Microsoft Industry Digital Forum
Preparing for The Post Pandemic Fallout in Child Welfare

Child welfare organizations historically operate without adequate capacity to meet their mandates regarding safety and permanency for children. Covid-19 brought new pains as organizations struggled to respond during lockdowns, maintain their workforce, contact trace, and retain foster homes when foster families feared exposure. However, lockdowns suppressed report volume as children were no longer visualized by mandated reporters, namely educators and healthcare providers. As the pandemic abates, children will return to the public eye, sparking increased demand. Organizations need to be prepared to respond without growing backlogs that bring about a cascading system collapse.

Learn what organizations did and will do to counteract the effects of the pandemic. Some of the questions we will discuss include:

• How can technology add capacity to achieve best outcomes?
• What emergency solutions will become consistent practice?
• What interactions can be done virtually versus in person?
• How to reduce high turnover?

Host and Moderator: Greg McKay, Director, Worldwide Public Sector, Microsoft Panelist:

• Maura Corrigan, Legal Counsel Butzel Long - Former Michigan Supreme Court Chief Justice and Michigan HHS Director
• Shalom Jacobs, Deputy Director of Field Operations, Arizona Department of Child Safety
• Dr. Carol Homden, CEB, Group CEO, Coram

Speakers

Maura Corrigan, Legal Counsel Butzel Long - Former Michigan Supreme Court Chief Justice and Michigan HHS Director Maura Corrigan is Counsel to Butzel Long and practices in Butzel Long’s Detroit Office. Justice Corrigan concentrates her practice in litigation and appeals. Justice Corrigan served as law clerk to the Honorable John Gillis of the Michigan Court of Appeals in 1973. She then moved on to become an assistant prosecuting attorney in Wayne County from 1974 to 1979; in 1979 she was appointed Chief of Appeals in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Michigan. In 1986, she was promoted to Chief Assistant U.S. Attorney, becoming the first woman to hold that position. Justice Corrigan’s judicial service began when Governor John Engler appointed her to the Michigan Court of Appeals in March of 1992. In 1997 she was appointed Chief Judge of the appeals court, a position she held for two years before her election to the Michigan Supreme Court in 1998 and re-election in 2006. She served two terms as chief justice of the court, from 2001 through 2004. Her term was to end on December 31, 2014, but she left the court on January 14, 2011 to become the Director of the Michigan Department of Human Services.

Shalom Jacobs , Deputy Director of Field Operations, Arizona Department of Child Safety Shalom Jacobs is Deputy Director of Field Operations for the Arizona Department of Child Safety (DCS). Appointed in 2015, Shalom has successfully led her team of 2300 case workers, supervisors, analysts and administrators through several breakthrough initiatives. Shalom has also led her team through several turnaround transformations. From reduction in hotline hold times from over 12 minutes to under 30 seconds to reduction of an overwhelming “backlog” of open investigation reports from a peak of 33,245 in January 2015 to under 5,743 as of August 2019, these initiatives have resulted in reduced caseloads for workers and improved quality of service for families. Her proudest breakthrough to-date is the safe reduction of children in out of home care by 25% at a time when the national average was posting an increase of 4%, ranking Arizona as #1 in the nation relative to this metric in 2018. Shalom holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology with a minor in Family Studies from the University of Arizona. She has served in a wide variety of roles in child welfare, from case manager and unit supervisor to program specialist, investigations supervisor and data analyst. In 2018, Shalom served as executive sponsor for initiatives that led to DCS winning the CIO100 and the ISM award for Excellence in Health and Human Services Technology - Best Use of Technology for Operations. DCS was also named finalist for the NASCIO Digital Government Award, Government to Citizen Category.

Dr. Carol Homden, CEB, Group CEO of Coram Carol is Chief Executive of Coram, a group of specialist children charities reaching 2.5 million children, families and professionals every year. Formerly a member of the Youth Justice Board for England and Wales, she served on the Adoption Leadership Board for seven yeas and is also a continuing member of the Children’s Interagency Group and the Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health. Carol is Chair of the National Autistic Society, which operates seven specialist schools and multiple adult services and delivers national accreditation. Carol was awarded a CBE in 2013 for her contribution to services for children and families. Having started her career setting up print media enterprises in East Anglia as a freelance arts journalist and editor, she was previously Director of Marketing and Development at the University of Westminster, the first Director of Marketing and Public Affairs at the British Museum and Commercial Director for the Prince’s Trust.

Greg McKay, Director, Worldwide Public Sector, Microsoft Greg McKay is Microsoft’s Worldwide Director of Public Health and Social Services, developing strategies for governments to achieve better outcomes for vulnerable constituencies. Greg brings a unique perspective to leadership and has committed his life and career to protecting and healing vulnerable people, while making success a reality for those committed to serving them. Previously, Greg was appointed Director of Arizona’s Department of Child Safety (ADCS) by Governor Douglas A. Ducey. Under Greg’s leadership, ADCS recovered from its position as worst ranked among 50 states to top ranked in most notable categories. Greg’s experience prior to serving as a cabinet agency head was to “startup” the first criminal investigative component within the state’s child welfare system. This was enacted through a special legislative session ordered by Governor Janice K. Brewer in response to a series of catastrophic deaths of children with prior system involvement. For Greg’s twenty years prior to state government leadership, he served the Phoenix Police Department with assignments ranging from interdicting criminal street gangs, to investigating crimes against children, and homicide.