I am honored to welcome you and to recognize the dedicated professionals who design, operate, and continuously strengthen our nation’s Comprehensive Child Welfare Information Systems (CCWIS). Your work sits at the intersection of technology, policy, and practice — directly supporting better outcomes for children, families, and the workforce that serves them.
The Administration for Children and Families (ACF) is advancing a new era of technical assistance, guidance, and collaboration to help jurisdictions plan, implement, and sustain high-quality child welfare information systems. A key part of this effort is the Child Welfare Technology Incubator, which creates space for states and practitioners to work directly with ACF to explore innovative approaches, planning strategies, and technology solutions that support effective CCWIS implementation and operations.
CCWIS is a critical enabler of practice. When systems are modular, interoperable, and designed around user needs, they support timely decision-making, strengthen cross-program coordination, and improve data access. Well-designed systems reduce administrative burden and allow caseworkers to focus on what matters most: safety, permanency, and well-being. Technology alone is not the solution. Success depends on effective planning, system environment understanding and implementation preparedness and system functionality.
As states, territories, and tribes continue to advance their systems, ACF’s priorities include supporting jurisdictions to:
- Implement effective planning and implementation strategies that shorten operational timelines
- Use modular design to increase flexibility, accelerate innovation, and reduce risk
- Strengthen data architecture, quality, and analytics to support informed decision-making
- Improve acquisition strategies to promote timely and successful implementation
- Enable secure interoperability across child welfare and partner systems
- Apply user-centered design to align systems with real-world practice
- Leverage automation and configurable rules to improve consistency and timeliness
I encourage jurisdictions interested in partnering with ACF to connect with our technical assistance team to learn more about these new support offerings. We are committed to partnering with all jurisdictions to improve these shared goals and outcomes.
Thank you for your leadership and dedication to building systems that advance our mission and support the people behind the data. Together, we can continue strengthening child welfare technology as a foundation for better outcomes nationwide.
In partnership,
Cody Inman
Delegated Commissioner, Administration on Children, Youth and Families