CWS-CARES Public Library
Case Management Service Area: Highlights for CARES V1
Case Management involves processes to identify, provide, monitor, and evaluate the services and decisions necessary to reduce the risk of harm to the child. Activities include everything from the opening of the case, whether court-monitored or voluntary, through the closure and some aftercare services.
Case Management: Engagement
Case Management - Engagement equips social workers to create, assign, and transfer a case from an investigation as well as from non-investigative entry points. This milestone also expands on the creation and updating of the Person Profile, delivering additional elements related to Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA), education, health, behavioral and mental health, and Regional Center data. The broader scope of information captured allows for a more robust Health and Education Passport (HEP).
Prevention Services
Prevention Services equips social workers to search a Service Provider Directory, based upon the identified needs/strengths of the child or family. The social worker will then match the child/family with services or providers.
Case Plan
Case Plan establishes Case Plan, the foundation and central unifying tool in child welfare services. The milestone equips the worker to partner with the child, family, and care team to develop, monitor, and provide services and case management to assure the child’s best interest is met through the provision of a safe environment.
Case Management: Engagement and Services
Case Management - Engagement and Services provides a range of capabilities to support and improve engagement with families in the context of an open case. Such capabilities include preparing for, conducting and documenting family visitations and convening the Child and Family Team (CFT). This milestone equips workers to clearly capture the assessment of a child’s visitation needs. It also captures visitor statistics to measure attendance, visitation quality, and new skills learned.
Placement
Placement delivers the functionality to equip workers to find a high-quality placement for a child in a timely manner. The worker can add any potential placement option to a shortlist for the child, allowing for the worker to view all placement options and their status (e.g., placement provider accepted the child) on a single screen.
Adoptions
Adoption improves monitoring of the adoption processes and activities, including document preparation and tracking for adoption finalization. Increases compliance with State rule for Termination of Parental Rights (TPR) and other adoption-related requirements. Increases visibility in the adoption process, including adoption stability, re-entry following adoption, and post-adoption services support.
Case Closure
Case Closure provides social workers with the ability to assess cases for closure, finalize and close a case, and support any other areas of practice related to the ending of a child welfare case. This ultimately equips the social worker with the best practices for family engagement in transition and aftercare planning, with the goal of helping families prepare for their exit from Child Welfare and reduce the likelihood they will need services in the future.
Aftercare & Re-entry
Aftercare & Re-entry equips the worker with a platform for intentional planning for aftercare services as a family, child, or youth approaches case closure. The structured format for capturing this planning process (i.e., CFT, case plan, family preservation, etc.) assures that those exiting child welfare case management services are doing so with services, people, and resources in place to provide ongoing support.
Originally published in the CWS-CARES Explorer.
Milestones Related to Case Management
CWS-CARES is organized by milestones, which break down the product functionality into manageable units. Some of the milestones that closely relate to Case Management are detailed below.Case Management: Engagement
Case Management - Engagement equips social workers to create, assign, and transfer a case from an investigation as well as from non-investigative entry points. This milestone also expands on the creation and updating of the Person Profile, delivering additional elements related to Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA), education, health, behavioral and mental health, and Regional Center data. The broader scope of information captured allows for a more robust Health and Education Passport (HEP).
Prevention Services
Prevention Services equips social workers to search a Service Provider Directory, based upon the identified needs/strengths of the child or family. The social worker will then match the child/family with services or providers.
Case Plan
Case Plan establishes Case Plan, the foundation and central unifying tool in child welfare services. The milestone equips the worker to partner with the child, family, and care team to develop, monitor, and provide services and case management to assure the child’s best interest is met through the provision of a safe environment.
Case Management: Engagement and Services
Case Management - Engagement and Services provides a range of capabilities to support and improve engagement with families in the context of an open case. Such capabilities include preparing for, conducting and documenting family visitations and convening the Child and Family Team (CFT). This milestone equips workers to clearly capture the assessment of a child’s visitation needs. It also captures visitor statistics to measure attendance, visitation quality, and new skills learned.
Placement
Placement delivers the functionality to equip workers to find a high-quality placement for a child in a timely manner. The worker can add any potential placement option to a shortlist for the child, allowing for the worker to view all placement options and their status (e.g., placement provider accepted the child) on a single screen.
Adoptions
Adoption improves monitoring of the adoption processes and activities, including document preparation and tracking for adoption finalization. Increases compliance with State rule for Termination of Parental Rights (TPR) and other adoption-related requirements. Increases visibility in the adoption process, including adoption stability, re-entry following adoption, and post-adoption services support.
Case Closure
Case Closure provides social workers with the ability to assess cases for closure, finalize and close a case, and support any other areas of practice related to the ending of a child welfare case. This ultimately equips the social worker with the best practices for family engagement in transition and aftercare planning, with the goal of helping families prepare for their exit from Child Welfare and reduce the likelihood they will need services in the future.
Aftercare & Re-entry
Aftercare & Re-entry equips the worker with a platform for intentional planning for aftercare services as a family, child, or youth approaches case closure. The structured format for capturing this planning process (i.e., CFT, case plan, family preservation, etc.) assures that those exiting child welfare case management services are doing so with services, people, and resources in place to provide ongoing support.
Originally published in the CWS-CARES Explorer.