COLUMBUS — Cuyahoga County is refusing to join a new statewide computer system for tracking abused and neglected foster children because of continued technical problems, officials said.

The state has ordered the county to sign onto the program by June 23.

In a letter to Gov. Ted Strickland drafted last week, county commissioners in the state’s largest county said they believe the program could place children at risk. The letter obtained by The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer outlines 13 problems “so dire that we can neither perform nor manage basic child protection-related activities.”

The $92 million Statewide Automated Child Welfare Information System, implemented in more than half of Ohio counties, is designed to collect data on child abuse and neglect cases, making it easier for child welfare agencies to track abusers and victims. Without the system, agencies would have to rely on independent county-by-county databases.

“We have grave concerns about the system,” said Jim McCafferty, director of the Cuyahoga County Department of Children and Family Services. “We will be a partner and come on when it’s functioning properly and not before.”

Officials have complained about persistent computer glitches that make the system inaccessible much of the time, and caseworkers have struggled with incomplete records and a backlog of data.

Cuyahoga County handles about 40,000 foster children, nearly a quarter of the state’s caseload. The county has spent $20 million over the last decade to build its own database because it could not rely on the state, the letter said.

Some other counties have abandoned the system and have been using spreadsheets to track cases. Columbiana and Licking counties have borrowed hundreds of thousands of dollars from the state after the system failed.

Officials at the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services say some counties aren’t fully cooperating with the state, making problems worse. Deputy Director Fred Williams said the state’s priority is to get every county participating, rather than continue to search for “the perfect system.”

“We are pushing hard to do anything and everything we can to help out partners at the county level,” Williams said.

The state must complete the rollout by June 30, when the $37.5 million contract with Dynamics Research Corp. of Andover, Mass. — the company that developed the system — expires.

Since joining the system in July 2007, Franklin County has encountered major problems, said Eric Fenner, director of the county’s Job and Family Services agency. Officials are unable to draft management reports, rendering the system essentially useless, he said.

“Just imagine you’re flying a 747 and all of the dials in the cockpit are dark,” Fenner said. “We rely on management reports to tell us how we’re doing and what problems there are in the organization.”

Only state computer specialists can correct data entry mistakes, which can lead to a two-week delay to fix a misspelled name.

So counties have developed backup systems. “We are basically doing double work to make sure we know where children are on a daily basis,” said Michele Bullock, Franklin County’s specialist for the tracking system.

Ohio Department of Job and Family Services spokeswoman Scarlett Bouder said the state is attempting to solve the delay issues.

Reforming the state’s foster care system became a hot-button issue after a 3-year-old boy was killed near Cincinnati in August 2006. Marcus Fiesel was left bound inside a closet for two days by his foster parents, Liz Carroll and David Carroll Jr.

Both were convicted of murder and are serving life sentences for his death. 

 

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