Binti: Transforming Child Welfare through Technology

Binti, a mission-driven Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) company, leverages technology to improve outcomes and drive quality practice in the child welfare system so that every child has an equal opportunity to thrive. Its cloud-hosted, web-based, modular software of the same name provides portals for agency staff and families. These portals offer a curated and intuitive customer experience that guides users through the actions they need to take and facilitates communication and collaboration among stakeholders, including families, private agencies, service providers, and state and local governments.

The idea for Binti was conceived when co-founder and CEO Felicia Curcuru witnessed a family member grappling with the complex, opaque and inefficient legal adoption process for her two children. She embarked on this journey after learning that this was the norm across the nation, and numerous families dropped out due to the length and difficulty of the procedure, leaving thousands of children without a safe, permanent home. Curcuru spent thousands of hours shadowing and interviewing child welfare caseworkers and families involved in the process. Binti then launched its flagship Licensing module, which enables the Licensing/Approval of foster care and adoptive homes with a family-facing portal to complete the application process. This is now the most widespread child welfare software solution in the country, serving more than 440 agencies in 34 states with 10 statewide implementations.

“Our software modules are designed to put the child first, which is one of our company’s core values. Along with supporting the day-to-day work of our users, this focus has enabled us to create a significant, measurable impact and rapidly become a major player in the industry,” says Felicia Curcuru, Co-Founder and CEO at Binti.

The firm’s Licensing module—designed to mitigate the shortage of foster families caused by lengthy licensing procedures and a lack of technological support—has achieved impressive results, saving up to 40 percent of worker time, reducing the number of days to become licensed by 18 percent, and enabling agencies to license 30 percent more families a year. This module allows families to upload the necessary information and electronically sign licensing documents. Its comprehensive worker dashboard enables agencies to monitor application progress and workload, as well as assess the performance of its workers, local offices and contractors.

Binti has two additional modules—placements and family finding. The Placements module identifies the best family placement for a child. This is done by helping agencies keep siblings together and avoid disruptions where a child has to relocate to another home.

Family finding supports the evidence-based best practice of identifying and engaging relatives or other kin who can support a child at risk of or already entered into the child welfare system.

A SaaS solution, Binti’s subscription unlocks various benefits. This includes unlimited users, system configuration, customer support help desk, change management services, and ongoing customer success support like utilization assessment, product training and change management services. The company’s implementation team and data specialists work with agencies to identify requirements, workflows, data migration, and baseline metrics of process improvement. They then configure these requirements into the system with minimal need for additional coding or engineering, enabling modules to launch in weeks instead of years. The company also trains administrators, frontline workers, supervisors, and families on its modules’ optimal utilization.

Our software modules are designed to put the child first, which is one of our company’s core values. Along with supporting the day-to-day work of our users, this focus has enabled us to create a significant, measurable impact and rapidly become a major player in the industry

Binti, as a part of its innovative solution, offers full-time support to agencies and families through a customer support team available via live chat in the system, as well as a dedicated customer success manager for each customer account. These customer success managers meticulously track and address customer feedback. The firm also prioritizes various features and needs flagged by numerous users, constantly updating the software to enhance application usability.

The company’s tangible and positive impact is echoed by governments and agencies. For instance, the State of Rhode Island overcame the challenges of licensing delays and copious paperwork by employing Binti’s tools in their ‘Rhode to 100’ campaign. The goal was to license 100 homes within two years. However, with Binti’s assistance, they successfully licensed 287 families within 205 days, compared to their previous 580 days.

Since its inception, Binti has safeguarded the sensitive data of families and agencies. Its modules are hosted in the Google Cloud Platform (GCP), an industry-renowned secure platform, and are compliant with HIPAA, SOC2 Type2, NIST regulations. Regular penetration testing and password management procedures ensure the security of sensitive child welfare application data.

One of Binti’s key success factors is its team’s firsthand experience in the child welfare system, whether as individuals with lived experience in foster care, adoptive parents, court-appointed special advocates (CASA), social workers on the front lines, or supervisors/executives who manage the work in agencies, counties, and states. This shared experience nurtures a child-centric culture embodied in Binti’s module designs and superior customer service. The firm also aims to expand its services internationally to Europe, Australia, and Canada, as part of its ongoing mission.