An E -Solution to Case Management and Referrals in Child Protection: A Case Study of The Child Helpline 116 in Kenya Childline Kenya September 2015 Martha Sunda

Outline Introduction to the National Child Helpline 116 Challenges faced in Case Management E-Solution to the Challenges in Case Management How the E-Solution Works Benefits of the E-Solution Lessons Learnt Next Steps

Introduction to the National Child Helpline 116 The national Child Helpline in Kenya is run in Partnership with the Government of Kenya through the Department of Children Services The service is internet based with a customer relations management system(database) that is web based All calls are recorded at two levels a. Documentation of key aspects of the call by the counselor manually b. Recording of the voice conversation in the system The calls received are referred to various referral partners to provide direct services including rescue services, shelter, legal support, medical support More than 60%of the referrals are made through officers of the Department of Children Services

Challenges faced in Managing Cases Case follow up is very expensive-Telephone costs, traveling costs No proper feedback procedure exists from the referral network Poor coordination of child protection efforts No guarantee of quality service for referred clients Remoteness of some areas making it difficult for the helpline staff to access the clients for rescue and other support. Limited resources to follow up on every client referred

E-Solution to Case Management Challenges

How the E-Solution works The system has portals for all counties into which cases are shared for the respective County Coordinators of Children Services (CC) to access and take action. The CC is overall responsible for all cases reported to the helpline from the respective County working with the county level case management system. The helpline staff receive the cases and document them on the system. As soon as the location of the client is specified by county, a link is created between the respective portal and the case form and is immediately available to the CC for action The CC handles the cases accordingly by ensuring the clients receive the necessary services then provides progress updates on the case form in the system All updates are available real time to the CC, the helpline and the Director of Children Services Only the helpline supervisors (GoK and CLK) can delete or edit any part of the case form but the trail of activity remains for accountability purposes

Piloting This idea is in the process of piloting in one County in Kenya-Uasin Gishu

The E-Solution so far

Note:  Childline Kenya is not necessarily a direct service provider but the counselors will offer initial psychosocial support to the client and adequate information before referring them accordingly. In some cases counseling (both online and face to face) is offered by the counselors depending on the needs of the client.  Childline Kenya builds the capacity of the referral network to offer effective and efficient services. Case management guidelines have been developed to help with coordination challenges and to provide insight for child protection actors on good practices in managing cases of children.  The partners who are trained are expected to train others in the course of their interaction to cause a ripple effect

Benefits of the E-Solution The cost of following up cases drastically reduces as there is no need to regularly make phone calls or travel to the different counties Quality of service is managed at the county level Case turn around time is shortened as the cases are available for follow up immediately Feedback is immediate and does not have to wait for a regular scheduled meeting County specific gaps in service provision are easily noted and taken care of There is reduced risk of losing client information or their “file getting lost”

Lessons Learnt The system requires equipment and stable internet to function optimally. For confidentiality purposes access to the system must be limited and well monitored so that the children remain safe With coordinated child protection efforts the Department of Children Services is able to identify gaps in service provision and advocate for resource allocation by different partners for the services that are ill- resourced

Next Steps Make the system accessible to the Counties in an upgraded, more efficient version where the CCs also have access to county specific data and progress reports to share with their partners Provide and SMS alerts to the county coordinators every time a new case hits their portal Develop telephone linkage to the system so that officers from remote areas can still access the cases and post their updates without overreliance on the computers Provide linkage among partners to build their capacity in delivery of good quality services to children efficiently Provide the national directory of service providers on the system so that it is accessible for all county coordinators to refer to Pilot in more counties considering the lessons learnt so far in Uasin Gishu County