Terms & Definitions

Administration
Functional area in MiSACWIS that supports operations and manages security, ticklers, broadcast messages, and MiSACWIS users.
Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS)
A system that collects case-level information from state and tribal title IV-E agencies on all children in foster care and those who have been adopted with title IV-E agency involvement.
Adult Protective Services (APS)
A state-mandated case management program that arranges for services and support for physically and/or mentally impaired adults who are at risk of harm.
Allegation
An unproven accusation.
Alleged Perpetrator
The participant in a reported incident who is accused of being responsible for committing the infraction.
Alleged Victim
A child reported as being involved in a reported incident.
Annual/Renewal
A home evaluation record for an existing provider home that is being renewed or reassessed.
Appeal
A filing for any type of court order; however, most appeals involving DHS relate to termination of parental rights (TPR) court orders.
Approved service authorization
Initiates automated payment processing in MiSACWIS.
Associated person
A person who has a connection to a case but is not an active member of the case.
AWOL
Refers to "absent without leave."
Department of Human Services (DHS)
The Department of Human Services (DHS) is responsible for administering MiSACWIS to provide a single, comprehensive view of the child and family.
Batch report
A report generated by the system, usually after hours.
Broadcast message
A message created in MiSACWIS to convey critical or important information requiring immediate action.
Case
A MiSACWIS record used for providing, recording, and supervising services.
Case ID
A unique ID number used by MiSACWIS to facilitate storage and retrieval of information about a family case.
Case Management
Functional area in MiSACWIS where all family-centered case data is maintained, including social work contacts, permanency plans, Permanent Ward Foster Care cases, case services, and court actions.
Case Reference Person (CRP)
The person a MiSACWIS case is named after, usually the head of the household referenced in the case.
Case worker
A worker who performs job tasks such as assessment, investigation, placement, case service planning, and adoption.
Case workload
The cases assigned to staff and viewed from the Case Workload screen.
Casey Life Skills (CLS) Assessment
An assessment designed to be used in a collaborative conversation between the case worker/service provider and youth aged 14-21 to help set goals and measure progress for the youth's living skills.
Centralized Intake worker
A worker who adds intakes to MiSACWIS.
Child Adolescent Needs & Strengths (CANS) Assessment
An assessment used to identify the service needs of a child and ensure the child is in the most appropriate setting available.
Child Protective Services (CPS)
A program responsible for receiving intakes and investigating allegations of child abuse and neglect.
CPS
A program responsible for receiving intakes and investigating allegations of child abuse and neglect.
CRP
The CRP, or Case Reference Person, is the person a MiSACWIS case is named after. This person is usually the head of the household referenced in the case.
Custody episode
Begins with the date of a child's initial removal, when the child is taken into physical custody or placed under a formal voluntary agreement between the agency, the parents, and the placement provider.
Database
Software that stores information on computers. Specific pieces of information are stored so that they can be recalled individually or as part of a group of related pieces of information.
Department of Human Services (DHS)
The Department of Human Services (DHS) is responsible for administering MiSACWIS to provide a single, comprehensive view of the child and family.
DHS
The Department of Human Services (DHS) is responsible for administering MiSACWIS to provide a single, comprehensive view of the child and family.
Disposition
A final conclusion concerning the home evaluation used to approve or deny the home evaluation.
Draft report
A report that has been generated but not yet saved to the MiSACWIS database.
Eligibility worker
Performs tasks related to determining a client's eligibility for assistance.
Escalation date
A set number of days before an action is due in MiSACWIS. The number of days varies from one action to the next. The escalation date is used to remind workers and team leaders that a critical case-related date is imminent.
Family case
A family case is made up of MiSACWIS family members for the purpose of providing, recording, and supervising case services.
Home evaluation
The process by which a private provider completes the necessary tasks to be approved as a private home or provider. These include activities like training, assessment visits, home descriptions, references, and so on.
Home screen
The starting point or initial screen in MiSACWIS. Think of the Home screen as your "portal" to MiSACWIS. It is accessible by clicking the "home" link at the top of the screen.
Hyperlink
A word or phrase to click with the mouse to jump to a new document. Hyperlinks are used to display Glossary definitions.
Intake
The process by which an organization receives and records information about children and families.
MiSACWIS
The Michigan State Automated Child Welfare Information System (MiSACWIS) is a statewide comprehensive case management system designed to automate the delivery of child welfare and juvenile justice services.
MiSACWIS Help Desk

A resource available to support MiSACWIS workers.
Help Desk Phone: (517) 241-9700 or (800) 968-2644
Email: misacwishelpdesk@michigan.gov

MiSACWIS Provider ID
A unique ID number issued to each provider of foster care and adoptive homes, and community residential program services and used to store and retrieve information.
Navigate
To move from one MiSACWIS screen to another by using commands.
Navigation
The action of moving from one part of an application or Web site to another part.
Participant
An individual involved in an incident referred to DHS.
Person
An individual with a record in MiSACWIS. A person may be a participant in a case or an individual associated with a case, such as an attorney, guardian ad litem, or a foster parent, etc.
Person ID
A unique identification number generated by MiSACWIS to facilitate storage and retrieval of information about a person.
Person profile
A record which contains the name, address, phone number, and demographic information of a person in MiSACWIS. Profiles may also contain background information, such as medical, adoption, financial, and educational histories. Person profiles can be linked to other records such as intakes or cases.
Provider
An individual or organization that provides case services, ranging from private homes and agencies to residential programs.
Reporting person
The person reporting information to DHS.
Screen
Rectangular area used by applications to display controls and information on your computer monitor. This glossary is displayed in a screen. Screens are used to distinguish different applications as well as different parts of one application.
Termination of parental rights (TPR)
The severing of the parent-child relationship by the state.
Tickler
A reminder about MiSACWIS work items in need of completion. System-generated ticklers are automatically created by MiSACWIS to remind you of actions that need to be taken on a work item. Ad hoc ticklers are reminders that you create and send to yourself.
User interface
The visual elements of a software application that are displayed on a computer monitor. You use this visual display to give commands to the application and to view information in it.
Worker
This is a generic term for someone with general access to MiSACWIS who has the capability to read (view) non-confidential information.