How are caseworkers and social workers experiencing and working to better understand racial bias and disparities in child welfare? What are families and recipients of services saying? How can we all support critical services such as child protection while sharing in the effort to shape healthier communities? Now is the time to seek a deeper knowledge of what is and has been happening and why. We’ve been compiling research and resources to gain a shared understanding to work from.
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Our blog isn’t about us. It’s about you. We discuss business challenges and real issues human service agencies and caseworkers face everyday. You’ll find traditional human services software articles about things like document management for human services and social work technology. But you’ll also find inspirational stories to boost caseworkers’ spirits and tools to help agencies find and gain support for technology in human services.
Understanding and Addressing Racial Bias and Equity in Child Welfare [Resources]
How to Buy Human Services Technology (Even During a Crisis)
Buying technology for human services can be hard, especially for agencies that have never done so before. (Of course, working through this process amid a global pandemic and economic instability adds a new layer of complication!)
Read MorePrioritizing Technology in Human Services and Preparing for What May Be Next [Lessons from COVID-19]
The COVID-19 pandemic has been a wake-up call for human services in many ways.
Initially, it forced agency leaders to rethink how and where mission-critical work could be done, as well as which tools and technology were truly essential to support this new way of operating. Now, the focus has shifted toward determining the best way to allocate shrinking budgets and limited resources to sustain these changes and navigate the new landscape for the long term.
Read MoreStreamline and Simplify How Child Support Caseworkers Do Their Job
“It's just so much paperwork. It's hard on me because you know that the families aren't getting the money they need for that month.” – Tammy Baldwin, Child Support Agent II, Lenoir County (North Carolina) Department of Social Services
If you’re a child support caseworker, you may feel overwhelmed. Creating court orders and motions is a tedious, paper-heavy, and time-consuming process, not to mention obtaining complete information regarding non-custodial parents.
Additionally, most child support caseworkers lose valuable time every day to the antiquated documentation systems and manual processes they use to collect, retrieve, and share information. This makes it impossible to be truly efficient and provide complete client service, which can delay families from accessing resources and children from receiving the support they need for their well-being.
Read MoreInspiring Foster Care Success Stories
We’d like to take a moment to thank all the social workers who work tirelessly for children in foster care. Your days are long and too often touched by heartbreak. But because of your dedication and concern, you help create joy and hope for the families you serve.
In honor of National Foster Care Month, here are some amazing foster care success stories. We hope you find them to be an inspirational and heartwarming reminder of why you work so hard for your children and families.
Apps for the Mobile Social Worker
Over the past seven years, this blog post has become a go-to resource for social workers looking for tools and apps to both assist with their work and manage their everyday lives. As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to evolve here in the U.S. and around the world, we wanted to expand our current list with some additional apps that can help you work from home, save time, and deal with stress.
Read MoreNavigate the New Normal: Q&A with Child Welfare Evangelist Rich Bowlen
It’s no secret the COVID-19 pandemic will impact child welfare for years to come. We asked our child welfare evangelist, Rich Bowlen, to share his insight on how agencies are adapting, what this means for child welfare in the future, and how to weather the long-term aftereffects of the storm.
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Software to Support Remote Work: 5 Ways Traverse Helps Child Welfare
Technology can never replace human interaction in child welfare. And it shouldn’t. Connecting with children and families is fundamental to improving outcomes and well-being.
The current COVID-19 pandemic has caused many child welfare agencies to quickly pivot to support a remote workforce, and enable people to connect and share important information in new and different ways. Some child welfare experts predict connecting remotely will become part of the new normal for child welfare through things like video chats, collaboration apps, or instant messaging tools.
Traverse, Northwoods’ child welfare software, is empowering remote work across the country today, while supporting caseworkers’ efforts to provide critical service delivery, in a variety of ways. Here are five best practices from agencies using Traverse.
Read MoreReimagining Service Delivery in a Remote World (Q&A with Greg Tipping)
The COVID-19 pandemic is placing immediate and direct burden on economic assistance agencies tasked with handling an unprecedented uptick in applications for benefits.
We asked economic assistance evangelist, Greg Tipping, to share his insight on how agencies are adapting to remote work, how the pandemic is forcing leaders to reimagine the system, and the role modern technology will play in helping caseworkers manage the mountain of work headed their way.
Traverse Quick Tips for Remote Workers
To our Traverse® customers,
As essential services personnel, having the right tools in your toolbox is important as you need to access information quickly, wherever you might be.
To support you in your continuing efforts to keep children, families, and yourselves safe during this time, here are seven tips for making the most of Traverse.
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