The
state budget provided the Department of Children and Families (DCF) more than $50 million of special funding aimed at overhauling two critical components of its social services infrastructure: the Florida Safe Families Network (FSFN) and the Automated Community Connection to Economic Self Sufficiency (ACCESS) system.
According to DCF’s
legislative budget request, the Florida Safe Families Network (FSFN) is an enterprise application that supports Florida’s child welfare system. FSFN currently supports the previous federal Statewide Automated Child Welfare Information System (SACWIS) requirements, however, it does not support the current federal Comprehensive Child Welfare Information System (CCWIS) requirements.
Some of the key project objectives and solutions identified
by DCF leadership and key project stakeholders are listed below:
- Comply fully with CCWIS requirements
- Maximize federal funding participation
- Enhance user support/experience
- Enable mobile functionality
- Enhance workflow/workforce management
The projects are broken down into phases.
According to the 2024-2025 Fiscal Year legislative request, the FSFN is in phase two in Fiscal Year 2023-2024. The scope is the replacement of case management modules expected to include licensure and placement functionality. The functional scope for phase three will be determined in the planning phase.
DCF’s 2023-24 legislative requestanticipates the system integrator vendor will be renewed while the independent verification and validation (IV&V), business advisory and document management procurements will be re-procured.
Stay tuned Wednesday for an Industry Insider — Florida
exclusive story covering insights from Cole Sousa, CIO of the Department of Children and Families, about the department's IT priorities.
Cristina Carter is a Tallahassee-based staff writer. She has a bachelor's degree in English literature and a master's degree in international affairs, both from Florida State University.
