CFSP/APSR Toolkit: State Requirements for FY 2009 State & FY 2010 CFSP

State Requirements for FY 2010 CFSP

State Checklist for the Child and Family Service Plan (CFSP)/State Final Report (PDF - 96 KB). Please note: This checklist was developed to help States ensure their CFSP and Final Report submission includes all required elements. Items on the checklist have been shortened; see the Program Instruction for a complete description. The item’s location in the Program Instruction is provided.

FY 2009 State Final Report - Each State must conduct a review of the progress made toward accomplishing the goals and objectives in the CFSP for FYs 2005 through 2009. When conducting the final review, the State must involve the agencies, organizations, and individuals that are a part of the ongoing CFSP-related consultation and coordination process. The final report may be submitted in the format of the State‘s choice. The final report must include the progress made on the goals and objectives during the last fiscal year and a summary of accomplishments made for FYs 2005 through 2009.

FY 2010 – 2014 CFSP - The CFSP must include all of the following items. Missing or incomplete information will result in the withholding of funds for the programs affected, until such time as approval can be granted by the Administration for Children and Families.

The following items are requirements for completing and submitting an CFSP:

State agency administering the programs: States must identify the name of the State agency that will administer the title IV-B programs under the plan.

Vision Statement: States must include a vision statement that articulates the grantee’s philosophy in providing child and family services and developing or improving a coordinated service-delivery system.

Goals: The CFSP must specify the goals based on the vision statement that will be accomplished during and by the end of the five-year period of the plan.

Objectives: The CFSP must include the realistic, specific, quantifiable, and measurable objectives that will be undertaken to achieve each goal.

Measures of progress: The CFSP must describe the methods to be used in measuring the results, accomplishments, and annual progress toward meeting the goals and objectives, especially the outcomes for children, youth, and families.

Consultation and Coordination: Discuss the approach to include, and the involvement of, stakeholders including families, youth, Tribes, other Federally funded programs.

Child and Family Services Continuum: States must describe the publicly funded child and family services continuum, including child abuse and neglect prevention, intervention, and treatment services and foster care; family preservation services; family support services; and services to support reunification, adoption, kinship care, independent living, and services for other permanent living arrangements.

Service Description: States must describe the services they offer under each category in title IV-B, subpart 2: family preservation, family support, time-limited family reunification, and adoption promotion and support services.

Decision-making process: States must include an explanation of how agencies and organizations were selected for funding to provide family support services and how these agencies are community-based.

Coordination with Tribes: States must provide a description, developed in consultation with Indian Tribes in their State, of the specific measures the States use to comply with the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) (Section 422(b)(9) of the Act).

Health care services: P.L. 110-351 amended the section 422(b)(15) of the Act, to require States and Tribes to develop a plan for ongoing oversight and coordination of health care services for children in foster care. This plan shall be developed in coordination with the State title XIX (Medicaid) agency, and in consultation with pediatricians and other experts in health care, and experts in and recipients of child welfare services. States are required to submit a copy of the Health Care Services Plan with their CFSP.

Disaster plans: Section 422(b)(16) of the Act requires that States have in place procedures explaining how the State programs assisted under title IV-B, subparts 1 and 2, or title IV-E, would respond to a disaster, in accordance with criteria established by the Secretary.

Child welfare waiver demonstration activities (applicable States only): If the State has been awarded a demonstration waiver under Section 1130 of the Act, it must provide a description of its coordination efforts to integrate the activities under the CFSP with the goals and objectives of the demonstration. In particular, the State must discuss how title IV-B monies are used to maximize the use of flexible title IV-E dollars in the demonstration.

Monthly Caseworker Visits: Describe the action steps the State plans to take to ensure that, by October 1, 2011, 90 percent of children in foster care are visited on monthly basis by their workers, and that the majority of the visits occur in the residence of the child. Highlight any changes made to the action steps since the submission of the last APSR (Section 424(e)(1) and (2) of the Act).

Adoption incentive payments: P.L. 110-351 re-authorized the Adoption Incentives Program amending section 473A of the Act to extend the Adoption Incentive Program through FY 2013. It updated the "base year" used to measure increases to FY 2007 (section 473A(g)), and doubled incentive payment amounts for special needs (from $2,000 to $4,000) and older child adoptions (from $4,000 to $8,000) (section 473A(d)(1)). The law also creates a "highest ever" foster child adoption rate payment for exceeding the highest foster child adoption rate since 2002.

Training: The State’s CFSP must include a staff development and training plan in support of the goals and objectives in the CFSP that addresses both of the title IV-B programs covered by the plan.

Evaluation and Technical Assistance: The State’s CFSP must describe any evaluation and research activities underway or planned with which the State agency is involved or participating and that are related to the goals and objectives in the plan. The State must also describe the technical assistance activities that will be undertaken in support of the goals and objectives of the plan (45 CFR 1357.15(t)).

Quality Assurance System: The State must include in the CFSP a description of the quality assurance system it will use to regularly assess the quality of services under the CFSP and assure that there will be steps taken to address identified problems (45 CFR 1357.15(u)).

Assurances: States are to submit the assurances and certifications necessary for plan approval for each program. States are required to sign the pages of Attachment C and submit them with the CFSP.

Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) State Plan Requirements: States must develop a five-year strategic plan with goals and objectives for a continuum of care to improve their child protective system and consolidate it with their CFSP to be eligible to receive a grant under section 106 of CAPTA.

Chafee Foster Care Independence and Education and Training Vouchers Programs: States must include in the CFSP a description of the Chafee Foster Care Independence and the Education and Training Vouchers Programs services to be provided during the five-year period of FY 2010 through 2014.

Statistical and Supportng Information - Additional required information related to the following topics:

Financial Information: Requirements for Payment limitations , Budget requests, and reporting specific percentages of Title IV-B 2 funds; includes requirements related to expenditures of Chafee funds.

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