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The report was published on the Texas 2036 website in partnership with the Texas Alliance of Child and Family Services (TACFS).
The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) IMPACT system was established in 1996. According to the DFPS website, the Information Management Protecting Adults and Children in Texas system is used to “document all stages of service of a case," including reports of abuse, neglect or exploitation and investigations.
“It was a SACWIS system, which is a Statewide Automated Child Welfare Information System,” Hope Osborn of Texas 2036 told Industry Insider — Texas last fall. “That’s what the standard was in the ’90s. So, recently, in the last decade, there’s been a new standard … a CCWIS, which is a Comprehensive Child Welfare Information System. This is the new federal standard.”
A judge overseeing a lawsuit involving DFPS has stated that the system impedes “caseworkers’ ability to review” case files and lacks functionality in uploading vital, medical and other records.
The nonprofit esimates it could take $85 million to stand up a new system, including third-party strategic planning, but the project could benefit from various funding streams.
“There are multiple opportunities this session — between federal funds, excess general revenue and the newly created Technology Improvement and Modernization Fund (TIM) — to address this issue, more so than any session in recent history,” said Texas 2036 Executive Vice President A.J. Rodriguez in a news release.
According to the report:
- The DFPS Legislative Appropriations Request (LAR) exceptional items include IMPACT needs.
- Since 2015, IMPACT has cost $80 million in maintenance.
- The federal government could match up to 50 percent of state funds if it meets CCWIS requirements.
Benefits of modernization include:
- Improving efficiency and collaboration across entities, including courts, Medicaid, educational institutions and other stakeholders
- A modular structure to ensure system maintenance and upgrades are not cost-prohibitive or disabling
DFPS’ exceptional funding request includes multiple items. Regarding IT, the request listed under “Increase Funding for Agency Information Technology Systems” is $68 million, as referenced in the Texas 2036 report.
These items include:
- System upgrades and replacements
- System interoperability
- Strengthening data and system support to meet federal requirements
- A help desk to assist some 60,000 external users
- Implementing digital signatures and related processes
- Expanding data center projects begun in 2021
- Enhancing cybersecurity
- IT project support for liaisons advising on large IT and data projects