Policy & Practice October 2017

PRESIDENT’S MEMO continued from page 3

vision and goals have not. This is a testament to the passion and dedica- tion that all of us in H/HS bring to our jobs every day. Thank you to the executive advisory committees of ISM, AAHHSA, and all our affinity groups. It is only with and through our members and partners that APHSA can continue our work of creating a modern, responsive health and human services system that leads to stronger families and communities.

in the local community can shift the story from a perceived problem to a real crisis in the eyes of potential foster parents and help organizations recruit additional foster and adoptive homes. Data that link opioids to increases in children in care in real time—not two years ago, and not even yesterday—will help justify requests to local or state departments to fund higher placement costs for foster care, group homes, or residential care, or provide additional support to kinship and foster families. It could also help secure funding in states that declare an emergency. Supported parents. If caseworkers can quickly gain insight about past or current addiction at the beginning of an abuse or neglect investigation, parents may be able to enter rehab immediately rather than at the close of a 45-day investigation, setting them on a path to recovery much faster. If children must be removed from their homes, caseworkers have more time and infor- mation to find the right placement. Data can help organizations partner with local providers, such as hospitals and rehabilitation facilities, to imple- ment additional or creative treatment in which we all operate and appropri- ately navigate the complex systems to meet our collective vision for children and families. For public agencies, legal issues are a part of every aspect of health and human services and devising and implementing sound strat- egies is the driving principle behind AAHHSA and its conference. AAHHSA and APHSA will continue to promote the discussion and dissemination of smart, effective legal ideas that posi- tively affect the H/HS community. While the leadership of ISM, AAHHSA, and APHSA has changed over the past five decades, our shared

That means this new technology can find and “read” the vast amount of case-related text like a human would, and with specialized learning models. Unlike a human brain that can only process a limited amount of informa- tion at one time, the tech engines run continuously and instantly to pull out keywords or phrases such as “opioid, heroin, oxycodone, drug overdose, hydrocodone, or morphine” and rec- ognize them as a cohesive topic. In this case, the topic is “opioids.” From there, organizations have insight into everything related to opioids, not just in one specific case, but across the entire organization in the present and the past. They can view the percentage of cases with opioids identified as a topic over defined time periods. Organizations can also see what percentage of children, parents, or families are involved in cases with opioids as a topic. Change Service Delivery Data is power. The possibilities of having this type of real-time insight into the opioid epidemic are immense. Let’s take another look at how trend data can impact the issues previously outlined: Available resources. Sharing real statistics about the number of children in care because of the opioid epidemic probably similar to the themes being discussed at the 2017 conference— how new federal regulations affect state and local agencies, especially through programs designed to improve health (what came to be known as Medicaid was in its infancy in 1968) and support the overall welfare of children and their families. Today the H/HS system is increas- ingly complex and interconnected. It is made up of many actors at all levels of government and across the private and nonprofit sectors. To navigate this dynamic world, we rely on legal experts to help us understand the parameters OPIOIDS continued from page 16

or positive parenting skills when sober, possibly preventing future abuse and neglect. If successful in securing additional funding, organizations can better support children with complex medical issues caused by opioids. Supported caseworkers. Organizations can use the data to secure grants for training and better support frontline caseworkers who are seeing the epidemic’s impact on children, possibly reducing secondary trauma and turnover. With a holistic view of how opioid addiction affects a family, caseworkers can make more informed decisions to reduce trauma on children. Even if children cannot be reunified with their parents, under- standing the situation earlier and seeking positive placement secures permanency for children faster. Child welfare is the safety net for children caught in the opioid epidemic. If modern approaches to collecting and understanding data exist and can be optimized to strengthen that safety net, don’t we all owe it to these children to seriously consider the possibilities?

Reference Note 1. The Forrester Wave TM : Congnitive Search

options or education campaigns. Reduce trauma on children.

and Knowledge Discovery Solutions, Q2 2017 is available for purchase at https://bit.ly/2f0xk80

Caseworkers can link parents to educa- tion programs on coping with addiction

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