TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Hillsborough Kids Inc. Program Tests Safety Checks

ADVERTISEMENT

By SHERRI ACKERMAN

sackerman@tampatrib.com

Published: October 21, 2008

TAMPA - Hillsborough Kids Inc., the agency that oversees 3,057 children in state custody, is testing a program that ensures caseworkers visit children every 30 days as required by law.

The Tribune talked to Jeff Rainey, chief executive of Hillsborough Kids; Nick Cox, regional director for the Department of Children & Families; and Greg Povolny, president of Mindshare, which designed the program, about how - and whether - the program will make children safer.

Below is a summary of their answers:

What is the name of the program and how does it work?

The Visibility Grid has been used since February alerting workers, who each have about 15 cases, through e-mails and text messages about upcoming visits and helping reduce late visits by 80 percent. The program helps track runaways, including determining how often they run, when they run and where they go. VGrid is tied into the state's database, Florida Safe Families Network, where caseworkers type in their notes and other information about children. The program can read those notes and pick up on certain words that allow it to identify concerns and alert supervisors.

The second part of the program, the Virtual Call Center, is being rolled out this week and next, and will check in electronically with caregivers within a 10-day period to make sure a visit occurred and that proper procedures were followed. The call center also allows the caregiver to ask questions.

How did this idea come about?

Mindshare had developed a similar program in 2006 that successfully tracked students' behavior within the school district. Sen. Ronda Storms and Rainey heard about it and suggested something could be created for the child welfare system, which has grappled for years with caseworkers falsifying reports that resulted in children endangered, missing or found dead. Hillsborough Kids became the first agency to use the program, which cost about $20,000 to $25,000, and is helping shape it for other child welfare agencies.

Does the program specifically target workers making false reports?

No, but that is a prime focus. Statewide, falsified records accounted for nearly 70 percent of investigations by the DCF's arm of the attorney general in fiscal year 2007-08.

Reporter Sherri Ackerman can be reached at (813) 259-7144.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT