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).
• 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).

Includes Native American children covered under section 422(b)(10) of the Act, (45 CFR 1355.40(a) (2)).

Out of State placements. The State making the placement submits the information on the child (45 CFR 1355.40(a) (2)) .

Includes all children who have been in foster care at least 24 hours ( Appendix A - SECTION II).

Does not include children who are in their own homes under the responsibility of the State agency ( Appendix A - SECTION II) .

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).

Includes youth over the age of 18 if a payment is being made on behalf of the child (Child Welfare Policy Manual, Section 1, AFCARS).

The State is correctly reporting children that are under the agency’s responsibility for care and placement.

The State does not have title IV-E agreements with other agencies.

Yes

The State reports children that are placed out of State and does not include those placed in the State from another State.

The State system is not able to exclude removals based on the number of hours the child has been in out-of-home care. The system does not have a time field associated with the date of removal field. The system only excludes removals that have a start/end date on the same day.

Correct

If the child has been returned home, the program code automatically ends the removal episode. However, in some instances the judge may have ordered the agency to retain custody and extended the time period of the State’s custody of the child. The State needs to include children returned home for the full specified period of time including extensions beyond six months.

The State’s age of majority is 18. The State does claim title IV-E funds on individuals up to their 19 th birthday if the child meets the IV-E requirements. The State can also continue providing services with State funds for individuals over the age of 18 (up to the age of 22) under a voluntary agreement with the child. Once a child reaches 18, or 19, if appropriate, the State must report these individuals as discharged. The reason for discharge would be “emancipation,” unless there is another appropriate outcome reason.

45 CFR 1355.40(a) Scope of the data collection system – adoption

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):

a) Children who had been in foster care under the responsibility and care of the agency.

b) 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.

c) Children adopted for whom an adoption assistance payment or service is being provided based on arrangements with the State agency .

Adoptions prior to 10/1/94, with title IV-E adoption subsidies, report aggregate data (45 CFR 1355.40(a)(3)) .

For children adopted out-of-State, the placing State reports the adoption data (45 CFR 1355.40(a)(3)) .

Voluntarily reports on all other adoptions. ( Appendix B – Section II).

Correct

State submitted the file.

Correct

No, the State only reports on adoptions in which it has involvement.

Technical Requirements

4

45 CFR 1355.40(b) Foster care and adoption reporting requirements

The data must be extracted from the data system as of the last day of the reporting period (45 CFR 1355.40(b)(1)).

The data must be submitted in electronic form as described in Appendix C (45 CFR 1355.40(b)(1)).

The data must be in record layouts as delineated in Appendix D

(45 CFR 1355.40(b)).

Correct

Correct

Correct

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

State uses sequential numbering of the case record number or encrypts the record number.

The State encrypts the case record numbers.

Appendix C, 45 CFR 1355 Electronic Data Transmission Format

Data file must be in ASCII format.

Elements must be comprised of integer (numeric) value(s).

All records must be a fixed length.

Correct

Correct

Correct

ACYF-PI-CB-95-09, Reissued May 23, 1995

State extracts all records based on the transaction date of discharge.

Correct

Technical Bulletin #2, File Format

State uses correct file name for transmission.

Correct

Data Extraction

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.

For children who were discharged during the period, information on the most recent episode is extracted.

Correct

Correct

Data Conversion

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.

FamilyNet became operational Statewide February 10, 1998. Open and closed cases were automatically converted at the same time when the system became operational.

Workers were encouraged to review and clean up the open cases.