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Executive Summary

From August 4 - 7, 2003 staff of the Children's Bureau, Administration for Children and Families (ACF) Region VIII, and the Office of Information Services (OIS) conducted an assessment review of North Dakota's Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS). The AFCARS data used for the review was from the report period October 1, 2002 through March 31, 2003.

Two major areas are evaluated as part of an AFCARS assessment review: 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. Tab A includes a chart that lists the factors that were used for the analysis of the State's AFCARS. The rating factors received by the State are:

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 B). The minimum tasks that are required to correct the State's reporting of the AFCARS data are included in the AFCARS Improvement Plan (Tab C).

Overall, the State has several "technical" corrections to make to the program code and the screens that collect the data. Several of the elements default missing data to a valid AFCARS value. Therefore, the element passes the AFCARS data standards and masks underlying data entry issues. Additionally, the State's data may be under-reported, and/or inaccurately represent the full population, due to the program code not properly assessing all records. There is an inconsistency in how the program code checks for information in the "foster care" and the "birth counseling" records. The program code for some elements does not check both programs and results in the under-reporting or misrepresentation of the data.

In the area of the general requirements the most significant problem is in the population requirements. The State is not including the complete foster care population required under AFCARS. The standards for the AFCARS foster care population require that the State include all children in foster care for whom the agency has responsibility for placement, care, or supervision (45 CFR 1355.40(a)(2)). This includes children who have been in foster care and are returned to their home while still under the placement, care, or supervision of the State agency. If the child is returned home for a specified period of time, the requirement is that the State report the child in AFCARS for the entire specified period of time. If the child is returned home for a non-specified period of time, and the timeframe exceeds six months, the State may consider the child discharged from care, placement or supervision for AFCARS purposes after six months. The State is required to continue reporting these children to AFCARS (Child Welfare Policy Manual, Section 1.3, AFCARS Reporting Population). Some children who are returned home, but are still under the agency's responsibility for care, placement or supervision, are being reported as "discharged" in AFCARS. The State will have to address this as a training issue with workers and ensure that the correct foster care population is included in each AFCARS reporting period.

When reporting race and Hispanic/Latino Origin, States are permitted to report "unable to determine" for those children who have been abandoned and for individuals who refuse to identify their race or that of their child(ren). The State needs to add the option "unable to determine" to the appropriate screens. Another issue relates to race information for foster parents and adoptive parents. Individuals may identify with more than one race so the information system must be able to collect information accordingly. The screens that collect information on foster and adoptive parents do not allow the entry of more than one race.

Another area that appears to be under-reported is information on the number of children diagnosed with a disability. Currently, the program code is masking underlying data entry problems by mapping missing data to a valid AFCARS value. The State maps missing data to "no." This results in an inaccurate picture of the health/mental health condition of children in foster care in North Dakota. Another problem is the limited number of medical/psychological conditions that the workers can select. This may result in workers not selecting a medical condition because it is not listed.

Once changes are made to the program code and/or to the data entry screens, the quality of the data will need to be monitored for accuracy. It may be necessary to implement additional training for caseworkers and monitoring by supervisors to ensure accurate data entry. The State may want to consider system ticklers/edits that will remind workers to update the information at appropriate times, and review the data in the file at the time of a periodic review. (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, we request that State staff contact the ACF Regional Office to set 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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