Improving outcomes for youths in out-of-home care
Duration
16–18 Weeks
Role
Design Strategist and Lead
Team
3 Designers
Impact
Nearly 7,000 youths in out-of-home care
Client
Wisconsin Department of Children and Families
“We want an app for messaging kids in foster care”
That was the initial request from Wisconsin’s Department of Children and Families. They wanted a portal where caseworkers could send messages and share files with youths in care. The motivation made sense, but one question kept nagging: what would actually make teenagers want to check this thing?
Looking deeper
Drawing on CGI’s 25 years in Wisconsin’s child welfare system, our team had access to extensive research with youths in care. Hours of interviews and focus groups revealed an ongoing concern: teens had little agency in their Independent Living Transition Plans, despite these plans being critical to their futures.
We reframed the question: “How might we make an application that empowers youths in their planning and transition to independent living?”
The vision
A comprehensive platform including independent living planning tools, access to their own documents (Social Security cards, birth certificates), communication channels with case teams, and curated transition resources. This gave the state their communication platform while solving a much more meaningful problem for the teens.
Building momentum
In addition to presenting our reframed vision to DCF leadership, the concept was selected for presentation at the Center for Public Sector AI conference, reaching child welfare leadership from 25+ states. We secured funding and led detailed MVP design delivery.
What’s happening now: Starting with a pilot of ~100 youth, then scaling across Wisconsin’s nearly 7,000 youths in out-of-home care. Success will be measured through engagement metrics and ultimately, better real-world outcomes for young people aging out of foster care.
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