IRIS Referral System

IRIS logo (PNG)What is IRIS?

The DuPage County Health Department’s All Our Kids (AOK) Early Childhood Network/DuPage Early Childhood Collaboration (DECC) has partnered with the University of Kansas to bring our communities an Integrated Referral and Intake System (IRIS) to connect families to the resources they need.

IRIS is an Integrated Referral and Intake System that works to connect local agencies with one another to streamline online client referrals. IRIS supports warm hand-offs for families, closes the communication loop for referring organizations, tracks outcomes, and provides a clear data-driven picture of partner capacity to improve the process over time.

In the past, the DuPage County Health Department did not have a way to track if a referral was accepted. The IRIS system can track the referrals sent by our case managers and manage if the referral was rejected, accepted, or in process. DuPage County has established a standard to respond to a referral within 3 business days. IRIS is in compliance with the Health Insurance Portability Accountability Act (HIPAA), assuring all client information stays private. 

 DuPage County will be able to use the data derived from IRIS through tracking zip code data to find out where the greatest need for services is. IRIS is used across Illinois, Kansas, Utah, Missouri, and the greater Boston area. If clients move to any of those areas, they can continue to access the services they need through IRIS. 

AOK/DECC improves families’ access to a more holistic, coordinated, and accessible system of services and supports. DuPage County’s AOK/DECC IRIS continues to grow, connecting families to agencies, resources, and services right in their community!

To learn more about IRIS please visit:

 “Improving the outcomes for young children and families requires bringing together organizations, schools, and community leaders to develop a shared agenda, design strategies, and develop an action plan to address the systems barriers and conditions that prevent families from accessing early childhood services. In Illinois, we refer to this collaborative process of bringing together stakeholders to develop coordinated and integrated local early childhood service delivery systems as community systems development. Stakeholder groups that come together for this purpose are called early childhood collaborations.”

  — Illinois Action for Children, 2020

 Last Updated: 6/26/2023