Trenton, NJ -The New Jersey Department of Human Services (DHS) announced today the request for proposal (RFP) for the Statewide Automated Child Welfare Information System (SACWIS) has been publicly released.

“When I returned to state government, I was shocked to learn we were still using the same computer system that I used as a district office manager 20 years ago in Newark,” said DHS Commissioner Gwendolyn L. Harris. “SACWIS is long overdue and an important part of our transformation plan for child welfare.”

SACWIS will promote staff productivity by allowing workers to spend more time in the field by reducing manual paperwork and repetitive data entry. The system will incorporate specific prompts/alerts for caseworkers to do such things as visit families or conference a case with supervisors within designated timeframes.

New Jersey is one of only six states yet to implement the federally mandated SACWIS. The Division of Youth and Family Services (DYFS) relies upon a combination of six mainframe, 17 PC based and five Oracle-based systems to perform its most critical management tasks. These systems are incapable of producing necessary prompts/alerts of casework activities and fail to provide supervisors with the necessary management tools to track case practice issues.

“The division is currently in the process of implementing some interim applications for staff prior to SACWIS,” said Harris. “These programs have the same look and feel of SACWIS so our staff can start becoming familiar with it now.”

As part of the transformation of DYFS, 2600 new computers have been supplied as part of the SACWIS development. Using the latest web-based technology, SACWIS will produce an integrated system that will:
• Support the case practice reforms being undertaken by DYFS to assure that children reside in safe, permanent settings
• Support quality assurance, outcome monitoring and evaluation through improved tracking and control of cases, including required reviews and assessments to ensure that all cases are properly accounted for and served as promptly and effectively as possible
• Produce and expand DYFS’ standardized management reports automatically to facilitate timely policy decision-making, program evaluation, quality assurance, accounting, research and other administrative functions
• Facilitate compliance with Federal regulations such as the Adoption and Safe Families Act (ASFA) and the Child and Family Service Review (CFSR)
• Provide appropriate interfaces with other information systems to coordinate information and communication with the courts, Work First New Jersey (TANF), Medicaid, and child support enforcement
• Maintain and increase federal reimbursement by providing more accurate case and related fiscal data
• Enhance the capacity of DYFS to allocate and monitor the expenditure of funds for third party contracted social services from private providers to support its child protection/child welfare efforts.

A mandatory bidder’s conference will be held on Wednesday, August 6th. Additional information on the SACWIS RFP may be found at the Department of Treasury’s web site at http://www.state.nj.us/treasury/purchase/bid/summary/04x36192.shtml. A vendor will be selected by early fall with implementation to begin shortly thereafter. SACWIS will be implemented over a series of stages with full implementation expected by 2005.

Over the past several months, the following key steps have been taken to transform DYFS:
• Introduction of an 18-member Cabinet for Children consisting of state officials and child advocates to coordinate communication and resources among departments
• Creation of an independent Child Advocate to monitor child services and call for corrective action
• $30 million in new state added to increase staff and resources
• The movement of the Institutional Abuse Investigation Unit (IAIU) out of DYFS into the DHS Office of Program Integrity and Accountability
• Revitalization of DYFS’ long-dormant quality assurance unit
• Creation of a unit in the Office of the Attorney General to focus on DYFS’ adoptions so children can move more quickly into permanent homes
• The initiation of legislation requiring criminal history background checks on residential staff supervising children in DYFS custody
• Meetings between Commissioner Harris and Health and Senior Services Commissioner Clifton R. Lacy, M.D. to prioritize drug treatment services for DYFS families.
• The appointment of Edward Cotton as new DYFS director effective Monday, July 21st. He is the former head of Nevada’s child welfare system and also spent several years as the deputy director of the Division of Child Protection, Illinois Department of Children and Family Services
• The roll-out of a statewide community program called “Save the Children” to develop community partnerships between government and local service providers to identify child welfare issues facing local communities, discusses service models and develops new strategies for improving outcomes for children and families.

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