however, when child welfare workers use their strong cross-systems collaboration skills, foster care children in transition are often far more prepared to enter the adult world than they would otherwise be. What is cross-systems collaboration? Cross-systems collaboration is the process to which professionals partner with other professionals and agencies for the wellbeing of the client. Because many children who enter the foster care system have experienced trauma, may have mental health disorders or behavioral concerns, and often have few skills to utilize, the child welfare workers job is to support the entire person and not just find them housing. Picture this: a 15 year old boy enters a foster care facility after his mother dies of an overdose. This is a vulnerable time for him that could result in his own substance use, lack of finishing high school, and other negative outcomes because he has no family to support him and is in the middle of terrible grief. His child welfare worker finds him foster housing that meets his needs and allows him to continue attending the same high school he was enrolled in prior to the death of his mother. This welfare worker also helps him access mental health services for processing grief, attend a driver’s education program to get his driver’s license, and apply for grants and funds for college tuition. She did this by supporting him in getting a case manager in the community mental health system, connecting him to an after school tutoring program, and continuously answering his calls and processing through his feelings. She coordinated quarterly meetings with his counselor, school counselor, herself, and him to meet and discuss his needs and progress. They met quarterly for several years until he was prepared to graduate high school and age out of the foster care system, as he was never adopted. In the meetings they discussed the following: How he was feeling What is going well and not going well What his goals were and plans to achieve them How his mental health was He was always able to self-direct the meetings and be his own advocate. This example of strong cross-systems work with providers who were equally as invested in his wellbeing really made the difference for him. Every quarter, he knew he had a team of people who would show up and care for him. He knew that this team would support him, plan with him, and answer any and all questions he had that his mother was no longer around to answer for him. Why is cross-systems work essential during transition for foster children? Foster children, not unlike children still living in their biological parents homes, are complex. They have complex needs, desires, and wants. They often have been witness to adversity that is difficult to understand and contextualize. This puts them at risk for a variety of negative outcomes such as substance use, houselessness, and mental illness during foster care and after they transition out. Cross-systems collaboration supports a trauma-informed approach to care by recognizing those complexities and understanding that no goals can be supported and achieved in isolation. For example, a student with a mental illness will have a difficult time in school. Therefore, their school and counselors should work together to ensure they have the skills and resources needed to be successful. A student with a disability and a trauma history may find coping with their disability difficult because their trauma makes them feel hopeless. Therefore, their direct care provider and their mental health counselor should partner with them to develop a plan for the best way to complete daily tasks. Cross-systems work believes the following: systems are inherently connected to other systems when they work towards similar goals; systems should focus on the common interest of the youth they are supporting; and agencies must make commitments to partner for the best partnerships to occur. Because of this, any person who is going into child welfare or a system that operates in partnership with child welfare to support foster care children, should be knowledgeable about cross-systems planning and be prepared to partner with other professionals, while also allowing the child to lead the way based on their interests and goals. All foster care children in transition have the ability to, like this child, graduate and be successful after foster care. To do this, they need to know that they have people supporting them and helping them. This kind of strong support by foster families, child welfare providers, teachers, mental health professionals, and other people supporting them is what will empower them to support themselves. This is how foster care children realize they are worthy of love and belonging: by being shown that to begin with. For the vast majority of teenagers turning into adults, turning 21 represents a time of wonder and excitement. This is a time of planning for the future that includes job training, college applications and attendance, and learning practical skills. However, for the more than 400,000 children currently in foster care in the United States, this is not always a time of wonder and excitement, but rather of anxiety and the unknown. Aging out of the foster care system is not always a seamless process due to the lack of resources that are often available for transition services, however, when child welfare workers use their strong cross-systems collaboration skills, foster care children in transition are often far more prepared to enter the adult world than they would otherwise be. What is cross-systems collaboration? Cross-systems collaboration is the process to which professionals partner with other professionals and agencies for the wellbeing of the client. Because many children who enter the foster care system have experienced trauma, may have mental health disorders or behavioral concerns, and often have few skills to utilize, the child welfare workers job is to