Document Management Blog | MES

Child Protection Information Network: Helping Children's Aid Societies Go Digital

Written by Scott Kimura | Jan 28, 2015 2:35:00 PM

Children's aid societies like yours are critical organizations for making sure that all children are well taken care of. In order to take better care of our children, constant improvements are needed. One of the most effective ways to improve a children's aid society's capabilities is with better data management.

 

How can better data management help to better protect children?

Easier access to information about each individual child

Each and every child in need of help from a children's aid society is facing unique circumstances; as such, there is no universal solution that can be applied to all of their problems. In order to do everything possible to help a child, your organization needs to know everything about their situation. Effective data management will allow you to retrieve all of the available data about each child you help.

 

Fewer errors

If you do not have the right data, you are more likely to make a mistake -- not through any fault of your own, but simply because you are misinformed. Highly effective data management will ensure you have all of the information needed to make the best decisions for your society's productivity.

 

Faster decision making

Highly effective data management also allows you to retrieve all of the information you need to better aid children more quickly. As a result, you will be able to make quicker decisions and help more children.

 

How is the Ontario government working to improve our ability to use data?

The government of Ontario is always working to enhance the way our nation's children's aid societies protect our children. The Ontario government is working to enhance the way children's aid societies such as yours can manage data through child care modernization, updating the information systems that you use to share data about children. This new system is known as the Child Protection Information Network (CPIN).

Over the next five years, the Ministry of Children and Youth Services will work alongside children's aid societies to develop this system. It is a major part of a comprehensive government plan to modernize the child protection system so that vulnerable kids and their families can continue to get the services they need.

 

How can I prepare my children's aid society to work with the Child Protection Information Network?

The success of CPIN relies heavily on the participation of children's aid societies. In addition to working directly with the Ministry of Children and Youth Services to coordinate the implementation of CPIN, you can take the following steps:

 

Make all of your paper data digital right now

The premise of CPIN revolves around children's aid societies being able to share data digitally. In order for this to happen, your records need to be digital in the first place. Fortunately, there are professional document conversion services that make this easy.

 

Start using better document management practices

In order to make your digital records more manageable for other organizations, you first need to organize them. Good document management software makes this easy.

 

Make your electronic records more accessible

You can make your documents more accessible by sharing them via cloud-based services. This will allow children's aid societies throughout the country to access your data.

 

In order to effectively protect our nation's children, you must make the most out of all available data

The new Child Protection Information Network will make it much easier for you to help care for Canada's children. In order to fully benefit from this new program, you must be proactive about implementing more effective electronic data management.