Child Abuse Database Wins TechBridge Award
Justin Rubner
May 11, 2007

In 1998, the beating death of 5-year-old Terrell Peterson raised concerns about Georgia's inability to protect the most vulnerable members of society. Peterson, who weighed just 29 pounds when he died, left behind a trail of bureaucratic evidence of neglect.

In 2006, Peterson and hundreds of other abuse victims were on the minds of the Juvenile Justice Fund and Fulton County Children's Advocacy Center when the two nonprofits partnered to design an intra-agency database. Wouldn't it be great, the groups wondered, if that trail of evidence could be seen in its entirety -- and shared with everyone in the child welfare community?

For the nonprofits' efforts to build such a system, the Child Abuse Case Tracking Information System (CACTIS), it won TechBridge's annual Technology Innovation Award on May 5. The award, $46,000 in technological services, products and cash, is given every year to a tech-savvy nonprofit at the Digital Ball, one of the biggest technology events in Atlanta.

With limited resources, judges noted, the winners developed a first-of-its-kind tracking system in Georgia.

"If we all had [Peterson's] history in CACTIS, perhaps we would have been able to see more fully and intervene before he died," said Kimberley Borna, executive director of the Juvenile Justice Fund.

Just as U.S. intelligence agencies had crucial information before September 2001, important information is often present in abuse cases. But in Fulton County alone, Borna said, there are 34 groups that respond to reports of child abuse. Not sharing intelligence can lead to further abuse, or even the prosecution of an innocent family, she said.

"These are decisions that affect children and their families forever," Borna said.

The nonprofits plan to develop a training system for CACTIS. Currently, it operates only in Fulton County. The ultimate hope is to expand it statewide.

Judges included a who's who in Atlanta technology, including the chief information officers of The Home Depot Inc., ChoicePoint Inc., United Parcel Service Inc., Cox Enterprises Inc., EarthLink Inc. and Southern Co. They narrowed their choices to two other finalists, the Bobby Dodd Institute, a provider of job training for people with disabilities, and The Well Project, which helps women with HIV/AIDS. The award was sponsored by information technology consultancy Accenture Ltd.