Home > Federal & State Reporting Systems > AFCARS Resources > Technical Bulletins > Technical Bulletin #9

VII. Consistency Check Groups - Adoption

TABLE OF ADOPTION GROUP CHECKS:

Consistency checks are done by evaluating the data in a group of related elements, or in the case of race elements, among the race categories of a given race element. If there is an inconsistency among them, it determines which element is the most likely cause of the inconsistency. In general, the one element that could be changed to make the relationship among the elements in the group consistent is determined to be the most likely error. However, this rule has several exceptions based on experience and input from several sources.

Each of the consistency check groups are given below with the principle of the check, the conditions under which the check is not done, and a table of the possible relationships between the elements and which element(s), if any, will be marked as errors. If the element in this last column appears in bold-italics with asterisks around it (e.g., ** #19 **), this means that the data in the element would be deleted from that record by the Federal system if the file were to be submitted to AFCARS.

Note: if the "Element(s) to be marked" column says need more information, the DQU checks to see if any of the elements in the group have already been marked as the most likely error in an earlier check. If this is the case, it is assumed that the element is the likely error for the current check and no further action is taken. However, if none of the elements have failed an earlier check, the DQU cannot determine the most likely error and all elements in the group will be marked.

It is also important to note that while the DQU may continue to use the data in an element even if it has already been marked as incorrect, the DQU never overwrites one error with another. For example, if an element is marked as out of range it may still be used in certain consistency checks. However, if it is determined to be the most likely cause of the inconsistency, it will remain marked as out of range. The same would hold true for an element that is involved in more than one consistency check group. An element identified as the most likely cause of more than one inconsistency will always be marked as the most likely error in the first group it failed.

Adoption Group #1: (marked as "a" or "A" in the Detailed Data Quality Report)

Elements Involved:

#02 Report Period End Date
#05 Child's Birth Date
#16 Mother's Birth Year
#17 Father's Birth Year
#19 Date of Termination of Mother's Parental Rights
#20 Date of Termination of Father's Parental Rights
#21 Date of Adoption Legalization
#23 Adoptive Mother's Birth Year
#24 Adoptive Father's Birth Year

Principle of Check:

All dates should be logically ordered. For example, the Legalization Date must come on or after both of the Dates of Termination of Parental Rights. Also, the length of time between dates should be within a reasonable range. For example, the Child's Birth Year should not be more than 18 years before the Legalization Date. This check identifies the date(s) that appear to be "out of place."

Special Notes:

Group #1 is performed differently than the other groups. In order to determine which element(s) is out of place, the DQU compares every pair of date elements (there are nine foster care date elements, thus there are 36 pairs of elements checked). If a pair of elements is inconsistent according to a given standard, it is difficult to tell which one is wrong. To address this problem, the DQU maintains two tables. One table maintains information on which check failed (i.e., pairs of date elements were inconsistent); the other table maintains information on the number of times each date element was involved in a check that failed.

After all pairs of date elements have been evaluated, the DQU looks at the table that maintains the information on which checks failed. If a check failed between two elements, the DQU looks at the other table to see which of the two elements had the most errors. The one with the most errors is marked with an "a." If both elements had an equivalent number of errors, both of them are marked with an "a."

The tables below indicate every pair of date elements and the relationship that is checked for them. If a relationship exists and the Error Status column says "Error," then the table that maintains the information on which checks failed will be updated for that pair of elements and the table that maintains the number of errors for each element will be increased by one for each element in the "Involved Elements" column.

Table 32. Adoption Consistency Group #1.2

Table 33. Adoption Consistency Group #1.5

Table 34. Adoption Consistency Group #1.16

Table 35. Adoption Consistency Group #1.17

Table 36. Adoption Consistency Group #1.19

Table 37. Adoption Consistency Group #1.20

Table 38. Adoption Consistency Group #1.21

Table 39. Adoption Consistency Group #1.23

Adoption Group #2: (marked as "b" or "B" in the Detailed Data Quality report)

Elements Involved:

#04 State Agency Involvement
#31 Adoptive Parent Was Previously Related to the Child as a Foster Parent
#34 Child Was Placed By
#35 Is a Subsidy Being Paid on Behalf of the Child

Conditions under Which Check is Not Performed:

1) if element #4 is blank or out of range

Principle of Check:

If one or more of the following applies the answer to the question "Was the state agency involved in this adoption?" should be yes: 1) adoptive parent was previously related to the child as a foster parent; 2) if the child was placed by a public agency; or 3) if a subsidy is being paid on behalf of the child.

