Keep Your Wait List Warm

About this recommendation

Sometimes, the list of people who may benefit from prevention services exceeds the resources and/or staff time you have available, creating a waiting list. Assign someone to keep in regular touch with people waiting on this list so they are ready to engage when resources come available.

How to do this

• Determine your cut-off point for designating a “waiting list” — this should be roughly how long it takes to reach out and offer services under normal resourcing / circumstances. (For example, if you have a surge in reports at the start of each school year, you should use your normal timeline from the rest of the year.)
• Determine how you will prioritize your list, so if there is a wait list, those in greater need are more likely to get services first.
• Looking at the size of your average wait list from this point, determine what staffing level you need to reach out to these individuals, at what frequency. Calling once a week takes twice the resources as calling every other week, but you may determine families are best served with weekly check-in calls. The length of time someone will likely be on the waiting list will impact this — whether they’ll wait a few weeks or potentially wait for months.
• This might require a full-time staff member. This can be a great role for a newer social worker who is still earning credits.
• Contacts can be light touchpoints. Consider whether there might be some resources available for these families now, even if not the ones they are primarily waiting for. The relationship they build while on the wait list can potentially make them much more likely to engage later.
• Be sure to track your wait list data to use it to make a case for more prevention services / resources.

Who's doing this

What they're doing

• Hennepin County, Minnesota has a dedicated employee who stays in touch with the people on their wait list.