New Technology and
Child Welfare
George Gabel and Kathryn Kulbicki
Technology Acceptance Model (TAM)
• Identifies two primary components that predict
worker acceptance of new technologies
– Perceived usefulness
– Perceived usability
The Technology Acceptance Model.
(Hubona, & Geitz, 1999).
Perceived Usefulness
• Should
– Help workers
accomplish their jobs
– Bring about new
capabilities
– Meaningfully increase
productivity
• Should not
– Disrupt current
workflows
– Introduce new delays
Perceived Usability
• Degree to which the technology allows workers
to accomplish their work:
– Faster
– More accurately
– With greater satisfaction
Tablets
Delaware - iPads
• Delaware Division of Family Services issued
iPads to all frontline staff
– Foster home coordinators
• Visited foster family monthly
– Investigators
• Looking into abuse allegations
–
Permanency workers
• Everyone except clerical and support staff
For more information:
Linda M. Shannon, MSW
Division of Family Services
Linda.Shannon@state.de.us
Delaware – iPad Functionality
• Access email
• Download data from SACWIS
• Enter data into SACWIS
SACWIS contains:
– All prior notes
– All data, such as people associated with family
For more information:
Linda M. Shannon, MSW
Division of Family Services
Linda.Shannon@state.de.us
Delaware - Benefits of iPads
• Frontline staff
– Enter notes
– Use portable
Bluetooth printer/
scanner
– Upload documents
like rent receipts
– Print out plan, e.g.
removal of child
– Get family signature
• Investigators
– Take pictures of
injuries
– Work with office to
decide whether to
bring child to ER
For more information:
Linda M. Shannon, MSW
Division of Family Services
Linda.Shannon@state.de.us
Delaware – iPad Security
• Data encrypted on tablet
• Password
• iPad location ascertained via GPS when missing
For more information:
Linda M. Shannon, MSW
Division of Family Services
Linda.Shannon@state.de.us
Delaware - TAM
• iPad use began summer 2013
– First tested 3 different tablets
– Funded through federal technology grant & the state
budget
• Some staff feel that iPad disrupts staff/family
interaction
– Interfere with conversation, eye contact
– These workers take notes on paper
– Enter into SACWIS electronically later
For more information:
Linda M. Shannon, MSW
Division of Family Services
Linda.Shannon@state.de.us
Delaware - TAM
• iPads are well accepted by staff
– Trained by internal Center for Professional
Development
– Support team developed, composed of most
knowledgeable staff
– 1-day training
– Two older workers were initially skeptical
•
Later won over
For more information:
Linda M. Shannon, MSW
Division of Family Services
Linda.Shannon@state.de.us
Kentucky –iPads telemedicine
• A USDA-funded project
• Provides support to children and teens in foster
care in a rural, underserved region
• For a child who has experienced abuse or neglect,
an iPad means a direct link to a highly-trained,
caring therapist who stands ready to listen and
help
http://www.kvc.org/
http://www.kvc.org/sites/default/files/USDA%20Funds%20Innovative%20K
VC%20Project%20Using%20iPads%20Feb%202014.pdf
GPS & Wi-Fi
Oregon - GPS & Wi-Fi
• Additional Technologies that Oregon provides to
their workers:
GPS
Wi-Fi
– Saves time
– Helps plan your day
– Keeps workers safe
- Access files on the go
- Availability of data
For more information:
Susan Lopez
Operation and Policy Analyst CIRT
& Sensitive Issue Coordinator
The State of Oregon DHS Office
of Child Welfare Program
susan.a.lopez@state.or.us
Speech to Text
http://yamthapa.blogspot.com/
Speech to Text
• Oregon and Delaware are both using software
which records
• Designed for workers who don’t like to type
• Software use seems to be a personal preference
either loved or hated
– Delaware is using Dragon Speak
– Oregon is using Speak Write
Social Media
Arizona - Twitter
•
•
•
•
Use Twitter to help prevent child abuse
The tips will appear on Twitter @pcaaz
A tip a day for how to prevent child abuse
The focus was on positives
– "Strong communities grow resilient children."
– "Building language and literacy skills early on helps
children. Read to children every day."
www.facebook.com/PreventChildAbuseArizona
http://www.dcourier.com/main.asp?SectionID=1&SubSectionID=1&ArticleID=129900
Oregon - Facebook
Social Networking
• Foster parents should not be against social
networking
– It is impossible to keep kids away from social
networking
• Social networking can promote reunification
• Foster children can encounter a unique problem
online
– Unauthorized contact with their birth families
• Social networking web sites provide birth families
with powerful ways to find foster children, even
when contact is forbidden
Video Conferencing
Skype
• Set up Skype dates between siblings separated
into different foster or adoptive homes.
• Use Skype for additional visits in-between regular
in person visitation between foster children, birth
parents, and other members of the birth family.
• Use Skype for visits between children who have
been adopted and birth parents or other
members of the family of origin within an open
adoption.
