Contact Management

Historically, caseworkers have used contact logs (also known as recording, contacts or case notes) to detail and document:

The contact log allows a caseworker the ability to capture details of events, interviews and/or meetings in a timely fashion so that the descriptions of those events are not influenced by later events. The ability to access a contact log is available to workers based on their involvement with the case/child and their security or log-on profile. Cúram provides the capability to separately identify who conducted an interview as well as who recorded the entry in the system, and the date and time of that entry.

Caseworkers also may document interactions with other family members, collateral contacts and other important parties. CCS supports the process of recording individual contact details, attaching related documents, photos, or voice recordings, updating a contact record via an addendum to an existing contact record, and viewing a specific set of contact logs in either summary listing or narrative form.

In child welfare, it is crucial to document interactions between a child and the worker. Caseworkers must complete and document contacts within timeframes established by agency policy. CCS allows for the timeframes of required contacts to be configured administratively in accordance with agency policies. For example, the timeframes may include how quickly an investigator must have face-to-face contact with a child, or how often a caseworker must have contact with a child who is in foster care. Upcoming contacts and overdue contacts are displayed to the caseworker.

Documentation in contact logs is a common case activity and the volume of contact logs for a single case can become quite large. Two significant benefits include: reporting and searching. The caseworker has the ability to quickly search for a specific set of contact logs to find very specific kinds of information. The search criteria, such as participant, location, contact method, and date range, can be used to locate a contact log.

Timeframes defining when a child or family contact should occur, as well as the method of contacts (e.g. face-to-face vs. phone) vary from agency to agency, based on policy. For example, the timeframe may include how quickly an investigator must have contact with a child who is an alleged victim of abuse or neglect. Additionally, timeframe for caseworker visits with children in out-of-home placement vary for children based on agency policy. Factors such as the method and frequency of contacts required by case type, placement type and service offering are configurable.

Information regarding upcoming and overdue contacts is an important aspect of a caseworker's day to day tasks. Hence, as previously discussed, this information is presented in pods on the investigator's and caseworker's home page. This includes data regarding the amount of time remaining before the contact is considered overdue and contacts that are overdue. This helps the worker prioritize the contacts they must make and easily complete activities without having to navigate through the case structure.