For years, the Department of Health and Welfare has collected detailed information through its child welfare case management system, capturing the history and progress of thousands of cases across Idaho. Lance McCleve, bureau chief for Youth Safety and Permanency, has been leading a project to better use that information to help children move more quickly into safe, permanent homes.

“When kids are in the child protection system, we want to make sure that they’re in the system for as little time as possible and that they can get to a permanent placement as soon as possible,” McCleve said. “And the more information we have to be able to help them along their way, the better.”

The challenge was not a lack of data, but efficiently accessing that data. Much of the information exists as narrative case notes and documents that are difficult to analyze at scale.

To address that challenge, McCleve’s team explored how artificial intelligence could be used behind the scenes to synthesize historical information — while maintaining strict protections for Idahoans’ personal data. He shared about the project in a recent video published by the Idaho Office of Information Technology Services. 

The project used existing Microsoft Dynamics and Azure services, and all extracted data was anonymized before being processed.

AI was never intended to replace professional judgment. Human review and validation were required at every step to ensure accuracy.

“What we’re using it for is a decision help, not a decision maker,” McCleve said. “So it gets our case workers the kind of information that they need quickly to be able to make the decisions that used to take a long time.”

The project focused on identifying 52 nationally recognized indicators across about 2,000 historical cases — a task that used to take staff four hours per case to complete manually. That would have taken four staff an entire year to complete.  Using AI, the entire case record can be analyzed in about 30 minutes. 

“So it basically made some things that were impossible possible for us,” McCleve said.

During statewide training, staff began applying the findings to real cases and saw immediate value.

“What they were finding is that those indicators helped clarify what next steps were needed to get kids home quicker,” McCleve said.

Looking ahead, McCleve sees the project as both a proof of concept and a promise.

“If I could describe the future of AI for the department in one word,” he said, “hopeful.”

Watch the Office of Information Technology Services video featuring McCleve, DHW Director Juliet Charron, DHW Deputy Director Monty Prow, and others who work in state government discuss the use of AI in their work: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5QC97ImWs0

The Idaho Department of Health and Welfare is dedicated to strengthening the health, safety, and independence of Idahoans. Learn more at healthandwelfare.idaho.gov.