Child Welfare Data Integrations
Statewide Data, Better Together
Collaborate supports automated, two-way child welfare data sharing between state social services departments and networks of Children’s Advocacy Centers (CACs).
Automated Referrals Promote Efficiency & Best Practices Across South Carolina
In 2020, the South Carolina Network of Children’s Advocacy Centers (SCNCAC) partnered with the South Carolina Department of Social Services (DSS) to provide automated referrals from DSS to CACs throughout the state. This data integration improves the response to child abuse by:
- Saving time for child advocates,
- Improving referral accuracy between agencies, and
- Promoting best case management practices in all counties.
“Thanks to the Collaborate team, we have a very professional system that is going to be a model for all other states in the country.”
Thomas Knapp
Executive Director, South Carolina Network of Children’s Advocacy Centers
Custom Reports provide insights to evaluate the partnership between SCNCAC and DSS, including the percentage of child abuse reports meeting CAC criteria, acceptance rates and time latencies, and average time to complete a Forensic Interview.
Data Integration Helps Kentucky Combat Child Abuse
In 2022, the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services (CHFS) and Children’s Advocacy Centers of Kentucky (CAC Kentucky) established a partnership to seek technological solutions to help more abused families and reduce response time.
“Thanks to the Collaborate team, we have a very professional system that is going to be a model for all other states in the country.”
Laura Kretzer
Chief Strategy Officer, Children’s Advocacy Centers of Kentucky
To facilitate these goals, a data integration was developed between Kentucky’s state child child welfare database, called The Workers Information SysTem (TWIST), and Collaborate via the Investigation Feature.
Automated sharing of complete investigation data means that Kentucky CACs now:
- Quickly receive and evaluate investigations to determine if they qualify for CAC services,
- Kick off pre-populated Cases using investigation data from the state child welfare database, and
- Deliver services to more children and families, more quickly than ever before.
Arkansas Speeds up Abuse Investigations
In 2023, Children’s Advocacy Centers of Arkansas (CACAR) built a team to enter data from the Division of Children & Family Services (DCFS) into Collaborate via the Investigation feature. Investigations contain data from multiple Cases that are automatically routed to local CACs based on counties they serve.
To make CACs’ lives easier, CACAR also includes specific Requests for Services when routing Cases, such as:
- Case Reviews
- Forensic Interviews
- Medical Exams
- Mental Health Services
“Statewide Data not only improves the efficiency of the work by data-driven decision making, but opens doors to funding from grants, government, and businesses.”
Dawn Meyer
Database and Technology Specialist, Children's Advocacy Centers of Arkansas
Big Plans in Mississippi
Coming in 2025, Children’s Advocacy Centers of Mississippi (CACM) will complete a two-way data integration with the Mississippi Department of Child Protection Services (DCPS) via Collaborate.
Building upon the models employed in South Carolina, Kentucky, and Arkansas, Mississippi state child welfare investigations will be auto-routed to appropriate CACs, while CACM will send completed Service data - like Forensic Interviews and MDT updates - back to DCPS.
“The Collaborate team is always willing to come up with innovative solutions to meet our individual needs.”
Karla Tye
Chief Executive Officer, Children’s Advocacy Centers of Mississippi
See How Data Integrations Can Impact Your CACs
Who's Using Collaborate
Children’s Advocacy Centers of Georgia
Member of the National Children’s Alliance, The Children’s Advocacy Centers of Georgia, Inc. is Georgia’s statewide membership association of 50 local children’s advocacy centers.
- Dozens of networked Children's Advocacy Centers (CACs), each with own private customizable instance
- CACs able to search through entire state database of clients, caregivers, and offenders
- Statewide reporting
- Mix of Multi-Disciplinary Teams (MDTs) and non-MDT children’s advocacy centers
- 500+ users, years of case data, tens of thousands of cases, hundreds of thousands of services
South Carolina Coalition Against Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault
SCCADVASA is the statewide partnership of organizations providing services to victims and survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault in South Carolina.
Members include rape crisis centers and women's shelters throughout the state, serving clients 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
- Dozens of member organizations, many cross-trained with partner CACs
- Cross-trained Users can quickly switch between DV/SA and CAC sides
- Hotline Intakes, with ability to easily change Case type for full Intakes later
- Optional Modules include Batch Simple Services, Document Queue, and Document Templates
LifeBridge Health's Center for Hope
LifeBridge Health's Center for Hope is a comprehensive violence prevention and intervention agency. Programs include child advocacy, domestic violence, community violence, and elder justice for survivors, caregivers, and communities.
