WRMA staff worked with the State of Illinois in the development of their first child welfare system, the Children and Youth Client Information System (CYCIS). The collaboration continued when Illinois participated in the national SACWIS Prototype model project and when Illinois contracted with American Management Systems (AMS) and WRMA as a subcontractor to develop a web-based Statewide Automated Child Welfare Information System (SACWIS). The design and implementation occured in two phases, Intake and Investigation and Follow-up Case Management. WRMA was involved in every aspect of this project from project management, design, and systems development to implementation and post-implementation support.
During Phase I, WRMA staff provided significant design expertise, including:
- Support in the restructuring of the functional organizational hierarchy
- Support for the finalization of the Best Practices model
- Ensuring modules included federal reporting requirements
- Development and production of design documentation for the Intake function
- System development within a web-based environment
- Participation in unit, system and user testing
- Development of user manuals and documentation
- Providing on-site support during system roll-out
- Support of system enhancements, change requests and fixes
During Phase II, WRMA continued to provide professional expertise on several levels: Managing the design of the system modules, ensuring modules included federal reporting requirements, finalization of the requirements documentation, and ongoing system development.
The Illinois SACWIS project supports over 10,000 users including members of Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) staff, caseworker and administrators, as well as the Purchase of Services agencies performing case management services under contract with DCFS.
WRMA also assisted DCFS in conducting a review of the child welfare literature and researching the child welfare field of practice. This review identified state-of-the-art programs and models in the following areas of practice: assessment and service planning, intake and investigation, intact/family preservation, permanency services, and adolescent preparation for adult self-sufficiency.
As part of this Best Practices Integration Project, WRMA produced a series of documents describing model services, which later became the new policy and practice standards for DCFS. These changes were then implemented in the Illinois SACWIS case management system.
