Requirement

Rating Factor

Finding

Task

Estimated/ Completed Date

State’s Comments/Notes
ACF’s Sign-off Notes

Population

2

Foster Care

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 staff indicated judges may order children home for both specified and non-specified periods of time. 

The State must modify the collection and reporting of this information to ensure that if the child is returned home for a specified period of time, regardless of the length of time, these children continue to be included in AFCARS for the entire specified period of time.  If there is not a specified period of time noted, and if the child is still at home and the agency has care and placement responsibility at six-months, the child is to be reported in AFCARS as “discharged.”

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’s age of majority is 18.  The State claims title IV-E funds for youth up to their 19th birthday if the individual meets the title IV-E requirements.  The State may also continue to provide services to youth over the age of 18 under a voluntary agreement with the youth.  These individuals are incorrectly included in the AFCARS report.  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.

1) Provide training to ensure caseworkers enter a discharge date and reason for these youth correctly.
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.

2) Implement supervisory oversight to ensure workers enter this information. 

3) ACF will review the data to ensure accuracy.

Technical Requirements

2

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

Not all fields in MACWIS are stored to reflect what the circumstances were at any given time in the past.  Therefore, when an AFCARS subsequent file is sent to ACF the file will contain information known at the time of the resubmission and not at the time of the report period being submitted. 

The State must ensure that certain fields have history tables that stores older information.  The State will also need to revise the program code that extracts the AFCARS data file.  See the foster care and adoption element findings for specific elements that need to be addressed.