NEW ELECTRONIC SYSTEM WILL IMPROVE CARE OF CHILDREN

The Government of Saskatchewan today announced an investment of $15 million for an electronic case management system to keep track of children in the care of Saskatchewan Social Services' Child and Family Services Division.

"Saskatchewan is the last province in Canada to have a computerized system that monitors children in the care of Social Services," Social Services Minister Donna Harpauer said. "Manitoba had an electronic tracking system 16 years ago, British Columbia had one 20 years ago and is looking at a second generation update for their system."

"As a result of Saskatchewan not having such a system, we have not always been able to accurately account for all the children in our care," Harpauer said. "Considering there are about 4,000 children receiving support from the Child and Family Services Division, this is completely unacceptable. We can track a library book anywhere in this province, but we can't do the same for a child."

The new system will support the important work of the province's Child and Family Services Division, which works to protect children from abuse and neglect. The system will also assist in out-of-home placements such as foster care. It will provide case workers with the most current status of the child's file immediately, which allows for decision making that will be in the best interest of the child's health, safety and well being.

More complete and current information regarding a child's record of care will be available in electronic format and will be stored in a central location. As a result, service providers will have access to consistent, comprehensive information throughout a child's involvement with Child and Family Services. The system will also improve the collection of province-wide statistics to inform decision-making and policy direction.

The system is expected to be fully implemented by 2011.

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For more information, contact:

Dianne Shannon
Social Services
Regina
Phone: 306-798-3250
Email: dshannon@cr.gov.sk.ca