Adoption / Foster Care
Skype
• Different ideas for using Skype:
– Play charades
– Have the children play musical instruments for their
parents or vice versa
– Have the children sing songs they are learning at
school, home, or church
– Have the children read to their parents
– Ask birth parents to read the child bed time stories via
Skype
Adoption / Foster Care
Geographic Information Systems
(GIS)
http://catalog.flatworldknowledge.com/bookh
ub/reader/3798?e=campbell_1.0-ch07_s02
Arizona - GIS Maximizing
Resources
For more information:
Lucas Murray
Arizona Department of
Economic Security
LucasMurray@azdes.gov
Illinois - GIS Education Stability
SchoolMinder: School-Based Search
For more information:
Richard Foltz
Illinois Department of
Children and Family
Richard.Foltz@Illinois.gov
Text Messaging
Text Message Reminders
• Parents in a training program receive
• Participants in the Text Message group received
weekly text reminders about the day and time of
their parenting class
• Results suggest that sending text message
reminders increased program completion rates
For more information:
Kantahyanee Murray
kmurray@ssw.umaryland.edu
Text Message Reminders
• An urban, community-based child maltreatment
prevention agency collaborated with the
University of Maryland to conduct a parent
engagement study
• Aim was to examine how text messaging might
increase attendance and completion among
parent training program participants
For more information:
Kantahyanee Murray
kmurray@ssw.umaryland.edu
Technology Acceptance Model (TAM)
• What is your attitude toward the technology that
we shared?
– Perceived usefulness
– Perceived usability
The Technology Acceptance Model.
(Hubona, & Geitz, 1999).
Additional Information
• Child Welfare Gateway
– https://www.childwelfare.gov/preventing/communiti
es/media.cfm
• NRCCWDT – Research Roundups
– Using Social Media to Locate Unreachable Child
Welfare Research Participants; Web Questionnaire for
Measuring Childhood Abuse Retrospectively
http://www.nrccwdt.org/2012/10/research-roundup-3/
– Web Sites for Prospective Adoptive Parents;
Technology and the Prevention of Child Abuse
http://www.nrccwdt.org/2012/05/research-roundup-2-web-sites-forprospective-adoptive-parents-technology-and-the-prevention-of-childabuse/
Additional Information
• NRCCWDT – Research Roundups
– Telehealth; Reality TV and the Web to Promote Child
Welfare
http://www.nrccwdt.org/2011/06/research-roundup-1-telehealthreality-tv-and-the-web-to-promote-child-welfare/
– Importance of Geography to Child Welfare
http://www.nrccwdt.org/2013/09/research-roundup-8-importanceof-geography-to-child-welfare/
• NRCCWDT – Tips Tools & Trends
– Mobile Technology Innovations in Child Welfare:
Smarter than Your Average Phone
http://www.nrccwdt.org/2011/12/mobile-technology-innovations-inchild-welfare-smarter-than-your-average-phone/
Additional Information
• NRCCWDT - Tip Tools & Trends
– Geographic Information Systems (GIS) & Market
Segmentation
http://www.nrccwdt.org/news/new-tips-tools-and-trends-on-geographicinformation-systems-gis-market-segmentation/
– Geographic Information Systems
http://www.nrccwdt.org/news/new-article-tips-tools-and-trends-geographicinformation-systems/
– Digital Imaging and Adoption Photolisting
Technology (AdoptUSKids and Pennsylvania
examples)
http://www.nrccwdt.org/2011/10/digital-imaging-and-adoption-photolistingtechnology/
Additional Information
• NRCCWDT - Tip Tools & Trends
– Mobile Technology Innovations in Child Welfare
Look at Smart Phones
http://www.nrccwdt.org/news/mobile-technology-innovations-in-childwelfare-look-at-smart-phones/
• Child Welfare and Technology: A Guide for
Policymakers – Center of Advance Studies in
Child Welfare, University of Minnesota
• Case Study – Wireless Technology Keeps Foster
Children Safer – AT&T
• Child Welfare Technology Research Project Stewards of Change
Contact Info
• George Gabel
Westat
301-251-4223
GerogreGabel@westat.com
• Kathryn Kulbicki
Westat
240-453-5618
KathrynKulbicki@westat.com
• NRCCWDT
nrccwdt@cwla.org
www.nrccwdt.org
Apps
http://houstonfamilymagazine.com/2012/08/01/5-must-have-freeapps-for-back-to-school/
http://tweakyourbiz.com/technology/2013/10/01/ux-pitfalls-avoidmobile-app-design/
WV Children’s Justice
Task Force
WV HELP app
Andrea Darr
WV CJTF Program Manager
Wild Wonderful West Virginia
2012 Census
O Population
O Children
O Race
American
O 83.4%
higher
O 17.9%
O $40,400
income
1,854,304
384,041
94% white, 3.5% African
High school degree or
College degree or higher
Medium household
Contributing Factors to Child
Abuse
90% of child abuse
cases involve
substance abuse
and take up as
much as 40% of a
circuit court judges
docket.
On any given day,
licensed domestic
violence programs in
WV provide services to
nearly 500 women,
children and men.
More than one in four
WV children lives
below the federal
poverty line, the 13th
highest poverty rate in
the nation.
