Innovation in Government: Department of Human Services, Child Welfare Services Branch
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GOVERNOR LINGLE PRESENTS INNOVATION AWARD
TO DHS CHILD WELFARE SERVICES BRANCH
Governor Linda Lingle presented the Department of Human Services Child Welfare Services Branch with a Governor’s Innovation Award on Aug. 25, 2008, for creating the Differential Response System. Implemented in 2005, the system has helped reduce the number of children in foster care by 43 percent, while improving the safety of at-risk children by nearly three-fold.
Governor Lingle initiated the Governor’s Innovation Award in May 2008 to acknowledge and encourage innovation across all sectors statewide. The awards, which are presented monthly, recognize deserving individuals, companies, nonprofits, organizations and government agencies that are developing innovative products, services and processes.
Innovation in Government: Department of Human Services, Child Welfare Services Branch
Demonstrating that innovation can be applied to improve all facets of our society, the Department of Human Services (DHS) Child Welfare Service Branch developed an innovative web-based system to more effectively evaluate risk factors in a child’s home.
DHS formerly used a “one-size-fits-all” approach when investigating reports of child abuse or neglect. Now DHS uses a Differential Response System that carefully weighs the safety and risk factors in a family’s home. The system was developed in conjunction with the National Resource Center for Child Protective Services in New Mexico, and with the help of information technology faculty and students at Maui Community College. Implemented in 2005, this Web-based system assists child welfare social workers in determining the least intrusive and most effective response that ensures the safety of children.
Once DHS determines a home is not safe and cannot be made safe, police are alerted to immediately remove the children and place them in protective care. If the risk to children is not high, DHS works with families to voluntarily resolve risk issues in their homes through individual and family counseling, parenting classes and other social services. This approach is in keeping with nationally accepted best practices.
This innovative system and other DHS-led strategies for strengthening at-risk families and assessing the safety of their homes have resulted in a sharp decrease in the number of children in Hawai‘i’s foster care system over the past five years. The number of children in state care is at a 15-year low. In the past five years alone, the number of children in foster care on a typical day decreased by 43 percent, from about 3,000 children in 2003 to 1,700 children today – the lowest number since 1993. Hawai‘i currently has one of the lowest rates of child re-abuse in the country. Hawai‘i’s child re-abuse rate dropped from 6 percent in 2003 to just 2.2 percent in 2007, far better than the nationally accepted standard of 6.1 percent.
DHS is also working with its community partners to use the innovative program to further enhance their work in the field and to improve all facets of child welfare in Hawai‘i.
The Governor’s Innovation Award nominees were evaluated by a 15-member selection panel comprised of industry, education and government representatives statewide. Nominations were submitted online and were judged on creativity; effectiveness in achieving a goal or purpose; transferability and adoptability by others; and significance in addressing an important local or global issue, problem or opportunity. The selection committee provided final recommended nominations to Governor Lingle for her selection.
For additional information about the Innovation Award or to submit a nomination, visit www.hawaii.gov/gov/innovation-award.
