If I bought a pair of purple panties online yesterday, this morning I would be getting dozens of advertisements on my computer to buy pink ones, or a matching T-shirt, or to host a panty party on behalf of the manufacturer.
The business sector knows how to get data on our most intimate purchases, and match up that data with where I live, or my phone number, or even my Social Security number.
Yet, when the care of children or their families is in question, our government and service sector agencies cannot even match information about children with information about their families, or monitor if a child completes an essential treatment, or if a family is getting help from multiple programs.
This is not a new problem in Connecticut, and that borders on the ridiculous.
In 2006 the CT Early Childhood Cabinet recommended development of a data system that could link child care data with health data to serve children better. In 2007, the CT Early Childhood Research and Policy Council proposed investing about $4 million to improve “data interoperability.” Along came the Great Recession of 2008, and we didn’t make even that small investment.
Nearly two decades later, we have lots of data systems that can’t talk with each other when we ask about children’s health or development across agencies. Yet, business has perfected this process, and my purple panties purchase is the perfect example.
We know we have a problem. Over the past year, Connecticut’s Bureau of Information Technology Solutions identified this as a major accountability challenge for the state of Connecticut:
“While there is a growing recognition of the value of leveraging data with and across agencies, the siloed application architecture and lack of standardization create challenges. This lack of integration is a substantial impediment that prevents agencies from seeing greater efficiency and from using more of our rich data for analysis of trends and correlation of data across programs.”
Connecticut can fix this hot mess, now.
The state already holds licenses for commercial platforms capable of finding, linking, analyzing and reporting information to improve care for young children and accountability for the agencies who fund those services.
And the state’s Bureau of Information Technology Solutions could guide development and implementation of a “network solution” to existing disconnected data systems within agencies serving younger children and their families.
Reportedly, there are between $300 and $400 million ARPA dollars that must be committed by December 2024 and used up by December of 2026. Addressing this 20-year data problem could cost $30-$50 million over two years, including software upgrades, workforce training and implementation.
A recent study revealed that on measures of child wellbeing, Connecticut has fallen behind Iowa, Nebraska, Utah, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Vermont, Minnesota and New Jersey. Half our children enter kindergarten needing substantial help. Yet during the first few years of life, child health data systems cannot talk with other early childhood and family services that children need.
ARPA funds were sent to the states of address problems caused or exacerbated by COVID. This is one of them. COVID made all of children’s developmental and learning challenges worse, and we are handicapping ourselves without real time data to address these challenges.
If business can extract and use information about my purple panties within a few hours of purchase, Connecticut can match and manage real-time information about the children and families we serve. We have smart people in all the right places to execute this leap into the 21st century, and the technology tools are already in our hands.
Let’s fix this now.
Janice Gruendel is the Co-Founder and Senior Consultant at the CT 359 Network.