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Home > Statistics & Research > AFCARS Assessment Reviews > Iowa Assessment Review > AFCARS Assessment Review - General Requirements Findings

AFCARS Assessment Review - General Requirements Findings
State: Iowa

REQUIREMENT FINDING/NOTES RATING
FACTOR
POPULATION REQUIREMENTS 2
45 CFR 1355.40(a) Scope of the data collection system - foster care

Must include all children in foster care for whom the agency has responsibility for placement, care, or supervision (45 CFR 1355.40(a)(2)).
  • All children who are required to be provided the protection of section 422(b)(10) of the Social Security Act (the Act) (Appendix A - SECTION II).

Program Code: Paragraphs 1300, 3100, 3200, 3300, and 3850

The State includes in the population extraction all children in the agency's care and placement responsibility, except for children placed with relatives. The State excludes these children from the reporting population and considers them discharged, even though the State has responsibility for care, placement or supervision. Post site-visit analysis: On July 1, 2004 the State implemented a new screen (out of home placement, OUTD) to capture relative placements.

The State includes in its foster care population those children placed by a private adoption agency in which the child qualifies as “special needs.” State law requires that a child be placed with adoptive parent(s) for a six-month period of time prior to the finalization of the adoption. During this time the agency pays a subsidy to the family. The State should not include these children in the foster care file since it does not have care and placement responsibility of these children.

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  • All children supervised by or under the responsibility of another public agency with which the title IV-B/E agency has an agreement under title IV-E and the State makes title IV-E foster care maintenance payments (Appendix A - SECTION II).
 The State has interagency agreements with the Judicial Branch. The Iowa Department of Human Services includes child welfare and mental health programs. blank cell
Includes Native American children covered under section 422(b)(10) of the Act, (45 CFR 1355.40(a)(2)). Yes blank cell
Out of State placements. The State making the placement submits the information on the child (45 CFR 1355.40(a)(2)). State includes children placed out-of-State in the reporting population. blank cell
Includes all children who have been in foster care at least 24 hours. (Appendix A - SECTION II). Yes, the State reports all children that are in out-of-home care for more than 24 hours. The State also is including in its submission children that have been removed for less than 24 hours. The State needs to exclude removals from home that are less than 24 hours. blank cell
Does not include children who are in their own homes under the responsibility of the State agency (Appendix A - SECTION II). The State correctly does not include in its reporting population children the agency has supervision of but were never removed from their home. blank cell
Include all children who are in the placement, care, or supervision responsibility of the title IV-B/E agency that are on “trial home visits” (Child Welfare Policy Manual, Section 1.3, AFCARS Reporting Population). The State includes in the reporting population children returned home while under the agency's care, placement, or supervision. Children are returned home for an unspecified period of time. The State considers the children discharged from care for AFCARS reporting purposes six months after returning home. blank cell
Includes youth over the age of 18 if a title IV-E payment is being made on behalf of the child (Child Welfare Policy Manual, Section 1, AFCARS). The State includes youth up to the age of 19 if a title IV-E payment is made on behalf of the child. blank cell
45 CFR 1355.40(a) Scope of the data collection system - adoption blank cell blank cell
Includes all adopted children placed by the agency, and all adopted children for whom the State agency is providing adoption assistance (either ongoing or for non-recurring expenses), or for whom care or services are provided directly or by contract or agreement with other private or public agencies (45 CFR 1355.40(a)(3)).
  • Report on all children adopted in the State during the reporting period in whose adoption the State has had any involvement. All adoptions after 10/1/94 that meet the criteria below must be reported. Criteria (Appendix B - Section II):
    1. Children who had been in foster care under the responsibility and care of the agency.
    2. All special needs children, whether or not they were in the public foster care system prior to their adoption and for whom non-recurring expenses were reimbursed.
    3. Children adopted for whom an adoption assistance payment or service is being provided based on arrangements with the State agency.
 The State includes all adoptions for which they have involvement, including children placed by a private agency that are eligible for adoption subsidy. blank cell
Adoptions prior to 10/1/94, with title IV-E adoption subsidies, report aggregate data (45 CFR 1355.40(a)(3)). Not applicable. blank cell
For children adopted out of state, the placing State reports the adoption data (45 CFR 1355.40(a)(3)). The State reports children that are placed out of State for adoption. However, children placed in Iowa for adoption from another State may also be included. The State must include only those adoptions for which it has responsibility. blank cell
Voluntarily reports on all other adoptions. (Appendix B - Section II). The State does not plan to include non-State agency adoptions. blank cell
TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS 3
45 CFR 1355.40(b) Foster care and adoption reporting requirements blank cell blank cell
The data must be extracted from the data system as of the last day of the reporting period (45 CFR 1355.40(b)(1)). Yes blank cell
The data must be submitted in electronic form as described in Appendix C (45 CFR 1355.40(b)(1)). Yes blank cell
The data must be in record layouts as delineated in Appendix D (45 CFR 1355.40(b). Yes blank cell

Appendix A, 45 CFR 1355 Foster Care Data Elements and Appendix B, 45 CFR 1355 Adoption Data Elements

blank cell blank cell
State uses sequential numbering of the case record number or encrypts the record number. The State encrypts the case record number. blank cell
Appendix C, 45 CFR 1355 Electronic Data Transmission Format blank cell blank cell
Data file must be in ASCII format. Yes blank cell
Elements must be comprised of integer (numeric) value(s). Yes blank cell
All records must be a fixed length. Yes blank cell
ACYF-PI-CB-95-09, Reissued May 23, 1995 blank cell blank cell
State extracts all records based on the transaction date of discharge. No, the State is using the service type and removal reason. Post site-visit analysis: State added a new condition in the program code to check for the transaction dates in order to extract the foster care population. The new statements are in paragraph 3300-VALID-SVC-DATES. blank cell
Technical Bulletin #2, File Format blank cell blank cell
State uses correct file name for transmission. Yes blank cell
Data Extraction blank cell blank cell
For children who are in care on the last day of the reporting period, information as of the last day of the period is extracted. Yes blank cell
For children who were discharged during the period, information on the most recent episode is extracted. Yes blank cell
File Creation blank cell blank cell
State attaches footnotes to files. Yes blank cell
State is using proper format for the creation of footnotes. Yes blank cell
State uses DCU and DQU on its data file. Yes blank cell
Data Conversion blank cell blank cell
State transferred historical information on open cases. Specifically, it included information on: date of first removal, total number of removals, and whether the child's mother was married at the time of the child's birth. If the case was open at the time of conversion, information on the number of placement settings was included.

The information system has the capability of recording historical information. This should apply to both open cases in which historical information must be entered, and for closed cases that re-open after conversion and must be entered into the system.		 The State only converted open cases and encouraged workers to convert cases that may have been closed at the time of conversion and re-opened later. Based on the case file review, there needs to be additional data entry and clean-up to capture first ever removals and the total number of removals for re-opened cases. blank cell