County: State plan could hurt kids
Source: Aaron Marshall, Plain Dealer (OH), Sunday, March 30, 2008
Ohio has spent more than $90 million over the past decade trying to launch a computer system to keep track of tens of thousands of children across the state placed in foster care each year. But Cuyahoga County officials say the system simply does not work, and they refuse to sign on to it, as state officials have ordered them to do by June 23.
...... Other counties are also rebelling. Last week, child welfare agency heads in Cuyahoga and 10 other counties sent a letter to the state saying they won't be part of the new system until it is successfully rolled out in Hamilton County and the current problems are resolved.
....... But state officials say the system needs to be up and running because the $37.5 million contract given to Dynamics Research Corp. of Andover, Mass., to develop the system is up at the end of this fiscal year - June 30.
Related article from the Plain Dealer: A history of computer problems