Workarounds to Mandated Data Practices: Rethinking Digital Infrastructure in Child Welfare and Homeless-Serving...

Area of Science:

• Social Sciences
• Information Systems
• Public Policy

Background:

• Canadian social service delivery infrastructure has undergone significant digitization over the past decade.
• This digital transformation impacts child welfare and youth homelessness sectors.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate how government-mandated digital infrastructure shapes data practices in Canadian social services.
• To understand the challenges and workarounds social workers employ due to digital information management systems.

Main Methods:

• Institutional ethnographic research practices.
• Observational research, focus groups (25 informants), and interviews (121 leaders/workers).
• Cross-sectoral analysis focusing on child welfare and youth homelessness.

Main Results:

• Digital information management systems have led to a proliferation of ad hoc data practices.
• Implemented systems are often incompatible with social workers' daily practices, aims, and ethics.
• Social workers engage in "workaround practices" to meet professional mandates due to infrastructural shortcomings.

Conclusions:

• Digital reforms have not yielded promised efficiencies due to misalignment with social work realities.
• Government-mandated infrastructures require better alignment with workers' needs and practices.
• Worker-centered design processes are crucial for future infrastructure development in social services.