support the entire person and not just find them housing. Picture this: a 15 year old boy enters a foster care facility after his mother dies of an overdose. This is a vulnerable time for him that could result in his own substance use, lack of finishing high school, and other negative outcomes because he has no family to support him and is in the middle of terrible grief. His child welfare worker finds him foster housing that meets his needs and allows him to continue attending the same high school he was enrolled in prior to the death of his mother. This welfare worker also helps him access mental health services for processing grief, attend a driver’s education program to get his driver’s license, and apply for grants and funds for college tuition. She did this by supporting him in getting a case manager in the community mental health system, connecting him to an after school tutoring program, and continuously answering his calls and processing through his feelings. She coordinated quarterly meetings with his counselor, school counselor, herself, and him to meet and discuss his needs and progress. They met quarterly for several years until he was prepared to graduate high school and age out of the foster care system, as he was never adopted. In the meetings they discussed the following: How he was feeling What is going well and not going well What his goals were and plans to achieve them How his mental health was He was always able to self-direct the meetings and be his own advocate. This example of strong cross-systems work with providers who were equally as invested in his wellbeing really made the difference for him. Every quarter, he knew he had a team of people who would show up and care for him. He knew that this team would support him, plan with him, and answer any and all questions he had that his mother was no longer around to answer for him. Why is cross-systems work essential during transition for foster children? Foster children, not unlike children still living in their biological parents homes, are complex. They have complex needs, desires, and wants. They often have been witness to adversity that is difficult to understand and contextualize. This puts them at risk for a variety of negative outcomes such as substance use, houselessness, and mental illness during foster care and after they transition out. Cross-systems collaboration supports a trauma-informed approach to care by recognizing those complexities and understanding that no goals can be supported and achieved in isolation. For example, a student with a mental illness will have a difficult time in school. Therefore, their school and counselors should work together to ensure they have the skills and resources needed to be successful. A student with a disability and a trauma history may find coping with their disability difficult because their trauma makes them feel hopeless. Therefore, their direct care provider and their mental health counselor should partner with them to develop a plan for the best way to complete daily tasks. Cross-systems work believes the following: systems are inherently connected to other systems when they work towards similar goals; systems should focus on the common interest of the youth they are supporting; and agencies must make commitments to partner for the best partnerships to occur. Because of this, any person who is going into child welfare or a system that operates in partnership with child welfare to support foster care children, should be knowledgeable about cross-systems planning and be prepared to partner with other professionals, while also allowing the child to lead the way based on their interests and goals. All foster care children in transition have the ability to, like this child, graduate and be successful after foster care. To do this, they need to know that they have people supporting them and helping them. This kind of strong support by foster families, child welfare providers, teachers, mental health professionals, and other people supporting them is what will empower them to support themselves. This is how foster care children realize they are worthy of love and belonging: by being shown that to begin with. For the vast majority of teenagers turning into adults, turning 21 represents a time of wonder and excitement. This is a time of planning for the future that includes job training, college applications and attendance, and learning practical skills. However, for the more than 400,000 children currently in foster care in the United States, this is not always a time of wonder and excitement, but rather of anxiety and the unknown. Aging out of the foster care system is not always a seamless process due to the lack of resources that are often available for transition services, however, when child welfare workers use their strong cross-systems collaboration skills, foster care children in transition are often far more prepared to enter the adult world than they would otherwise be. What is cross-systems collaboration? Cross-systems collaboration is the process to which professionals partner with other professionals and agencies for the wellbeing of the client. Because many children who enter the foster care system have experienced trauma, may have mental health disorders or behavioral concerns, and often have few skills to utilize, the child welfare workers job is to support the entire person and not just find them housing. Picture this: a 15 year old boy enters a foster care facility after his mother dies of an overdose. This is a vulnerable time for him that could result in his own substance use, lack of finishing high school, and other negative outcomes because he has no family to support him and is in the middle of terrible grief. His child welfare worker finds him foster housing that meets his needs and allows him to continue attending the same high school he was enrolled in prior to the death of his mother. This welfare worker also helps him access