The Process of Planning and Specifying Tools for Intervention Planning, Output Monitoring and Outcome Evaluation in the Computerized Client File (CCF) System for Children and Youth at Risk in Residential Care Facilities

Background and Objective

In recent years, Israel’s Ministry of Welfare and Social Affairs (hereafter, Ministry of Welfare) has developed and implemented several important computerized information management systems. These include tools for managing information about clients and the interventions they receive, as well as tools for structuring interventions and monitoring their outcomes on a continuous basis.

The Myers-JDC-Brookdale Outcomes Team has been commissioned by the Out-of-Home Care, Family, Children, Youth and Special Placement Division of the Ministry of Welfare to help develop tools for the residential care facilities under its supervision: tools for assessing the child’s situation, formulating individual programs, monitoring interventions, and measuring the degree to which the desirable outcomes have been achieved – all within the ministry’s computerized client file (CCF) system. The team has also been commissioned to help structure outputs and dedicated reports within the CCF system, to be used in the ongoing operations of all employees and managers in residential care facilities, their supervisors, and ministry staff. This presentation presents the process of planning and specifying the tools within the CCF system.

Project Stages

• Formulating a logic model for the residential care facilities at the client level
• Writing a questionnaire for assessment of the child’s situation and for planning the intervention (T₀)
• Writing a questionnaire for monitoring outputs and measuring outcomes (T₁)
• Specifying the questionnaires in the system
• Pilot: completing the questionnaires regarding real cases, analyzing the data, receiving feedback, correcting and updating the questionnaires
• Incorporating system use into organizational routines

 System Structure

• Assessing the child’s situation: Demographic characteristics of the child and their family; individual strengths and resources; needs in the seven life domains
• Goal setting: Extracting information on those needs of the child (difficulties, concerns, and problems); selecting needs for particular focus over the coming year; determining desirable outcomes and their achievement indicators
• Formulating an individualized program: Matching interventions for each desirable outcome; for each intervention, naming the person who would conduct or be responsible for conducting it, its frequency or duration, location, practical emphases, as well as reasons for selecting the interventions out of a closed list; including the child and their family in the process of formulating the individualized program and obtaining their commitment to carrying it through
• Annual evaluation: Evaluating the attainment of the predetermined outputs and desirable outcomes
• Producing outputs and reports (including situation snapshots and year-on-year comparisons) adjusted for facility employees, directors, and supervisors, and for Ministry of Welfare staff