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Executive Summary

From May 3 - 7, 2004 staff of the Children's Bureau, Administration for Children and Families (ACF) Region VII, and the Office of Information Services (OIS) conducted an assessment review of Iowa's Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS). The AFCARS data used for the review was from the report period April 1, 2003 through September 30, 2003 (2003B).

Two major areas are evaluated as part of an AFCARS assessment review (AAR): the AFCARS general requirements and data elements. The general requirements include the population that is to be reported to AFCARS and the technical requirements for constructing a data file. The data elements are assessed on the basis of whether the State is meeting the AFCARS definitions for the information required, if the correct data are being entered and extracted, and the quality of the data submitted. Each of the 103 foster care and adoption data elements is rated on the basis of its compliance with the requirements in the AFCARS regulation, policy guidance, and technical bulletins. Information that is collected from each of the components of the review is combined to rate each data element. A scale of one (does not meet AFCARS standards) to four (fully meets AFCARS standards) is used to assign a factor to each element. The general information requirements are also assessed and rated separately using the same sc ale. A summary of the significant findings is included in the report, and detailed findings can be found in the “Detailed Findings” Matrices for the foster care and adoption data elements, and the general requirements (Tab A). The minimum tasks that are required to correct the State's reporting of the AFCARS data are included in the AFCARS Improvement Plan (Tab B).

Between the time of the on-site review and the issuance of this report, the State's information systems staff made some corrections to the program code that maps and extracts the AFCARS data (revised version dated June 29, 2004). This report, the element findings, and the AFCARS Improvement Plan reflect those changes. As a result, some of the initial rating factors were updated to reflect the work completed by the State. Other changes in the rating factors reflect findings from further analysis of the case file review findings and other issues identified by both the State and Federal staff during post site-visit analysis. The final rating factors received by the State are:

Outlined below is an overview of the results of the AFCARS Assessment Review based on the on-site and post-site visit analyses.

• General Requirements - Reporting population and technical requirements
  
  The State is in full compliance with the adoption population requirements. In regard to the foster care population, the State does not include children in the agency's responsibility for care, placement and supervision that are placed with relatives in the foster care reporting population. This finding was identified during the State's Child and Family Services Review (CFSR) and the State was in the process of making corrections at the time of the on-site AAR. The State provided ACF with a copy of the draft changes for review and comment. ACF reviewed the draft changes and provided feedback to the State. The State implemented the changes on July 1, 2004. The State staff needs to send the revised extraction code to ACF as part of the AFCARS improvement phase.
  
  In regard to the technical requirements, the State's program code does not extract the AFCARS foster care file based on a transaction date associated with either the date of the current removal from home or a discharge from foster care. This was resulting in fluctuations in the number of children being reported in AFCARS each report period. The State staff corrected the program code. ACF will monitor the submissions of data for two to three report periods to check for any fluctuations in the data.
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• Significant Data Element Findings
  
  Of the foster care elements that need changes in the program code or in the way the screen is designed to collect the data, 15 are related to the circumstances associated with removal. The State systems staff has completed some of the required changes, the remaining changes relate to modifying the program code to redirect where the data are extracted from and to “freeze” the data. Currently, the “circumstances associated with removal” are extracted from three different screens and the data can be updated at any time after the child is in foster care. The data should reflect the circumstances known to the case worker that contributed to the reason the child was removed from his/her home. Once the State completes the system changes supervisors should monitor the data to ensure workers are selecting all of the applicable circumstances.
  
  The State's information system, Family and Children's Services (FACS), does not have the question “has this child been diagnosed with disabilities” on its data entry screens. There is a screen with a field for the worker to indicate with an “X” whether any of the listed categories of diagnosed disabilities apply. The response to the question on diagnosed disabilities is derived from these fields. So, if a disability is checked, the response to the question is “yes.” Otherwise, the response is coded as “no,” thereby creating a false “no” in the reported data. This method makes it hard to ascertain if the worker failed to enter the data or, alternatively, if the child had been seen by a physician and did not have any disabilities. The frequencies for this element appeared low to the State staff and indicate that the children in foster care have no medical or emotional problems.
  
  There is a problem with how the program code determines the number of previous removals, the date of discharge from a prior removal episode, and the discharge reason for the current removal episode. Currently, the program code assesses a limited number of discharge reasons when it calculates the number of removals and the discharge date of the prior removal episode. The State is also incorrectly mapping some of its discharge reasons to AFCARS. The State has corrected most of the mapping errors for the reason for discharge from the current removal episode. Also, the errors in these elements are related to the way the State was treating records of children placed with relatives. Once these changes have been fully implemented the data should better reflect what is occurring in Iowa's foster care system.
  
  In the adoption file, the State is to report on the relationship of the child to the people that adopted him or her. AFCARS allows for the reporting of more than one relationship. The State is currently only extracting one type of relationship. This is resulting in an under-representation of the number of relatives and foster parents that are adopting children in Iowa.
  
  Lastly, there are errors in the way the State reports who placed the child for adoption. Currently, the program code only extracts the response “public agency.” This is incorrect because the State also is involved in non-State agency adoptions. The State enters into adoption agreements with families adopting children from private agencies and the child was determined to be special needs. These records should indicate “placed by private agency” in the AFCARS report.
  
  The State needs to assess the on-going quality of the data. Several items were given the rating of “3” because of under-reporting of information and will necessitate additional training for caseworkers and monitoring by supervisors to ensure accurate data entry. The State may want to consider reviewing the data in the file at the time of a periodic review to ensure it is accurate and up-to-date. (See AFCARS Federal regulation at 45 CFR 1355 Appendix A, I. I. E.)
  
  Changes made to the system with regard to data entry will inevitably result in improved data accuracy and quality. The State's semi-annual data submission may, as a result, fail to meet the missing data standard. In order to ensure that the data are complete, the agency must require workers to enter the data, and assess its validity prior to submitting it to ACF. To do so, the State may utilize the management reports created by the agency, as well as the Data Quality Utility and the Frequency Utility issued by ACF.
  
  Within 30 calendar days after the receipt of this report and the attached AFCARS Improvement Plan, the State staff are to submit the Improvement Plan to the ACF Regional Office with estimated due dates for completing the tasks in the Improvement Plan. Test cases will be provided to the State once all of the required modifications are completed. Dates for the submission of the extracted test data file will be arranged with the ACF Regional Office and OIS. Once ACF and the State agree that the quality of the data is acceptable, the AFCARS Improvement Plan will be considered finished, and a letter will be sent to the State from the Children's Bureau confirming this fact. The letter will include a summary of the actions taken by the State and the completed AFCARS Improvement Plan.

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