mental health services for processing grief, attend a driver’s education program to get his driver’s license, and apply for grants and funds for college tuition. She did this by supporting him in getting a case manager in the community mental health system, connecting him to an after school tutoring program, and continuously answering his calls and processing through his feelings. She coordinated quarterly meetings with his counselor, school counselor, herself, and him to meet and discuss his needs and progress. They met quarterly for several years until he was prepared to graduate high school and age out of the foster care system, as he was never adopted. In the meetings they discussed the following: How he was feeling What is going well and not going well What his goals were and plans to achieve them How his mental health was He was always able to self-direct the meetings and be his own advocate. This example of strong cross-systems work with providers who were equally as invested in his wellbeing really made the difference for him. Every quarter, he knew he had a team of people who would show up and care for him. He knew that this team would support him, plan with him, and answer any and all questions he had that his mother was no longer around to answer for him. Why is cross-systems work essential during transition for foster children? Foster children, not unlike children still living in their biological parents homes, are complex. They have complex needs, desires, and wants. They often have been witness to adversity that is difficult to understand and contextualize. This puts them at risk for a variety of negative outcomes such as substance use, houselessness, and mental illness during foster care and after they transition out. Cross-systems collaboration supports a trauma-informed approach to care by recognizing those complexities and understanding that no goals can be supported and achieved in isolation. For example, a student with a mental illness will have a difficult time in school. Therefore, their school and counselors should work together to ensure they have the skills and resources needed to be successful. A student with a disability and a trauma history may find coping with their disability difficult because their trauma makes them feel hopeless. Therefore, their direct care provider and their mental health counselor should partner with them to develop a plan for the best way to complete daily tasks. Cross-systems work believes the following: systems are inherently connected to other systems when they work towards similar goals; systems should focus on the common interest of the youth they are supporting; and agencies must make commitments to partner for the best partnerships to occur. Because of this, any person who is going into child welfare or a system that operates in partnership with child welfare to support foster care children, should be knowledgeable about cross-systems planning and be prepared to partner with other professionals, while also allowing the child to lead the way based on their interests and goals. All foster care children in transition have the ability to, like this child, graduate and be successful after foster care. To do this, they need to know that they have people supporting them and helping them. This kind of strong support by foster families, child welfare providers, teachers, mental health professionals, and other people supporting them is what will empower them to support themselves. This is how foster care children realize they are worthy of love and belonging: by being shown that to begin with. For the vast majority of teenagers turning into adults, turning 21 represents a time of wonder and excitement. This is a time of planning for the future that includes job training, college applications and attendance, and learning practical skills. However, for the more than 400,000 children currently in foster care in the United States, this is not always a time of wonder and excitement, but rather of anxiety and the unknown. Aging out of the foster care system is not always a seamless process due to the lack of resources that are often available for transition services, however, when child welfare workers use their strong cross-systems collaboration skills, foster care children in transition are often far more prepared to enter the adult world than they would otherwise be. What is cross-systems collaboration? Cross-systems collaboration is the process to which professionals partner with other professionals and agencies for the wellbeing of the client. Because many children who enter the foster care system have experienced trauma, may have mental health disorders or behavioral concerns, and often have few skills to utilize, the child welfare workers job is to support the entire person and not just find them housing. Picture this: a 15 year old boy enters a foster care facility after his mother dies of an overdose. This is a vulnerable time for him that could result in his own substance use, lack of finishing high school, and other negative outcomes because he has no family to support him and is in the middle of terrible grief. His child welfare worker finds him foster housing that meets his needs and allows him to continue attending the same high school he was enrolled in prior to the death of his mother. This welfare worker also helps him access mental health services for processing grief, attend a driver’s education program to get his driver’s license, and apply for grants and funds for college tuition. She did this by supporting him in getting a case manager in the community mental health system, connecting him to an after school tutoring program, and continuously answering his calls and processing through his feelings. She coordinated quarterly meetings with his counselor, school counselor, herself, and him to meet and discuss his needs and progress. They met quarterly for several years until he was prepared to graduate high school and