Improving Child Welfare: Initial Assessment Improvement ProjectHands and heart icon 

The Initial Assessment Improvement Project (IAIP) is part of the Division of Safety and Permanence’s Improving Child Welfare package. The package is a collection of efforts aimed at better supporting families and the child welfare workforce by streamlining the work and centering family engagement. The Improving Child Welfare package also includes work on Safety Revisions, Quality Case Planning and the Independent Living Project. Improvements in these areas in the coming year will streamline the work and reduce redundancies so child welfare professionals can better engage with families – and focus more on social work and less on paperwork. More information about the Improving Child Welfare efforts is available in this article.

The IAIP has two primary goals: 

  1. Streamlining the Initial Assessment (IA) process and documentation; 
  2. and centering families and family voice in the IA process. 

When the IAIP rolls out, Child Protective Services (CPS) professionals responsible for IA will find one new-and-improved template in eWiSACWIS that can be used for all Initial Assessments. This new template will feature: 

  • Detail flairs that provide clear guidance and help.
  • A restructured layout that improves workflow, removes redundancies, and streamlines the IA from two sets of tabs to one.
  • Information from the CPS Report that auto-fills into the IA in an editable field.
  • A new Safety Tab that prefills from the Safety Assessment, replacing the danger threat radio buttons that appear on different tabs of the IA.
  • Merged narrative boxes that reduce duplication and confusion among:
  • Adult Functioning, Parenting Practices, and Discipline.
  • Maltreatment and Surrounding Circumstances.
  • A new narrative box to record efforts with non-household parents.
  • When one or more children being assessed has been identified as an Indian child:
  • A new, dynamic Indian Child Welfare Act tab to document efforts to confirm a child’s tribal membership status, collaboration with the tribe(s), and efforts made to prevent the break-up of the Indian family.
  • Reminders to be in contact and collaborate with tribes throughout the IA process.

 

Changes to the Access and IA Standards will cover:

  • Centering family voice, strengthening family engagement and partnership, and connecting families to concrete supports and services early in their interactions with CPS.
  • Formalizing the practice of giving families information about the CPS process to provide greater clarity about what they can expect during the Initial Assessment period.
  • Clarifying expectations around the order of interview contacts.
  •  Updating guidance on what information to gather and document in the Initial Assessment.

 

Ahead of implementation, the following changes will come with new and updated training and other supportive resources for the workforce:

  • Online training and a webinar recording detailing the above changes to eWiSACWIS and practice standards.
  • Guide for navigating updates to practice standards and documentation expectations.
  • eWiSACWIS User Guide updates.

There will also be refreshes, where applicable to Preservice, WiLearn and Foundation courses.

Rollout and implementation dates for the IAIP will be discussed and determined with partners. Updates will be shared out through the Putting Families First Newsletter and other communication efforts and channels.