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Executive Summary

From June 12 - 17, 2005, staff of the Children’s Bureau, Administration for Children and Families (ACF) Region I, and the Office of Information Services (OIS) conducted an assessment review of Massachusetts’ Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS) data collection in FamilyNet. The AFCARS data used for the review was from the report period October 1, 2004 - March 31, 2005 (2005A).

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 scale. 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). The rating factors received by the State are:

The State has technical corrections that must be made to the program code or to its system FamilyNet. As noted in the above table, t he State is in full compliance with the adoption population standards and the technical standards. The State is not in full compliance with two foster care population standards. These are related to the State incorrectly reporting children that are still in the agency’s responsibility for care and placement that have been placed back into their homes as discharged, including youth that are over the State’s age of majority. The State must only report those youth over the age of 18 that are still receiving title IV-E funds.

The most significant finding is in the area of placements. The State indicated there are instances when a suitable foster home, or group home, are not immediately available when a child enters foster care. Consequently, the child may be placed in multiple foster homes for one night at a time. The staff acknowledged this was not acceptable practice and that the State is working to improve its ability to find suitable foster settings and to provide placement stability for a child. The staff also indicated that these placements are not reported in AFCARS because the State’s understanding was that a child’s placement in a location was to be at least 24 hours before it was to be included as a placement count in AFCARS. This is not an accurate interpretation of ACF policy and the State must include each of these placement settings and count them for AFCARS purposes. As noted in the policy clarification in the Child Welfare Policy Manual (CWPM), 1.2B.7 question #7, a placement is: “… the physical setting in which a child finds himself or herself…. A new placement setting results when the foster care setting changes, for example, when a child moves from one foster family home to another or to a group home or institution.” The question and answer that the State was referring to is in regard to how to count brief absences from an on-going foster care setting.

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 the Administration for Children and Families (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. It is important that the AFCARS data accurately reflect the circumstances of children in foster care and under the agency’s responsibility.

Tab B contains the AFCARS Improvement Plan (AIP). The AIP contains the AFCARS data elements that do not meet the requirements in the Federal regulations. Each matrix contains a column that identifies the task(s), the date the task is to be completed, and one for comments.

Within 30 calendar days after the receipt of this report and the attached AFCARS Improvement Plan, the State must submit the Improvement Plan electronically to the ACF Regional Office, OIS, and my staff with estimated dues dates for completing the tasks in the Improvement Plan.

The State should contact the ACF Regional Office once it has completed its AIP. The ACF Regional Office will then provide the State with a set of test case scenarios. These scenarios test the system by requiring the State to enter the information and extract the data, which is then compared to known answers for each scenario. Dates for the submission of the test data file will be arranged with the ACF Regional Office and the Office of Information Systems.

In order to assess the quality of the data, a frequency report will be generated on the data submitted after the system changes have been implemented. Once ACF and the State agree that the quality of the data is acceptable, and all tasks and revisions, based on the test cases, have been completed, the State must submit the completed AIP to the ACF Regional Office. The State will receive a letter summarizing the final results of the review.

The ACF Regional Office will work with the State to determine if technical assistance is needed and available, to implement the AFCARS Improvement Plan. The State may obtain technical assistance from the Children’s Bureau’s resource centers. To request technical assistance from the resource centers, contact your ACF Regional Office.

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