- Referral Module to manage internal and external Referrals, across Programs
- "1-Click" VOCA Report to easily meet funding requirements
- Custom Services for Treatment Plans, Clinical Assessments, and Forensic Interviews
Douglas County, Nebraska
Three human services departments of the Douglas County, Nebraska municipal government run on Collaborate, each with their own tailored software implementation.
- No need for additional systems or network administrators
- No software to install
- Lightning fast, with as much bandwidth, processing power, and storage as you need
- Access from anywhere, any time
The Spot / Project Ark
The Spot / Project Ark is a cooperative focusing on social justice and health care for at-risk youth.
- Collaborate facilitates all data management and reporting for SPARK
- Medical services, mental health counseling, sexual and reproductive health services
- Work development / workforce coaching services
- Substance abuse counseling
- Fully electronic medical records, charting, even immunization records
Substantial Cost Savings
Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Miami (CCADM) was established in 1931 to serve impoverished families during the Great Depression. Since then, CCADM has grown to offer a diverse slate of Services in the Miami area, including alcohol & substance abuse treatment, child development, behavioral health, elderly assistance, homelessness, and help for immigrants & refugees.
- Universal Intake to facilitate a quick implementation
- Custom workflow allows Clients to have several open Cases at once
- Reporting for over 40 distinct Service offerings across dozens of sites
- Optional Modules include Batch Simple Services, Case Review, and Class Management
Benefits of Using Collaborate
Cut out the Paper
Let Collaborate do the heavy lifting. Collaborate adjusts to your workflow and processes, not the other way around.
“Prior to Collaborate, we were using paper charts…”
See what The Spot has to say about Collaborate vs. Paper.
- Use your existing forms, electronically
- No more boxes of folders, no more spreadsheets
- Clients can sign documents using smartphones, tablets, or computers
- Save everything in one place
Fully Customizable
Don’t mess with a good thing - keep your workflows where they work, use our templates where they can be improved upon.
“…it’s like partnering with architects, engineers, and systems designers!”
See how we went above and beyond with Casa de Salud’s customizations.
- We’ll customize and configure Collaborate for you, good to go at launch
- Afterward, as requirements change, make configuration changes on your own
- Grant requirements change frequently, so can Collaborate’s reports
- Our expert software developers can accommodate your specialized requirements
Fast and Secure
Directly on the Internet backbone, and actively monitored for security, so you’re safe and sound.
Assist America uses Collaborate’s admin capabilities to configure who can access Collaborate from where, and even automatically lock accounts if something suspicious is happening.
- High-grade encryption
- Users can be granted access to what they need, only
- Stable and scalable platform
- Hourly backups means disaster avoidance
- HIPAA compliant
Cloud-Based
Hosted and maintained by us, for you.
Children’s Advocacy Centers of Georgia and SCCADVASA both make use of Collaborate’s cloud-based nature to allow users spread across a large area to access their database securely, using a web browser. Assist America does it worldwide.
- No need for additional systems or network administrators
- No software to install
- Lightning fast, with as much bandwidth, processing power, and storage as you need
- Access from anywhere, any time
Easy to Use and Understand
Developed and constantly improved upon, since 1998, we take our clients feedback seriously. Easy to use, even for the most technology-averse.
Our userbase is diverse, but most are not organizations that traditionally rely heavily on technology. Take a look at how some of our features work, simple and straightforward.
- Intuitively designed interface
- Simple to navigate
- Dedicated support staff to assist
- Online support & issue reporting
Substantial Cost Savings
Software is a tool to help you perform better, with less effort. Let it handle the grunt work and tedium, allowing you to focus on your real goals.
“…making for a highly efficient client experience and delivery of services…”
See how Collaborate streamlined The Center’s processes and reduced overhead.
- Significant reduction in organization communication overhead
- No annual or "per seat" license fees
- Increased productivity and lower administrative costs
- Reports that used to take weeks now take seconds!
What's New with Collaborate
Social Services Software for Your Team and Partner Agencies to Work in Together
Collaborate includes tools for social workers, medical, mental health, prevention, and law enforcement.
In the Office or in the Field, Collaborate Makes Life Easier for Victim Services
Program Director Samantha Moran explains how she manages fast-growing survivor-focused programs with Collaborate.