Handel’s Vice President was selected to speak at this year’s National Tribal Child Support Association (NTCSA) Conference and presented to conference attendees on integrating data for tribal social service departments.

The presentation focused on exploring the best practices and principles a tribal organization should evaluate when considering implementing an integrated, centralized database system.

Vice president Casey Bader has presented at numerous conferences including the:

• 2013, 2014, and 2015 National Indian Child Welfare Association (NICWA) National American Indian Conferences on Child Abuse and Neglect
• 2012 and 2013 United South and Eastern Tribes (USET) Annual Meetings
• 2012 and 2013 TribalNet Conferences

Bader is available to present at conferences on a wide array of technology and tribal topics including enterprise-wide software implementations; system-of-care, case management models; and integrating data from multiple departments onto a centralized database; among other topics.

This most recent workshop addressed the issues of “data silos” that are created from developed separate databases to track client and benefit information for a wide variety of programs such as ICW/CPS, TANF Services, Enrollment, Financial Assistance, and Treatment Services. Data silos are often created in part because of data security concerns and also because service applications have been developed under the supervision of different departments and administrators. In many Tribes this has resulted in disassociated applications that do not share data.

The implications of data silos are many: data in any given department may be erroneous and/or out of date; necessary and relevant updates to data (e.g., contact information, household changes, employment changes, etc.) are not shared across departments; reports are difficult and time-consuming to produce; supporting data for grant applications can be difficult to develop and show justification for; information for Tribal Council needs may be incomplete or erroneous; evaluation of long-term program efficacy cannot be reliably evaluated; members may be unaware of other available services that could benefit them; and evidence of the depth and breadth to which the Tribe is serving its members is unavailable.

Enrollment services can be considered the gateway to access of services for members, and it is the department in which base-level demographic data is collected and verified. Much of this same enrollment data is collected by other service departments for verification of benefits as well. An integrated solution provides the ability to have member data collected and verified in one place, shared with other departments (defined by security parameters) and updated by other departments that have security access to the shared data points.

Indian Child Welfare and Support services and programs may be especially impacted by the lack of integration of Tribal data. Causing it to be difficult to identify children in need of services or families in need of assistance; to identify potential foster families; protective services may lag; proactive preventive programs may be difficult to implement for children or families; court orders or other court documents may not be served in a timely manner; cases may not be adequately documented or updated; or relevant documents may not be associated with a case.