Refining Our Concepts For Foster Care & Adoption.

A wise designer said that “It is forgivable if you miss a high target. But it is totally unforgivable if you set a low target, to begin with.” As we are talking about the pain points in the whole Foster Care and Adoption System in Massachusetts; and the pain points of all the people involved, it was very much necessary to learn the most about it. After learning, it was natural to be ambitious and start with the big idea as mentioned in our previous article, the three big ideas attacking three major problems that were identified through Design Thinking and The Design Process. But it is also important to believe that small steps have the ability to trigger changes, and that small steps can go further than aiming so big that is hardly viable in the current situation.

So I, in this article, will be talking about the narrowed down ideas. With a combination of User Experience and Design Innovation, Big Ideas can happen with a little bit of refinement.

So, how did we do it?

We Shadowed a Social Worker.

As we talked in the previous article about the Technology Integration Idea and the take on improving the overall system, we shadowed a social worker at their office. We observed their schedules, their work environment, and the pain points from their point of view. We noticed what technology they use, or lack thereof, and their methods of working. It was shocking to see that the place was full of filing cabinets. It was a wonder. Social workers are so busy doing good deeds and filling out most of their work by hand, that they are not able to gather data in an organized fashion. They take notes on paper, transfer it to a computer and print out the cases. They rush from foster homes to pre-adoptive parent homes, to court hearings, and back to the office just to log the information of the day. They are already working overtime without pay and unfortunately, no day is the same. Therefore stability is not normal.

My intuitive cohorts wanted an actionable say to provide a solution that could be implemented immediately. They realized how ‘Google for Nonprofits’ can be utilized in order to alleviate this strain on social workers. This helpful tool allows so that social workers will not need to invest in iPads or more PCs at the moment and instead, they can log their data anytime and anywhere. This saves time, money, and energy so social workers can focus on what matters most. In the long-term, we believe building a server that connects social workers and pre-adoptive parents will fix many of the complex workflows within this system. Till then, ‘Google for Nonprofits’ is a solution that can make a big impact.

We Asked More Questions.

Jordan’s Furniture Event, one of the biggest social events for adoption, lacks a human approach in this human-centric process. We asked a couple of prospective parents and social workers about their thoughts and experiences. Prospective parents do not feel very comfortable approaching the kids in the current environment. Kids don’t seem to be comfortable too. Everyone involved here is trying their extreme best but this event is NOT an auction. So, it should not feel like one. It should be comfortable and interactive. My cohorts worked on interactive event ideas where kids of all age and abilities can engage and feel the spirit of fun. Their idea of Fun Spirit Events also helps parents approach children freely and thus can have a chance of connectivity or can at least have a chance of getting to know the child as a person. They have interactive ideas like Scavenger Hunt and Legoland in mind that does not require a lot of time or money to be set up. It also considers the busy schedule of Prospective Parents where they can visit the event anytime and yet can experience the event with the same zeal.

We Explored and Co-Created.

We had the luck to check out some of the Welcome Books (Introductory books that prospective parents create for their adoptive child. That includes prospective parents’ photographs and a sneak peek into their home and lives) that pre-adoptive parents had created and it was very nice to witness the time, effort and creativity that they had put. While the given guidelines are already very impressive and helpful, we saw room for additions based off of parent insight. My cohort and I working on this idea really want to focus on age-specific guidelines. How to talk to a five-year-old and an eleven-year-old is very very different. We want to focus on welcome books that go to differently abled children and provide guidelines for the same too. This can be incorporated by the social workers almost immediately.

However, in the long run, we would like to propose the idea of the e-version of the welcome book that has various sounds and 3D objects from the pre-adoptive parent’s life and home. We hope that includes 5 senses’ -touch points step by step that after the long waiting period when a child goes home, they feel a sense of belonging and thus making this transition process a little bit smoother.

So, what’s next?

Being grateful to the social workers and pre-adoptive parents for all the transparency, we with all the rigor and depth are trying to make the journey more humane by solving practical and emotional problems. As it is very important for refined concepts to be feasible and viable, we cannot forget the root of this problem that ties to the mental state of all the actors involved. In the next article, my teammate will tell you a story that is as desirable as human-centric.