age out of the foster care system, as he was never adopted. In the meetings they discussed the following: How he was feeling What is going well and not going well What his goals were and plans to achieve them How his mental health was He was always able to self-direct the meetings and be his own advocate. This example of strong cross-systems work with providers who were equally as invested in his wellbeing really made the difference for him. Every quarter, he knew he had a team of people who would show up and care for him. He knew that this team would support him, plan with him, and answer any and all questions he had that his mother was no longer around to answer for him. Why is cross-systems work essential during transition for foster children? Foster children, not unlike children still living in their biological parents homes, are complex. They have complex needs, desires, and wants. They often have been witness to adversity that is difficult to understand and contextualize. This puts them at risk for a variety of negative outcomes such as substance use, houselessness, and mental illness during foster care and after they transition out. Cross-systems collaboration supports a trauma-informed approach to care by recognizing those complexities and understanding that no goals can be supported and achieved in isolation. For example, a student with a mental illness will have a difficult time in school. Therefore, their school and counselors should work together to ensure they have the skills and resources needed to be successful. A student with a disability and a trauma history may find coping with their disability difficult because their trauma makes them feel hopeless. Therefore, their direct care provider and their mental health counselor should partner with them to develop a plan for the best way to complete daily tasks. Cross-systems work believes the following: systems are inherently connected to other systems when they work towards similar goals; systems should focus on the common interest of the youth they are supporting; and agencies must make commitments to partner for the best partnerships to occur. Because of this, any person who is going into child welfare or a system that operates in partnership with child welfare to support foster care children, should be knowledgeable about cross-systems planning and be prepared to partner with other professionals, while also allowing the child to lead the way based on their interests and goals. All foster care children in transition have the ability to, like this child, graduate and be successful after foster care. To do this, they need to know that they have people supporting them and helping them. This kind of strong support by foster families, child welfare providers, teachers, mental health professionals, and other people supporting them is what will empower them to support themselves. This is how foster care children realize they are worthy of love and belonging: by being shown that to begin with. For the vast majority of teenagers turning into adults, turning 21 represents a time of wonder and excitement. This is a time of planning for the future that includes job training, college applications and attendance, and learning practical skills. However, for the more than 400,000 children currently in foster care in the United States, this is not always a time of wonder and excitement, but rather of anxiety and the unknown. Aging out of the foster care system is not always a seamless process due to the lack of resources that are often available for transition services, however, when child welfare workers use their strong cross-systems collaboration skills, foster care children in transition are often far more prepared to enter the adult world than they would otherwise be. What is cross-systems collaboration? Cross-systems collaboration is the process to which professionals partner with other professionals and agencies for the wellbeing of the client. Because many children who enter the foster care system have experienced trauma, may have mental health disorders or behavioral concerns, and often have few skills to utilize, the child welfare workers job is to support the entire person and not just find them housing. Picture this: a 15 year old boy enters a foster care facility after his mother dies of an overdose. This is a vulnerable time for him that could result in his own substance use, lack of finishing high school, and other negative outcomes because he has no family to support him and is in the middle of terrible grief. His child welfare worker finds him foster housing that meets his needs and allows him to continue attending the same high school he was enrolled in prior to the death of his mother. This welfare worker also helps him access mental health services for processing grief, attend a driver’s education program to get his driver’s license, and apply for grants and funds for college tuition. She did this by supporting him in getting a case manager in the community mental health system, connecting him to an after school tutoring program, and continuously answering his calls and processing through his feelings. She coordinated quarterly meetings with his counselor, school counselor, herself, and him to meet and discuss his needs and progress. They met quarterly for several years until he was prepared to graduate high school and age out of the foster care system, as he was never adopted. In the meetings they discussed the following: How he was feeling What is going well and not going well What his goals were and plans to achieve them How his mental health was He was always able to self-direct the meetings and be his own advocate. This example of strong cross-systems work with providers who were equally as invested in his wellbeing really made the difference for him. Every quarter, he knew he had a team of people who would show up and care for him. He knew that this team would support him, plan with him, and answer any