Table 40. Adoption Consistency Group #2

Adoption Group #3: (marked as "c" or "C" in the Detailed Data Quality report)

Elements Involved:

#09 Has the Agency Determined if the Child Is Special Needs
#10 Primary Basis for Determining Special Needs
#11 Mental Retardation
#12 Visually/Hearing Impaired
#13 Physically Disabled
#14 Emotionally Disturbed
#15 Other Medically Diagnosed Condition

Conditions under Which Check is Not Performed:

1) if any of #11-15 are out of range

Principle of Check:

If the answer to the question "Has the agency determined if this child is special needs?" is "yes", then the primary basis for making this determination should be given. If the primary basis is "medical", at least one of the disabilities (#11 - 15) should apply. On the other hand, if a child is indicated as having a type of disability (such as visual or hearing impairment), then the agency would most likely have determined him or her to be special needs (though perhaps for a reason other than medical, such as age or racial group).

Table 41. Adoption Consistency Group #3

Adoption Group #4: (marked as "d" or "D" in the Detailed Data Quality report)

Elements Involved:

#22 Foster Caretaker Family Structure
#23 Adoptive Mother's Birth Year
#24 Adoptive Father's Birth Year
#25a, b, c, d, e, f Adoptive Mother's Race
#26 Adoptive Mother's Hispanic or Latino Origin
#27a, b, c, d, e, f Adoptive Father's Race
#28 Adoptive Father's Hispanic or Latino Origin

Conditions under Which Check is Not Performed:

1) if #22 is either blank or out of range

Principle of Check:

If the family structure is "married couple" or "unmarried couple" then all of the information should be filled out for both adoptive parents (#23-28). If the family structure is "single female" then all of the information on the adoptive mother (and none of the information on the adoptive father) should be filled out. If the family structure is "single male" then all of the information on the adoptive father (and none of the information on the adoptive mother) should be filled out.

Special Notes:

If any information on an individual adoptive parent is marked as incorrect, it will all be marked as incorrect (e.g., if only the adoptive mother's race and Hispanic or Latino origin information is completed and it is inconsistent, the adoptive mother's birth year will be marked as incorrect as well as the race and Hispanic or Latino origin).

Table 42. Adoption Consistency Group #4

Adoption Group #5: (marked as "e" or "E" in the Detailed Data Quality report)

Elements Involved:

#29 Adoptive Parent Was Previously Related to the Child as a Stepparent
#30 Adoptive Parent Was Previously Related to the Child as an Other Relative
#31 Adoptive Parent Was Previously Related to the Child as a Foster Parent
#32 Adoptive Parent Was Previously Related to the Child as an Other Non-Relative

Conditions under Which Check is Not Performed:

This check will be performed under all conditions.

Principle of Check:

At least one but no more than two of the choices given for the previous relationship of the adoptive parent to the child should be chosen.

Table 43. Adoption Consistency Group #5

Adoption Group #6 : (marked as "f" or "F" in the Detailed Data Quality report)

Elements Involved:

#35 Is a Monthly Subsidy Being Paid on Behalf of the Child?
#36 Amount of Monthly Subsidy
#37 Is the Child Receiving Title IV-E Adoption Assistance?

Conditions under Which Check is Not Performed:

This check will be performed under any conditions.

Principle of Check:

If there is no monthly subsidy being paid on behalf of the child, there should be no monthly amount and the child should not be receiving Title IV-E Adoption Assistance. Conversely, if the child is receiving Title IV-E Adoption Assistance, there should be a monthly amount and there should be a monthly subsidy being paid on behalf of the child. However, there can be a monthly amount and a subsidy being paid on behalf of the child and the child could not be receiving Title IV-E Adoption Assistance.

Table 44. Adoption Consistency Group #6

Adoption Group #7 : (marked as "g" or "G" in the Detailed Data Quality report)

Elements Involved:

#7a, b, c, d, e, f Child's Race
#25a, b, c, d, e, f Adoptive Mother's Race
#27a, b, c, d, e, f Adoptive Father's Race

Conditions under Which Check is Not Performed:

1) for each element, if #a-f are all blanks, out of range, or a combination of blank and out of range data

Principle of Check:

For each race element (#7, #25, #27), if at least one race category ('a' - 'e') applies, then "Unable to Determine" ('f') should not apply. For each race element, if "Unable to Determine" ('f') applies, then no race category should apply.

Table 45. Adoption Group #7

*"At least one applies" can be any combination of blanks, out of range data, "0s", and "1s" in these five race categories but there must be at least one "1".

*. None completed means the three elements were some combination of blank, out of range, or "not applicable"

**. Some completed means that at one or two of the three elements were either blank, out of range, or "not applicable"