BY B.G. GREGG
The Cincinnati Enquirer
After missing a deadline that may have cost Ohio more than $12 million in federal reimbursement money, the state is finally ready to hire a vendor to install a statewide computer-tracking system for children's services cases.
The delay, nine years after federal money was made available, lost Ohio the difference between 75 percent reimbursement and 50 percent reimbursement for the project's estimated $50 million cost. Because Ohio missed an Oct. 1, 1997, deadline, the state is eligible only for the 50 percent reimbursement.
Kentucky and Indiana are two of only 11 states that have fully operational Statewide Automated Child Welfare Information Systems, which help child-care workers track cases. In 1989, the federal government offered 75 percent reimbursement money to states that would voluntarily set up computer systems to help caseworkers, yet few met the deadline.
Twenty-eight states, including Ohio, are implementing the systems, said Michael Kharfen, a spokesman for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Most of Ohio's counties use a mainframe system in which caseworkers complete paperwork and hand it to data-entry staff, who type it into the computer. The system is outdated and allows limited access. Greg DePorter, director of communications for the Ohio Department of Human Services, said he expects Ohio's computer system to be fully operational by December 1999. He said state employees have been working to prepare for the computer system, and 5,000 computers have been purchased for caseworkers across the state.
The computers were bought before the deadline, so the state was reimbursed 75 percent. Mr. DePorter said the state was not prepared when the money became available to go full-force on an effort to computerize.
Matt Busch, information systems manager for the Hamilton County Department of Human Services, said the state has had its hands full trying to computerize welfare and child support records.
"To expect an organization to handle that many projects in that short of time is asking a lot," he said.
Dan Schneider, director of the Public Children's Services Association of Ohio, said computers can be crucial time-savers for caseworkers.
For example, he said, when a caseworker is called to a home at 2:30 on a Saturday morning, having access to the family's history is important.
"If I don't now the background of the child or family, I may make an improper decision on whether to remove the child," he said.
