Policy & Practice December 2017

Partners in IT Modernization

Colorado Teams with CGI To Become First State To Modernize CCWIS

By Molly O’Neill

In

2016, when the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued new rules regarding

the nation’s child welfare IT systems, Commissioner Rafael LÓpez of the Administration on Children, Youth and Families told the Chronicle of Social Change that it was time for reg- ulations to catch up with technology and innovation. “We haven’t updated those rules in about a quarter of a century…a lot has changed in technology in 25 years,” LÓpez remarked in the interview. “Tech and innovation are not the saviors of child welfare, but they are under- utilized tools to more quickly deliver information to the people who should be using data—ourselves included—to make evidence-based policy decisions. “So howwe use tech here is a struggle and it shouldn’t be,” he continued. “And the tribes, counties, and states where the work actually happens are strug- gling with this, too. The question is, how can we be a better partner to help support work on ground?”

December 2017   Policy&Practice 23