Home > Statistics & Research > AFCARS Assessment Reviews > Maine Assessment Review > Minnesota AFCARS Assessment Report

Executive Summary

From August 8 - 12, 2005, staff of the Children’s Bureau, Administration for Children and Families (ACF) Region V, and the Office of Information Services (OIS) conducted an assessment review of Minnesota’s Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS) data collection in the Social Services Information System (SSIS).  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:

Rating factors have not been given for the adoption data elements because the State’s AFCARS assessment review is not complete.  This is due to the State’s use of an Access database to collect statewide adoption data, and the extraction of the AFCARS adoption file from this database rather than SSIS.  Inasmuch as the State has an operational Statewide Automated Child Welfare Information System (SACWIS), it must comply with Federal regulations at 45 CFR 1355.52, which is the funding authority for SACWIS.  Since the State is not fully utilizing SSIS to collect the AFCARS adoption data elements and is not extracting the adoption data file from SSIS, the State is not in compliance with the SACWIS regulation.  According to the State’s Annual Advanced Planning Update of March 5, 2005, the design and development of integrating adoptions into SSIS will be completed by July 2005.  It is our expectation that the adoptions module in SSIS will also be fully operational at that time.  Once the State has added the remaining fields needed to collect the adoption data to SSIS, written the extraction program code, and provided the necessary screen prints, ACF will complete the AFCARS assessment review.

There were two problems with the foster care reporting population.  The State is incorrectly including Tribal children for whom it or the county does not have responsibility for care and placement, but for whom the county provides funds to the Tribe for the placement of the child.  The State must only report those children for whom it has responsibility for care and placement. The State is also incorrectly including youth who have reached the age of majority, but are receiving voluntary services from the State.  The State does claim title IV-E funds for youth up to their 19th birthday if the individual meets the title IV-E requirements, and is correctly including them in the AFCARS report.  If the youth no longer is receiving title IV-E funds, however, he/she should be considered discharged for AFCARS purposes.  The reason for discharge would be “emancipation,” unless there is another appropriate outcome reason.  The State staff made changes to the discharge date and discharge reason elements in the extraction code.  However, the change for the date of discharge is incorrect and the Federal review team and the State need to discuss this section further.

The AFCARS review team identified a significant problem with the method the State uses to create its record numbers.  This problem also has implications for the creation of an AFCARS annual file, which is used for the data profiles in the Child and Family Services Reviews and the annual report to Congress.   The AFCARS regulation states that if a State uses a unique (encrypted) record number that it must follow the child as long as he or she is in foster care.   In certain situations, the State is not using the same record number for a child each time it submits its AFCARS data.  This occurs for children that are new to the State agency for foster care services.  The county assigns a number and then the case is “cleared” to the State.  At that time, another number (a statewide number) is assigned to the case.  There should only be one number assigned to a child/individual.

Based on the case file review, there were a significant number of errors found in the dates of first removal, the date of latest removal, and the number of removal episodes.  The majority of the errors were due to the reviewers finding earlier dates of removal than what was reported in the AFCARS data.   

Lastly, the State is not including all types of placements.  There are some settings that are not included as placements that must be included.   Also, the case file review findings indicate that there are more placement moves than what are being reported in AFCARS. 

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 staff are to submit the Improvement Plan electronically to the ACF Regional Office, OIS, and the Children’s Bureau 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.

Return to Report
Return to Table of Contents