Louisiana trying AMS welfare system

The Louisiana Department of Social Services has awarded American Management

Systems Inc. a $4.7-million, 15-month contract to design a Web-based child

welfare system.

Under the new system, child welfare workers would have around-the-clock

access to electronic case records. The system also would allow the courts,

foster parents and service providers to obtain certain data from the department's

community services office, which is responsible for protecting children

at risk for abuse and neglect.

Louisiana's Statewide Automated Child Welfare Information System would

help case workers spend more time on case work than on administrative duties,

said Andrew Pickar, a vice president of AMS' state and local solutions group.

The system would reduce paperwork and procedures, and improve evaluation,

planning and tracking processes, officials said.

SACWIS also would fulfill mandated reporting requirements to the federal

government's Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System and

the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System.

The company's SACWIS design, which would replace the state's 15-year-old

system, is expected to be completed by the end of the year.

AMS has developed similar child welfare systems for Illinois, Wisconsin,

Connecticut, New Mexico and Rhode Island.