Child care homes come in many shapes and sizes, but one thing across the board is becoming a simple fact: the lack of data collection and reporting is hurting those kids. When there isn’t a simple, effective way to track child outcomes and staff development, many key elements of that child’s wellbeing just fall through the cracks.
More than half (51%) of children who enter the system remain in said system. If those children are lucky, they are placed in a good foster home. Those that are not are placed in a group home or a care center. Consistently across the board in both the United States and the United Kingdom, those who live in group homes or child care residential homes do worse education-wise than almost any other demographic.
A lack of reporting may not be the contributing factor to these statistics. Still, that same lack of information is what is restricting authorities and policymakers from taking meaningful action. This includes care home providers themselves.
What is a Child Care Agency Management System?
A management system in the business world keeps track of multiple elements in the business itself. It is there to help track employee performance, how a project is progressing, and so much more. Though child care residency homes are meant to care for and nurture children, they are, at their core, businesses. This means employees, regulations, and standards must be met. In the same breadth, there are also goals that ideally need to be met.
The best way to track the progress and help meet those goal outcomes is to track progress. Having a care agency app that all staff members know how to use can help each child by providing quantifiable information that helps visualize progress and identify key areas. There will always be steps forward and back, and tracking this information can help caregivers identify when there’s a setback so that more effective action can be taken. This may come in the form of enrolling said child into therapy or having them work with a volunteer tutor so that they can get their grades up.
The Importance of Training
Regardless of how effective the agency care app is, no tool can be efficiently used until users are trained on it. Staff training needs to include an overview on the application, how to use it, and how to keep inputted data consistent for reporting purposes. Having every member of staff use the same standards for reporting will help create a unified data set that can then be used to generate actionable insight and results for the betterment of the child in question.
The Importance of Monitoring Staff and Environment
The other key benefit of tracking information appertaining to child care in group or care homes is regulatory. Such apps include sections to help ensure that the environment meets or exceeds health and safety standards. Staff also need to have certain metrics tracked to identify performance excellence and issues sooner. Tracking behavior, outcomes, and the environment can help every care home provider improve care outcomes while ensuring that everything adheres to rules outlined by the relevant regulatory bodies.
