Of the 25 states that have implemented statewide child welfare systems, Rhode Island is among the first to announce its compliance with federal requirements, joining Arizona, Oklahoma and West Virginia.
The RICHIST, which went into production in 1997, contains case, staff, financial and provider-management information as well as policy and procedure functions.
A Child Abuse Hotline worker can use the RICHIST to quickly determine the service status of a child who is the subject of an incoming report. Any information about the childs case is instantly viewable to the worker, who can then make the best possible decisions about level of risk and what services are needed.
Getting to this stage has taken a lot of effort from agency staff and the vendors the agency worked with, including American Management Systems to build the system and Network Six for consulting purposes, said Jay Lindgren, director of the Department of Children, Youth and Families (DCYF), noting that the results have been well worth it.
"We are storing and retrieving more accurate and timely information," he said in a statement. "The result is better informed case decisions and improved ability to measure outcomes for the children in our care."
State officials said that the RICHIST has already improved several programs and significantly reduced costs for the DCYF. The systems case-management tool integrates multiple child welfare programs into a single, comprehensive computer system that enhances communication among several departments and more than 750 users.
The RICHIST is also making a name for itself by providing aggregate case and performance data for policy and resource-allocation decisions and trend and cross-state outcome analysis.
The system has been providing the Governors System of Care Task Force with a wide range of information regarding children in DCYFs care and the providers that provide services to the children and their families. Officials note that this level of detail would not have been possible prior to using the RICHIST.
According to the DCYF, features of the RICHIST include:
- Electronic access to comprehensive and up-to-date information for caseworkers, any time of the day;
- Automatic tracking of review dates, court dates and legislatively mandated timeframes;
- Improved electronic-data management;
- Online decision-support tools, such as risk and needs assessment and eligibility determination; and
- Fiscal improvements, such as lowered error rates and improved management of payments.
DCYF officials also said that a survey earlier this year found that almost 90 percent of caseworkers reported that the RICHIST has provided them with greater access to data, and has made it easier to complete routine paperwork.
In 1993, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families instituted the SACWIS program to ensure that caseworkers have the data and tools needed to provide comprehensive support to families in need. SACWIS requires states to report complete and accurate data, with the possibility of penalties being imposed if certain standards are not met.
In June 2001, the DCYF submitted data files produced by the RICHIST to the Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System and, for the first time, fully met federal requirements, thereby saving the state $100,000 per year in penalties.
