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TexDECK Functional Requirements |
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Welcome to the child protection court case management functional requirements web site. The functional requirements focus on the special and unique needs of child protection cases. This site was developed by the Texas Office of Court Administration (OCA) through funding provided by the Supreme Court of Texas through the Administration for Children and Families, Court Improvement Program (CIP) Data Collection and Analysis Grant. The purpose of the CIP grant is to help ensure that foster children's needs for safety, permanency and well-being are met in a timely and complete manner by data-enabling courts to ensure they have the information needed to make appropriate decisions.
In Texas, child protection cases are heard in over 230 courts in 254 counties. The sheer number of courts that hear child protection cases, the manner in which these courts are funded, and the large geographical size of the state present real challenges to identifying technology solutions that improve the outcomes for children in Texas’ decentralized court system.
Providing a common description of what a child protective services court case management system should be able to do and the activities or tasks that it should be able to perform will serve as a baseline model for public and private software developers as they enhance existing systems and develop new systems. Functional requirements provide this description in a format and with the content that technologists understand and need.
Child protection cases differ from other types of cases in many ways but two distinct areas are the timeline for conducting court hearings and the attention that courts pay to the social influences that affect a child’s life. Texas law prescribes that specific hearings occur within a defined timeline and that the court determine the final outcome of a child within one year of their removal from home. Courts play a crucial role in ensuring the well-being of these children including the choice of a child’s placement, the medications they take, the schools they attend, and the life services they receive.
Having data and tools to help manage timelines and monitor social influences is critical to making decisions that positively affect the lives of these children. Implementation of the functionality described in this document will provide the courts with the information needed to accomplish this goal.
Creation of the functional requirements would not have been possible without the knowledge and insight provided by the following courts and organizations:Child Protection Court of Central Texas – Judge Karin Bonicoro323rd District Court (Tarrant County) – The Honorable Jean Boyd, Judge Ellen SmithSabine Valley Child Protection Court – Judge Ginny Schnarr126th Judicial District Court (Travis County) – The Honorable Darlene Byrne311th District Court (Harris County) – The Honorable Doug Warne, Judge Ellen Shelton330th Family Court District (Dallas County) – The Honorable Marilea Lewis, Judge Randall GrubbsSouth Plains Cluster Court – Judge Kevin HartChild Protection Court of the Hill Country – Judge Rob HofmannSupreme Court of TexasJudicial Commission for Children, Youth and FamiliesTexas Department of Family and Protective Services
For more information about the effort to improve courts that hear child protection cases visit the TexDECK website: http://www.courts.state.tx.us/oca/texdeck/txdeck-home.asp |