The Amazing Way We Implemented CJAMS During the COVID -19 Pandemic 

 

Maryland’s Social Services Administration now stands at the pinnacle of nationwide Health and Human Service delivery with the statewide implementation of the Child, Juvenile, and Adult Management System. The data management system’s trail-blazing technology has helped the Social Services Administration streamline its business practices, increase program integration, and improve the agency’s ability to meet the needs of vulnerable children and adults in Maryland.

 

Ingenuity Meets Willpower

CJAMS's successful implementation is the ultimate result of years of planning; the ingenuity it took to build such innovative technology; and, the willpower and determination of thousands employed by the Department of Human Services to make it work.

“This is an unprecedented achievement, one that required thousands of child welfare and adult services workers to make a significant change during a difficult time,” said Michelle L. Farr, SSA Executive Director. “It was their commitment to remote system testing and training during the pandemic that enabled us to roll out our new Child, Juvenile and Adult Management System on time to every jurisdiction,” she added.

Executive Director Farr praised SSA and the MD THINK team for the strategic planning that enabled the agency to quickly pivot from in-person classroom instruction to remote eLearning during the pandemic crisis. The new strategy placed new laptops and tablets in the hands of more than 2,000 workers and resulted in the creation of 320 How-to-Guides, 172 eLearning videos, and a series of practice guides to support CJAMS eLearning in the HUB, DHS’ online learning system.

 

Revolutionizing the Way We Work

CJAMS makes it easier for caseworkers to engage families in the field, especially when the household is in a crisis. A caseworker doesn’t have to return to the local office to complete an assessment or complete other job duties. Now, the worker can develop a Service Plan with the family on the spot and gather critical contact information, signatures, and immediate feedback from household members.

The innovative data management system has also revolutionized daily operations for workers in Adult Protective Services -- providing a program long dependent on paper files with its first fully automated data management system. “Who would have thought that we could have made this huge change from the way we were training and offering continued support, to a way that has worked as well as it has, this quickly and this successfully,” said Jeffrey Lynne, SSA Program Manager for CJAMS training.

While many workers agree that CJAMS is more user-friendly, some like Deborah Dandridge (Baltimore City DSS) still have reservations about abandoning the old legacy system. “I guess that I have to learn to slow down a little bit with CJAMS to adjust to the system,” she said. Jane Gehring, Assistant Director for Family Services in Baltimore County, said her staff really like the new data management system. “It goes much smoother and it’s a little bit more intuitive and clearer to follow,” although there are still “glitches” in the system,” she said. “What is a lot faster is the ability to get those glitches fixed in real-time. You identify a defect and it gets attention and it gets fixed,” Gehring added.

 

Improving Service to Vulnerable Marylanders 

SSA leadership and representatives from local offices continue to gather regularly with MD THINK to improve CJAMS since the system rolled out across the state. “The platform that CJAMS is built on will allow for necessary adjustments due to policy, practice, the evolution of local district leaders, and the need for our workers to become more efficient,” explained Vonetta Martin, Systems Development Manager. 

SSA Deputy Director Hilary Laskey agreed that the system gets better every day. “Daily use by workers and supervisors has led to enhancements that make the system more user friendly, improve productivity as well as the reports providing information about the work being done,” the Deputy Director explained.

“That all results in more data-informed practices and decisions that enable us to better serve children, families, and vulnerable adults in Maryland,” she added.