and all questions he had that his mother was no longer around to answer for him. Why is cross-systems work essential during transition for foster children? Foster children, not unlike children still living in their biological parents homes, are complex. They have complex needs, desires, and wants. They often have been witness to adversity that is difficult to understand and contextualize. This puts them at risk for a variety of negative outcomes such as substance use, houselessness, and mental illness during foster care and after they transition out. Cross-systems collaboration supports a trauma-informed approach to care by recognizing those complexities and understanding that no goals can be supported and achieved in isolation. For example, a student with a mental illness will have a difficult time in school. Therefore, their school and counselors should work together to ensure they have the skills and resources needed to be successful. A student with a disability and a trauma history may find coping with their disability difficult because their trauma makes them feel hopeless. Therefore, their direct care provider and their mental health counselor should partner with them to develop a plan for the best way to complete daily tasks. Cross-systems work believes the following: systems are inherently connected to other systems when they work towards similar goals; systems should focus on the common interest of the youth they are supporting; and agencies must make commitments to partner for the best partnerships to occur. Because of this, any person who is going into child welfare or a system that operates in partnership with child welfare to support foster care children, should be knowledgeable about cross-systems planning and be prepared to partner with other professionals, while also allowing the child to lead the way based on their interests and goals. All foster care children in transition have the ability to, like this child, graduate and be successful after foster care. To do this, they need to know that they have people supporting them and helping them. This kind of strong support by foster families, child welfare providers, teachers, mental health professionals, and other people supporting them is what will empower them to support themselves. This is how foster care children realize they are worthy of love and belonging: by being shown that to begin with. For the vast majority of teenagers turning into adults, turning 21 represents a time of wonder and excitement. This is a time of planning for the future that includes job training, college applications and attendance, and learning practical skills. However, for the more than 400,000 children currently in foster care in the United States, this is not always a time of wonder and excitement, but rather of anxiety and the unknown. Aging out of the foster care system is not always a seamless process due to the lack of resources that are often available for transition services, however, when child welfare workers use their strong cross-systems collaboration skills, foster care children in transition are often far more prepared to enter the adult world than they would otherwise be. What is cross-systems collaboration? Cross-systems collaboration is the process to which professionals partner with other professionals and agencies for the wellbeing of the client. Because many children who enter the foster care system have experienced trauma, may have mental health disorders or behavioral concerns, and often have few skills to utilize, the child welfare workers job is to support the entire person and not just find them housing. Picture this: a 15 year old boy enters a foster care facility after his mother dies of an overdose. This is a vulnerable time for him that could result in his own substance use, lack of finishing high school, and other negative outcomes because he has no family to support him and is in the middle of terrible grief. His child welfare worker finds him foster housing that meets his needs and allows him to continue attending the same high school he was enrolled in prior to the death of his mother. This welfare worker also helps him access mental health services for processing grief, attend a driver’s education program to get his driver’s license, and apply for grants and funds for college tuition. She did this by supporting him in getting a case manager in the community mental health system, connecting him to an after school tutoring program, and continuously answering his calls and processing through his feelings. She coordinated quarterly meetings with his counselor, school counselor, herself, and him to meet and discuss his needs and progress. They met quarterly for several years until he was prepared to graduate high school and age out of the foster care system, as he was never adopted. In the meetings they discussed the following: How he was feeling What is going well and not going well What his goals were and plans to achieve them How his mental health was He was always able to self-direct the meetings and be his own advocate. This example of strong cross-systems work with providers who were equally as invested in his wellbeing really made the difference for him. Every quarter, he knew he had a team of people who would show up and care for him. He knew that this team would support him, plan with him, and answer any and all questions he had that his mother was no longer around to answer for him. Why is cross-systems work essential during transition for foster children? Foster children, not unlike children still living in their biological parents homes, are complex. They have complex needs, desires, and wants. They often have been witness to adversity that is difficult to understand and contextualize. This puts them at risk for a variety of negative outcomes such as substance use, houselessness, and mental illness during foster care and after they transition out. Cross-systems collaboration supports a