In October 2011, I received the NASCIO Annual State Technology Innovator Award. While this is an individual award, I accepted it for all the State of Louisiana, and the employees at the Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) for the dedication, commitment and perseverance that it has taken to get to this point with our modernization efforts.
We have come a long way in three short years. Back then our agency served our clients in an outdated fashion: 1) paper-based application processes; 2) in-person visits to offices where before dawn those lines would stretch around the block; 3) outdated phone systems and technology tools that left clients frustrated and employees unable to access information in a timely fashion; 4) delayed and incorrect payments due to manual processing of payment information; and, 5) manual, local reporting processes to track child abuse and neglect cases.
We knew we had to change. So what did we do?
We made organizational changes – both to our name, from the Department of Social Services to the Department of Children and Family Services, and structure, realigning the department into one agency, instead of a silo structure. We eliminated middle supervisor positions, and gave front line staff a more direct line to communicate with upper management.
We made changes to reduce our overall physical footprint from 157 offices to around 80 offices today. By leveraging our non-profit community partners that frequently come into contact with DCFS clients as a part of its mission, along with our online application for services launched early this year, we have actually increased access to services in many communities around the state.
We delivered key programs more innovatively by:
- Moving to electronic tracking of time and attendance used to manage the Child Care Assistance Program. Since implementation, DCFS has saved an average of $2.2 million a month which translates to $26.4 million annually.
- Establishing a single call center – 888-LA-HELPU - which allows clients to call one number and receive information on their accounts. Since its launch, we have received more than 2.6 million calls to our call center, with 12 percent (or roughly 304,000) of those being transferred to a customer service representative, with the rest handled through an effective automated voice response system.
- Launching our Centralized Intake for Child Protection Investigations. This allows reporters to call one number 24/7, and speak to a trained child welfare worker to report possible abuse and neglect. Since launch, more than 27,000 calls came into the hotline with an answer time of just 35 seconds.
- Envisioning the biggest change to date – a project named C.A.F.E. In 2012, we will launch statewide the Common Access Front End as a front-end interface to simplify access to legacy computer systems and make data consistent for clients and staff.
- Modernizing document management processes with a new imaging and content management system that complements C.A.F.E. for use by staff to capture, index, and store documents. These images and indexes are hosted by service provider, reducing storage and IT maintenance costs.
The reductions we have made to date have been without affecting client services – and we have worked hard and strategically to accomplish that while reducing our budget by $202.1 million. All this while major natural disasters unfolded, and the national economic crisis continued to drive a record number of people applying for DCFS services, e.g., a 42 percent increase in the number of people receiving SNAP benefits over the past few years.
The issues we had with outmoded business process and aging infrastructure are ones that are being felt across the country in the social services field. The road has not been easy, but the results are very rewarding for our clients and staff.
Ruth Johnson serves as Secretary of the Louisiana Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS). In this role, Johnson has led DCFS’ reorganization and modernization efforts designed to streamline the agency, decrease DCFS’ overall footprint and implement new technology and systems to provide DCFS clients with more efficient and effective services.