Indiana DCS Unveils Awaken Project To Overhaul Child Welfare System 

The Indiana Department of Child Services (DCS) announced the Awaken project to redesign, restructure, and realign the agency and merge its 18 geographic regions into five regions. Multiple levels of upper management have been eliminated, enabling regional directors and child welfare attorneys to have more immediate access to DCS’s executive leadership team and a closer relationship to family case managers. The state estimates that the Awaken project will allow DCS to redirect from $4 million to $8 million to its front-line staff.;

Awaken implements recommendations from Governor Mike Braun’s transition team formed in November 2024 just . . .