trauma-informed approach to care by recognizing those complexities and understanding that no goals can be supported and achieved in isolation. For example, a student with a mental illness will have a difficult time in school. Therefore, their school and counselors should work together to ensure they have the skills and resources needed to be successful. A student with a disability and a trauma history may find coping with their disability difficult because their trauma makes them feel hopeless. Therefore, their direct care provider and their mental health counselor should partner with them to develop a plan for the best way to complete daily tasks. Cross-systems work believes the following: systems are inherently connected to other systems when they work towards similar goals; systems should focus on the common interest of the youth they are supporting; and agencies must make commitments to partner for the best partnerships to occur. Because of this, any person who is going into child welfare or a system that operates in partnership with child welfare to support foster care children, should be knowledgeable about cross-systems planning and be prepared to partner with other professionals, while also allowing the child to lead the way based on their interests and goals. All foster care children in transition have the ability to, like this child, graduate and be successful after foster care. To do this, they need to know that they have people supporting them and helping them. This kind of strong support by foster families, child welfare providers, teachers, mental health professionals, and other people supporting them is what will empower them to support themselves. This is how foster care children realize they are worthy of love and belonging: by being shown that to begin with. For the vast majority of teenagers turning into adults, turning 21 represents a time of wonder and excitement. This is a time of planning for the future that includes job training, college applications and attendance, and learning practical skills. However, for the more than 400,000 children currently in foster care in the United States, this is not always a time of wonder and excitement, but rather of anxiety and the unknown. Aging out of the foster care system is not always a seamless process due to the lack of resources that are often available for transition services, however, when child welfare workers use their strong cross-systems collaboration skills, foster care children in transition are often far more prepared to enter the adult world than they would otherwise be. What is cross-systems collaboration? Cross-systems collaboration is the process to which professionals partner with other professionals and agencies for the wellbeing of the client. Because many children who enter the foster care system have experienced trauma, may have mental health disorders or behavioral concerns, and often have few skills to utilize, the child welfare workers job is to support the entire person and not just find them housing. Picture this: a 15 year old boy enters a foster care facility after his mother dies of an overdose. This is a vulnerable time for him that could result in his own substance use, lack of finishing high school, and other negative outcomes because he has no family to support him and is in the middle of terrible grief. His child welfare worker finds him foster housing that meets his needs and allows him to continue attending the same high school he was enrolled in prior to the death of his mother. This welfare worker also helps him access mental health services for processing grief, attend a driver’s education program to get his driver’s license, and apply for grants and funds for college tuition. She did this by supporting him in getting a case manager in the community mental health system, connecting him to an after school tutoring program, and continuously answering his calls and processing through his feelings. She coordinated quarterly meetings with his counselor, school counselor, herself, and him to meet and discuss his needs and progress. They met quarterly for several years until he was prepared to graduate high school and age out of the foster care system, as he was never adopted. In the meetings they discussed the following: How he was feeling What is going well and not going well What his goals were and plans to achieve them How his mental health was He was always able to self-direct the meetings and be his own advocate. This example of strong cross-systems work with providers who were equally as invested in his wellbeing really made the difference for him. Every quarter, he knew he had a team of people who would show up and care for him. He knew that this team would support him, plan with him, and answer any and all questions he had that his mother was no longer around to answer for him. Why is cross-systems work essential during transition for foster children? Foster children, not unlike children still living in their biological parents homes, are complex. They have complex needs, desires, and wants. They often have been witness to adversity that is difficult to understand and contextualize. This puts them at risk for a variety of negative outcomes such as substance use, houselessness, and mental illness during foster care and after they transition out. Cross-systems collaboration supports a trauma-informed approach to care by recognizing those complexities and understanding that no goals can be supported and achieved in isolation. For example, a student with a mental illness will have a difficult time in school. Therefore, their school and counselors should work together to ensure they have the skills and resources needed to be successful. A student with a disability and a trauma history may find coping with their disability difficult because their trauma makes them feel hopeless. Therefore, their direct care provider and their mental health counselor should partner with them to develop