New Foster Care System With Heart
18th May 2020
Highlights
Tasmanian IT firm, ISW, has literally been a lifeline for foster care provider Kennerley during the COVID-19 lockdown
“It’s IT and social work combining to make a life-changing solution.”
ISW is a member of the ACS Professional Partner Program (PPP).
Kennerley, Tasmania’s oldest and largest private not-for-profit provider of foster care, has around 120 children aged 0 to 18 years old in its programs in multiple homes and locations throughout southern Tasmania.
Kennerley CEO Andrea Sturges says without the case management system HEART1869 that ISW specifically created and implemented for its operations just before the pandemic hit, it couldn’t have operated.
“We had been planning it for a while and working together with ISW to create it, so to have it in place when the pandemic hit was so fortunate. It was always going to be a game-changer in supporting foster care, but even more so at present,” Andrea said.
HEART1869 is a modern web facilitated, cloud-based case management system for the management, reporting and welfare of young people in Kennerley’s care. (Heart stands for Humane, Electronic, Application, Records, Technology and 1869 is the year that Kennerley was founded, 151 years ago).
“In a nutshell, it enables us to capture a child’s journey in care and collate everything about them in the one system,” Andrea said.
“It’s there for us to assist in supporting them and keeping track of their care, and it’s there for them to track their views and wishes and memories.”
ISW’s Tasmanian state manager Mark Anderson says ISW was delighted to be in a partnership to support Kennerley in its work to care for the State’s most vulnerable children and make a real difference.
“It’s IT and social work combining to make a life-changing solution.”
“We have more than 24 years of experience as a systems integrator and IT services provider. We are proud to support Kennerley,” Mr Anderson said.
Being a not for profit, Kennerley didn’t have the money to fund it themselves in total. ISW provided major in-kind support and a Sidney Myer community grant topped up their funds. Together with the volunteer board’s generosity, they came up with enough money to make it happen.