Sad WV Facts
O WV has the highest drug overdose mortality
rate in the US, with 28.9 per 100,000.
2013
Prescription Drug Abuse: Strategies to Stop the Epidemic
O 1 in 10 babies are born addicted Herald Dispatch, June 9,
2013
O 1/3 of homicides in WV are related to DV.
WV
Uniform Crime Report, State Police
O 33.6% of children 10-17 are obese. 2012 Kaiser Family
Foundation
Substance
Abuse
Lack of
Resources
Child
Abuse
Immaturity
Domestic
Violence
Problems in Working Cases
•Disciplines calling
for help from other
Point of Contact
agencies
•Disciplines sharing
Ongoing
information on a
Communication
case
Point of Contact
Who do I call?
What’s the
phone number?
HELP
App
Free app that has county, state and federal contact information
Phone numbers, physical addresses and fax numbers for county
Law Enforcement, CPS, Prosecutors, Sheriff’s Department,
medical facility, domestic violence program, sexual assault
program, child advocacy center and behavioral health facility
Where did we get this idea?
Jim
Holler
WV Interactive
O Making it easier for West
Virginia government to
interact with citizens and
businesses.
O We eliminate the
barriers for West
Virginia governments
to get online. Our
contract, funding
model and expertise
make providing
innovate services
painless and cost
effective.
O Making it easier for
citizens and business to
interact with West
Virginia government.
O We develop innovative
and easy to use
websites and online
services that make
finding government
information and
conducting
government business
easier and more
efficient
About NIC eGovernment
Solutions
Keeping WV HELP Up to Date
O Feed from a
Microsoft
SharePoint List
managed from our
Website
O We ask all
audiences to help
us make sure the
numbers are
correct and
appropriate
Who will use this
O Law Enforcement
O Teachers
O Child Protective
O Truancy Officers
O
O
O
O
O
Services
Prosecutors
Hospitals
Mandated reporters
Probation/Parole
Judges
O Foster Parents
O Treatment Providers
O Drug Courts
O Day Report
O Corrections
Dream big
O Additions to the app
to include state
contacts
O Ohio
O Kentucky
O Virginia
O Maryland
O Pennsylvania
Ongoing
Communication
DECSYS
O The Drug Endangered
Children Tracking System
(DECSYS) offers local law
enforcement and child
welfare agencies an
automated process for
quickly identifying
children at risk that is
predictable, reliable, and
measurable.
O A web based system Only
internet access and an
authorized
username/password is
required.
O Easy-to-use Both law
enforcement officers and
child welfare caseworkers
can learn and utilize the
system easily.
O Less than 5 minutes to
enter a case
Thank you for all you do for
the children and families.
Andrea Darr
CJTF & DEC Program Manager
WV Prosecuting Attorneys
Institute
304-558-3348
Andrea.L.Darr@wv.gov
Technology in Practice
Providing Tools and Resources to Promote
Safe Children, Strong Families
Technology in Practice
• Recently launched by
University of Alaska
Anchorage Child Welfare
Academy – provider of initial
worker training for OCS
• Resources for staff, including
all the field guides used in the
OCS practice model
• No identifiers or information
specific to families or children
OCS serves
Safe Children, Strong Families
Easy to Install
Download instructions for iTunes:
1.
Go to www.apple.com (Apply for an account
if you do not already have one.)
2.
At the top of the screen, click the “iTunes”
button. Click the ‘Download iTunes’ button
(blue).
3.
Once iTunes downloads, the ‘music’ section
will appear in the main window. At the top right
of the window, click the button ‘iTunes Store,’
and allow to load.
4.
Once the iTunes Store has loaded, in the top
middle of the window, click ‘App Store,’ and
allow to load.
5.
At the very top right corner of the window,
click inside the text box that says, “Search
Store.” Type in ‘Child Welfare Academy,’ and
press enter.
6.
The CWA app will appear. Select the app.
Beneath the app icon, click on the ‘Free’ dropdown button. The app will begin to download.
7.
Once downloaded, the app will be ready to
use.
Download instructions for Google Play:
1.
Go to https://play.google.com (Apply for
an account if you do not already have one.)
2.
Select the ‘Apps’ button from the selections
panel at the left of the window.
3.
Click the ‘Categories’ drop-down button at
the top of the window on the left; choose
‘Education.’
4.
In the ‘Search’ text box at the top of the
window, type ‘Child Welfare Academy,’ and
press enter.
5.
Click on the correct ‘Child Welfare
Academy’ app.
6.
Press ‘Install.’ The app will begin to
download.
7.
Once downloaded, the app will be ready to
use.
Safe Children, Strong Families
Challenges in Technology Integration
•Ensuring workers know the resource is available
•Encouraging a new way of doing things
•Resources to imbed technology in practice
•Ease in access in rural areas
•Ongoing updates/upgrades as practice changes
•System strain
•External mismanagement of technology
Questions
Jennifer Maier
Social Services Program Officer
Phone: 907-465-3458
Fax: 907-465-3656
Goldstein Building, Room 311
Email: jennifer.maier@alaska.gov
Address: PO Box 110630, Juneau, AK. 99811
Questions/Discussion