a plan for the best way to complete daily tasks. Cross-systems work believes the following: systems are inherently connected to other systems when they work towards similar goals; systems should focus on the common interest of the youth they are supporting; and agencies must make commitments to partner for the best partnerships to occur. Because of this, any person who is going into child welfare or a system that operates in partnership with child welfare to support foster care children, should be knowledgeable about cross-systems planning and be prepared to partner with other professionals, while also allowing the child to lead the way based on their interests and goals. All foster care children in transition have the ability to, like this child, graduate and be successful after foster care. To do this, they need to know that they have people supporting them and helping them. This kind of strong support by foster families, child welfare providers, teachers, mental health professionals, and other people supporting them is what will empower them to support themselves. This is how foster care children realize they are worthy of love and belonging: by being shown that to begin with. For the vast majority of teenagers turning into adults, turning 21 represents a time of wonder and excitement. This is a time of planning for the future that includes job training, college applications and attendance, and learning practical skills. However, for the more than 400,000 children currently in foster care in the United States, this is not always a time of wonder and excitement, but rather of anxiety and the unknown. Aging out of the foster care system is not always a seamless process due to the lack of resources that are often available for transition services, however, when child welfare workers use their strong cross-systems collaboration skills, foster care children in transition are often far more prepared to enter the adult world than they would otherwise be. What is cross-systems collaboration? Cross-systems collaboration is the process to which professionals partner with other professionals and agencies for the wellbeing of the client. Because many children who enter the foster care system have experienced trauma, may have mental health disorders or behavioral concerns, and often have few skills to utilize, the child welfare workers job is to support the entire person and not just find them housing. Picture this: a 15 year old boy enters a foster care facility after his mother dies of an overdose. This is a vulnerable time for him that could result in his own substance use, lack of finishing high school, and other negative outcomes because he has no family to support him and is in the middle of terrible grief. His child welfare worker finds him foster housing that meets his needs and allows him to continue attending the same high school he was enrolled in prior to the death of his mother. This welfare worker also helps him access mental health services for processing grief, attend a driver’s education program to get his driver’s license, and apply for grants and funds for college tuition. She did this by supporting him in getting a case manager in the community mental health system, connecting him to an after school tutoring program, and continuously answering his calls and processing through his feelings. She coordinated quarterly meetings with his counselor, school counselor, herself, and him to meet and discuss his needs and progress. They met quarterly for several years until he was prepared to graduate high school and age out of the foster care system, as he was never adopted. In the meetings they discussed the following: How he was feeling What is going well and not going well What his goals were and plans to achieve them How his mental health was He was always able to self-direct the meetings and be his own advocate. This example of strong cross-systems work with providers who were equally as invested in his wellbeing really made the difference for him. Every quarter, he knew he had a team of people who would show up and care for him. He knew that this team would support him, plan with him, and answer any and all questions he had that his mother was no longer around to answer for him. Why is cross-systems work essential during transition for foster children? Foster children, not unlike children still living in their biological parents homes, are complex. They have complex needs, desires, and wants. They often have been witness to adversity that is difficult to understand and contextualize. This puts them at risk for a variety of negative outcomes such as substance use, houselessness, and mental illness during foster care and after they transition out. Cross-systems collaboration supports a trauma-informed approach to care by recognizing those complexities and understanding that no goals can be supported and achieved in isolation. For example, a student with a mental illness will have a difficult time in school. Therefore, their school and counselors should work together to ensure they have the skills and resources needed to be successful. A student with a disability and a trauma history may find coping with their disability difficult because their trauma makes them feel hopeless. Therefore, their direct care provider and their mental health counselor should partner with them to develop a plan for the best way to complete daily tasks. Cross-systems work believes the following: systems are inherently connected to other systems when they work towards similar goals; systems should focus on the common interest of the youth they are supporting; and agencies must make commitments to partner for the best partnerships to occur. Because of this, any person who is going into child welfare or a system that operates in partnership with child welfare to support foster care children, should be knowledgeable about cross-systems planning and be prepared to partner with other professionals, while