Texas Data-Enabled Courts for Kids (TexDECK)

Office of Court Administration

TexDECK PROJECT

TexDECK is a family of projects that strive to integrate information for the child protective agency, the court, and related government entities in order to help courts and the Texas Department of Family Protective Services (DFPS) to work quickly and effectively to protect children. TexDECK will establish data interchange standards and enable software tools to facilitate the work of judges and DFPS to collaborate to improve safety, permanency and well-being of the children of Texas. The TexDECK project is federally funded through a Court Improvement Program Data Collection and Analysis grant.

Judicial Web Page (Completed)

Since 1998, the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) and the Court Improvement Program (CIP) have provided selected child protection case information lookup capability through the "Judicial Web Page" (JWP) to trial court judges. The intent of this web application is to make it possible for the courts to monitor more closely the progress of their CPS cases through the court system, and thus to allow the courts to make the best possible decisions concerning the disposition of those cases. This is an important part of the collaboration that impacts the handling of cases and on the well-being of abused and neglected children in our state. Availability of such information to judges helps Texas judges work with a full set of process information about the case, thus moving them to timely resolution. Texas Child and Family Service Review (CFSR) results could be expected to worsen without such a tool.

The TexDECK project proposed to re-platform the JWP, and OCA proposed to re-factor the system to phase out the obsolescing and marginalized technologies that were used. The re-factoring based the JWP on current, more economical and more sustainable technologies, thus enhancing the long-term sustainability of the system. The continued operation of JWP will help Texas maintain and improve timeliness outcomes in the CFSR.

OCA completed the proposed changes and continues to provide updates and support to the system as more judges begin to take advantage of the data access portal.

Child Protection Court Case Management Software Functional Requirements (Completed)

The Supreme Court of Texas Permanent Judicial Commission for Children, Youth and Families formally adopted a functional requirements reference model for the special needs of courts handling child protection ("dependency") cases. Culminating nearly two years of work, the functional requirements reference model was developed in order to give vendors of court case management software an authoritative set of requirements for the creation of specialized modules of court software systems. The work was done with major funding from a Court Improvement Program grant to the Court from the Administration for Children and Families.

The reference model may be the most comprehensive description built to date for these special court cases, as Texas law and court rules require. In Texas and most other states, child protection cases must follow tightly controlled timelines. The cases may have multiple parties, with the judge acting in a problem-solving role.

The Commission is chaired by Justice Harriet O'Neill of the Supreme Court of Texas. Judge Darlene Byrne of Travis County chaired the Technology Committee, which oversaw the development of the functional requirements reference model. Technical work was performed by staff of the Office of Court Administration, which is headed by Carl Reynolds.

The reference model (version 1.0) consists of a number of web pages presented in an interactive format, providing overviews of the court process, timelines, a feature to allow deep drill-down into the particulars of each subprocess, and detailed descriptions of the data requirements. It is available on the Commission website, at http://www.courts.state.tx.us/oca/texdeck/frd1/texdeck functional requirements.htm.

An updated (version 2.0) of the reference model is in development and is planned to be available in April 2010. The reference model (version 2.0) will include:

Data Interchange Standards (Ongoing)

The TexDECK project team is working with the National Center for State Courts (NCSC) and a number of other local, state and federal organizations to develop a set of technical specifications (data interchange standards) designed to assist jurisdictions in the electronic sharing of information between the Child Welfare Agency and the Court. See the following for more info: http://www.ncsconline.org/childwelfarewiki/index.php?title=Main_Page

As definitions of standard interfaces are being developed, TexDECK will begin to study means to tangibly move those into implementation in operational software that is used within the child protection community. As mentioned previously, during the development of standards, the TexDECK project will be engaging with other states and the national community engaged in child protection case management standards, and software vendors or their trade groups for a two-way exchange of information and ideas, thus maximizing the utility of the standards for the software industry. The project will seek to broker agreements that will enable separate software products working on opposite sides of a defined, high-priority data interchange to communicate child protection information using interchange standards.

Judicial Caseload Analysis (Completed)

In 2005, the Legislature (79th Regular Session), passed S.B. 729, which directed OCA to conduct a weighted caseload study of district courts for the purpose of identifying a need for new district courts. With guidance provided by the Judicial Needs Assessment Committee and with funding for the project secured, OCA with the assistance of the National Center for State Courts (NCSC) conducted the Texas Judicial Needs Assessment. The Assessment collected a statistically valid sample of the time spent on case-related and non-case-related activities during a one-month period. Data was collected for specific types of cases and can now be used to identify the average number of minutes necessary to process a case from filing through disposition plus any post-judgment activity. With a time value identified for each type of case, judicial workloads can be identified through an objective and accurate methodology, thus providing the Legislature the information they need to make informed decisions that confront the ever-increasing case loads experienced by the courts. TexDECK contributed a proportional amount of funding to study child protection cases.

• Weighted Caseload Study - Final [pdf]

Child Protection Case Management System (Completed)

The Office of Court Administration (OCA) designed and developed a new child protection case management system (CPCMS), based on the functional requirements reference model. The CPCMS was designed to meet the needs of the seventeen OCA-administered child protection specialty courts that serve 130 mostly-rural Texas counties. The new system is a web based application that supports mobile users using wireless aircard technology. The OCA will continue to enhance user interface and functionality of the system over the next year.

To view system presentations, training lessons, or download a current User Guide, click on the links below. They use Adobe Flash Player and Adobe Reader…

The CPCMS was successfully launched in September 2009. Subsequent to the completion of new system launch activities, the CPCMS will be available for distribution to any Texas counties for its courts that hear child protection cases. Distribution of the CPCMS system will be available at no charge since the development of the CPCMS was federally funded through the Court Improvement Program (CIP). Some counties may qualify for the CIP grants to fund a portion of implementing the software in their county (see below for more details).

Inquiries to obtain a copy of the software or to learn more about CPCMS may be directed to:

Tim Kennedy
TexDECK Project Manager
Office of Court Administration
PO Box 12066
Austin, TX 78711
(512) 463-6057
(512) 463-1648 fax
Tim.kennedy@courts.state.tx.us

Child Protection Case Management Court Improvement Grant (Ongoing)

The Permanent Judicial Commission for Children, Youth and Families is managing the distribution of CIP grants up to $40,000 to (Texas) courts that hear child protection cases before their bench, to support the adoption and implementation of the new CPCMS system. Grant applications will be accepted and processed during fiscal year 2010 (September 1, 2009 to August 31, 2010). Awarded grant monies may be expended through fiscal year 2011 (September 1, 2010 to August 31, 2011).

Inquiries may be directed to:

Bryan Wilson
Grant Administrator
PO Box 12248
Austin, TX 78711
(512) 463-6437
(512) 463-8854 fax
texaschildrenscommission.gov

Updated: 03-Jul-2012