Dictionary

The term "case management" is particularly problematic as it is used differently by various professions (for example, by social workers, health care workers, and IT specialists). Further, some may use the term “case management” to mean what we call beneficiary operations management. Some practitioners use the term case management to mean social work (covering awareness, intermediation, referrals, and counseling).

Others use the term to refer to an integrated approach to managing clients all along the delivery chain (through the entire “life of the case,” as some practitioners call it). To avoid confusion, we avoid the term.

Source: book on the Foundations of Social Protection Delivery Systems

or

A process to plan, seek, advocate for, and monitor services from different social services or health care organizations and staff on behalf of a client. The process enables social workers in an organization, or in different organizations, to coordinate their efforts to serve a given client through professional teamwork, thus expanding the range of needed services offered. Case management limits problems arising from fragmentation of services, staff turnover, and inadequate coordination among providers. Case management can occur within a single, large organization or within a community program that coordinates services among settings (Barker, 2003)-

Source: NASW Standards

Money distributed to individuals, families, or households. Cash transfers are direct, regular, and predictable noncontributory cash payments that help beneficiaries to raise and smooth incomes. The term encompasses a range of instruments (e.g., social pensions, child grants, public works programs, unconditional or conditional cash transfers, etc.) and a spectrum of design, implementation, and financing options.

A targeting mechanism in which eligibility is defined for groups of the population on the basis of specific observable characteristics, such as age. Examples include social pensions for the elderly, child allowances, birth allowances, family allowances, and orphan benefits.

A cash benefit provided to families based on the presence and number of children in the family. The benefit may vary by the ordinal position of the child, the age of the child, or the employment status of the parent. Eligibility can be universal or based on an assessment of socioeconomic status (such as means testing).

Services provided for the protection of children who are at risk of, or experiencing, neglect (physical or emotional) or abuse (physical, sexual, or emotional). The focus is on the safety of the child, but support may also be provided to parents or other family members to strengthen families and promote safe, nurturing homes for the children.

Financial support provided by a nonresident, noncustodial parent for the support of a child.

Social services for children at-risk and their families, including child protective services, adoption and foster care, family preservation, and care services (home, community, or residential/ institutional care).

Out-of-home care of children, usually for children under compulsory school age, or of primary-school age children when school is not in session. Childcare services include preschool, childcare centers, day care in providers’ homes, and before- and after-school services.

The continuous, permanent, compulsory, and universal recording of the occurrence and characteristics of vital events (e.g., live births, deaths, fetal deaths, marriages, and divorces) and other civil status events pertaining to the population as provided by decree, law, or regulation, in accordance with the legal requirements in each country.

The term client refers to the individual or family who is the recipient of case management services—in other words, whose goals, needs, and strengths constitute the primary focus of case management. (Within these standards, client often refers to an individual; the term family may be substituted if applicable, however.) Each organization’s mission usually defines its clientele; funding sources may also play a role in this determination. In some practice settings or case management models, beneficiary, consumer, patient, peer, resident, or other terms may be used in lieu of client. The client system includes both the client and members of the client’s support network (such as family members, friends, religious communities, or service providers).

The physical or digital access point or interaction between people (individuals, families, and households) and social protection delivery systems.

A mechanism by which local communities are given discretion to determine which individuals, families, or households will be selected as beneficiaries of a particular program—or to determine which would be registered into a social registry for further assessment of their needs and conditions and eventual consideration for potential eligibility in social programs.

Compliance refers to the carrying out of specific conditionalities or co-responsibilities required for participation in the program by beneficiaries. Noncompliance refers to the failure to carry out said conditionalities.

The period in each conditionalities monitoring cycle during which beneficiaries would be observed for compliance monitoring (in other words, when they would be expected to comply).

A performance indicator that measures the number of individuals complying with required conditionalities for a program (numerator) as a share (%) of total individuals monitored (denominator). This indicator is usually monitored for individuals within a specific categorical group, such as school-age children, pregnant/lactating mothers, and so on.

The time period during which compliance verification processing is carried out within each conditionalities monitoring cycle. The allotted period may differ from the actual time taken to carry out all the steps, which would be measured through a process evaluation (and could be more or less than the time allotted).

The process of verifying that beneficiaries have complied with program conditionalities. This process could include preparation and distribution of beneficiary lists; gathering, recording, entering, processing, and transmittal of data on compliance (or on noncompliance); and taking decisions as to whether beneficiaries have complied with the conditionalities.

Social assistance programs that make receipt of benefits conditional upon beneficiary actions (such as school attendance or health care visits), typically with the objectives of reducing poverty and providing incentives for investing in human capital.

Conditionalities (aka “co-responsibilities”). The set of obligations that each beneficiary household must comply with in order to continue receiving cash benefits. Common examples include school attendance, health visits, and labor/work efforts.

The monitoring of beneficiary household members’ compliance with conditionalities and processing of associated data. This is the “umbrella term” that covers compliance monitoring periods and compliance verification periods/processes.

The recurring period that begins with the latest roster of beneficiary households, with information on pertinent family members (inputs), and ends with a revised beneficiary roster that updates with information on compliance for that cycle, as well as any decisions on consequences for noncompliance (outputs), which would link back to the payroll for the next payment cycle (outputs). The conditionalities monitoring cycle includes both the compliance period and the compliance verification period.

A performance indicator that measures the number of individuals for which the program monitors conditionalities compliance information (numerator) as a share (percent) of total individuals in that category (denominator). This indicator is usually monitored for individuals within a specific categorical group, such as school-age children, pregnant/ lactating mothers, and so on.

“The process by which individuals and systems respond respectfully and effectively to people of all cultures, languages, classes, races, ethnic backgrounds, religions, and other diversity factors [including, but not limited to, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, and family status] in a manner that recognizes, affirms, and values the worth of individuals, families, and communities and protects and preserves the dignity of each” (NASW, 2007, pp. 12–13).

Culture influences the values, perceptions, and goals every social worker and client brings to case management. Cultural identification may include, but is not limited to, race, ethnicity, and national origin; migration background, degree of acculturation, and documentation status; socioeconomic class; age; gender, gender identity, and gender expression; sexual orientation; family status; spiritual, religious, and political belief or affiliation; physical, psychiatric, and cognitive ability; and literacy, including health, behavioral health, and financial literacy.

or homegrown software or bespoke software.

Software developed specifically for an organization or user.

Includes configuration, modification, and enhancements made to the software application.

• Configuration. The process of selecting from an assortment of options, such as defining values of parameters in a software package, without writing specific code to meet requirements of the application.
• Enhancement. The process of adding program code or program modules to provide additional functionality to software. It does not alter existing processes. It adds to them.
• Modification. The process of changing program code to alter the existing form of processing. Modifications may be discouraged and unsupported by packaged software vendors, and in many cases the code may not be accessible. It can cause problems when the organization decides to install an upgraded version of the software.