also allowing the child to lead the way based on their interests and goals. All foster care children in transition have the ability to, like this child, graduate and be successful after foster care. To do this, they need to know that they have people supporting them and helping them. This kind of strong support by foster families, child welfare providers, teachers, mental health professionals, and other people supporting them is what will empower them to support themselves. This is how foster care children realize they are worthy of love and belonging: by being shown that to begin with. For the vast majority of teenagers turning into adults, turning 21 represents a time of wonder and excitement. This is a time of planning for the future that includes job training, college applications and attendance, and learning practical skills. However, for the more than 400,000 children currently in foster care in the United States, this is not always a time of wonder and excitement, but rather of anxiety and the unknown. Aging out of the foster care system is not always a seamless process due to the lack of resources that are often available for transition services, however, when child welfare workers use their strong cross-systems collaboration skills, foster care children in transition are often far more prepared to enter the adult world than they would otherwise be. What is cross-systems collaboration? Cross-systems collaboration is the process to which professionals partner with other professionals and agencies for the wellbeing of the client. Because many children who enter the foster care system have experienced trauma, may have mental health disorders or behavioral concerns, and often have few skills to utilize, the child welfare workers job is to support the entire person and not just find them housing. Picture this: a 15 year old boy enters a foster care facility after his mother dies of an overdose. This is a vulnerable time for him that could result in his own substance use, lack of finishing high school, and other negative outcomes because he has no family to support him and is in the middle of terrible grief. His child welfare worker finds him foster housing that meets his needs and allows him to continue attending the same high school he was enrolled in prior to the death of his mother. This welfare worker also helps him access mental health services for processing grief, attend a driver’s education program to get his driver’s license, and apply for grants and funds for college tuition. She did this by supporting him in getting a case manager in the community mental health system, connecting him to an after school tutoring program, and continuously answering his calls and processing through his feelings. She coordinated quarterly meetings with his counselor, school counselor, herself, and him to meet and discuss his needs and progress. They met quarterly for several years until he was prepared to graduate high school and age out of the foster care system, as he was never adopted. In the meetings they discussed the following: How he was feeling What is going well and not going well What his goals were and plans to achieve them How his mental health was He was always able to self-direct the meetings and be his own advocate. This example of strong cross-systems work with providers who were equally as invested in his wellbeing really made the difference for him. Every quarter, he knew he had a team of people who would show up and care for him. He knew that this team would support him, plan with him, and answer any and all questions he had that his mother was no longer around to answer for him. Why is cross-systems work essential during transition for foster children? Foster children, not unlike children still living in their biological parents homes, are complex. They have complex needs, desires, and wants. They often have been witness to adversity that is difficult to understand and contextualize. This puts them at risk for a variety of negative outcomes such as substance use, houselessness, and mental illness during foster care and after they transition out. Cross-systems collaboration supports a trauma-informed approach to care by recognizing those complexities and understanding that no goals can be supported and achieved in isolation. For example, a student with a mental illness will have a difficult time in school. Therefore, their school and counselors should work together to ensure they have the skills and resources needed to be successful. A student with a disability and a trauma history may find coping with their disability difficult because their trauma makes them feel hopeless. Therefore, their direct care provider and their mental health counselor should partner with them to develop a plan for the best way to complete daily tasks. Cross-systems work believes the following: systems are inherently connected to other systems when they work towards similar goals; systems should focus on the common interest of the youth they are supporting; and agencies must make commitments to partner for the best partnerships to occur. Because of this, any person who is going into child welfare or a system that operates in partnership with child welfare to support foster care children, should be knowledgeable about cross-systems planning and be prepared to partner with other professionals, while also allowing the child to lead the way based on their interests and goals. All foster care children in transition have the ability to, like this child, graduate and be successful after foster care. To do this, they need to know that they have people supporting them and helping them. This kind of strong support by foster families, child welfare providers, teachers, mental health professionals, and other people supporting them is what will empower them to support themselves. This is how foster care children realize they are worthy of love and belonging: by being shown that to begin with.