Montana Child Welfare System

As written last week, Deltek’s Health and Human Services Team is taking an in-depth look at Statewide Automated Child Welfare Information Systems (SACWIS) across the nation. This week, we take a look at SACWIS plans shaping up in Big Sky Country.

In the FY 2014-15 biennial budget, currently winding its way through the Montana legislature, an appropriation for $350,000 exists for planning the replacement SACWIS (called the Montana Adult and Child Welfare Information System, or MACWIS). The planning appropriation contains a provision that the Department of Public Health and Human Services conclude planning efforts and report back to the legislature when it meets again in 2015. Deltek is anticipating a procurement process; however, specific plans are not yet known.

These planning efforts over the next few years line up nicely with the state’s human services technology priorities. In 2012, the Department of Public Health and Human Services (DPHHS) awarded a contract to Deloitte for the combined health care information and Montana eligibility system (CHIMES). The MACWIS is next in line for replacement and will replace the current child welfare system, CAPS, which is nearly 20 years old and not SACWIS compliant.

Though the MACWIS project is now behind schedule, the allocation of funding is promising for Montana’s future protection of children from abuse and neglect. It is no small wonder that, as with most human services departments across the nation, DPHHS prioritized the replacement of legacy systems in an effort to expend state resources in an efficient and logical way.

Stay tuned this month for additional information on state efforts to replace SACWISs. Deltek’s GovWinIQ database contains a wealth of information about other SACWIS replacement and modernization projects across the nation. Not a Deltek subscriber? Learn more and sign up for a free trial.