Federal and State Reporting Systems - Questions and Answers from NYTD Webinar

Questions and Answers from NYTD Webinar

Disclaimer: On April 10, 2008, the Children's Bureau (CB) presented a webinar briefing on the National Youth in Transition Database Final Rule in which participants asked the following questions. We have not altered the incoming questions but have grouped similar questions together in some circumstances to provide a common response. All additional NYTD questions should be directed to the State's CB Regional Office Specialist.

Reporting Requirements and Reporting Populations

Question: When is the start of the first reporting period?

Answer: The first reporting period for the National Youth In Transition Database (NYTD) begins on October 1, 2010 and extends through March 31, 2011 (73 FR 10338, 10339).

Question: Over this process, are we producing 6 reports or 10 reports (2 each for 17, 19, 21) or do I also have to report on 18 and 20?

Answer: A State is to submit a single data file to ACF semiannually comprised of data on all youth in the served population, and if applicable, youth in the baseline or follow-up population (45 CFR 13656.82 and 1356.83(a) through (e)). In a year in which data collection is not required on the baseline or follow-up populations (i.e., FY 2012 when the youth in the initial baseline population are 18 years of age), a State must still submit to ACF a data file comprised of youth of any age who are in the served population for a report period.

Question: If a youth is 19 and still in foster care - do we report BOTH outcomes AND services received as a 19 year-old or just outcomes?

Answer: If a 19-year-old youth is part of the follow-up population and also part of the served population for a report period, then the State must submit to ACF a data file containing outcomes and services information in a single youth record (45 CFR 1356.81 and 1356.82).

Question: Are we to collect data ONLY on Independent Living Programs/Services paid by Chafee?

Answer: No. A State must collect data on youth who receive independent living service that are paid for, or provided by the State CFCIP agency for a report period, rather than limiting reporting to those services paid for with Chafee funds (45 CFR 1356.81(a), 1356.82(a)(1) and FR 73 10340). In addition, the State is to collect outcomes data on youth in the baseline or follow-up reporting population regardless of whether such a youth receives independent living services from any source (45 CFR 1356.81(b), 1356.82(a)(2) and (3)).

Question: Is referring a youth to a service provided by another state agency the same as saying that the CFCIP agency provided that service?

Answer: No. An independent living service is provided by the State agency if it is: 1) delivered by State agency staff or an agent of the agency including a foster parent, group home staff, child care institution staff; or, 2) provided pursuant to a contract between the State agency and a provider, agency or any other entity regardless of whether the contract includes funding for the particular service (73 FR 10340).

Question: Will we be collecting on youth who receive independent living services while in a placement that does not qualify for AFCARS, such as a detention center?

Answer: It is not clear whether the question refers to whether such youth are in the served population or the baseline population. For the served population, as long as a youth is receiving an independent living service that is paid for or provided by the State agency in a six-month report period, then the State is required to report to ACF information on those services (45 CFR 1356.81(a) and 1356.82(a)(1)). Youth in detention, forestry camps, training schools and facilities primarily for the detention of youth adjudicated delinquent are excluded from the baseline population because such youth are not considered to be in foster care (45 CFR 1356.81(b) and 73 FR 10341-10342)

Question: If a State is not passing Chafee money to Juvenile Justice Services, but by definition of foster care those youth are part of the foster care population, should those JJS youth who are receiving Independent Living Services through JJS be included?

Answer: It is not clear from the question whether the youth described are in the served population. In general, if the youth is receiving an independent living service that is paid for or provided by the State agency in a six-month report period, the youth is in the served reporting population and the State is required to collect and report information to ACF on those services (45 CFR 1356.81(a) and 1356.82(a)(1)). The State must report information on the served population regardless of the agency responsible for delivering the service, whether the youth meets the definition of foster care, or whether the service is paid for with Chafee funds specifically (see also preamble discussion at 73 FR 10340).

Question: Are there youth in the served population who aren't (and never were) in foster care?

Answer: It depends. Since the served population includes youth who receive independent living services that are paid for or provided by the State agency, the extent to which the served population includes youth who were never in foster care will depend on how States have structured their independent living services programs (45 CFR 1356.81(a) and 73 FR 10340). For example, a State agency that pays for independent living services to youth in detention or a youth in the placement and care responsibility of an Indian tribe, but who were never in the State's foster care, would be in the served population according to the definition.

Question: Please explain the difference between the "served" and "baseline" populations.

Answer: The served population includes any youth who has received one or more independent living services paid for or provided by the State agency in a report period (45 CFR 1356.81(a)). A youth's age and foster care status is not relevant to whether he or she is in the served population. The baseline population is comprised of all youth who were in foster care at some point during the 45 days after their 17th birthday in a specified year, regardless of whether the youth receives any independent living services (45 CFR 1356.81(b)). See 73 FR 10341-10342 for a more extensive discussion on the distinctions between the reporting populations.

Question: How long do they need to be in independent living to be included in the sample?

Answer: Every youth who receives an independent living service that is paid for or provided by the State CFCIP agency in a report period is included in the served population; there is no minimum time that a youth must be receiving an independent living service to be included in the served population (45 CFR 1356.81(a)). Youth who are in the baseline or follow-up populations do not need to be receiving independent living services at any time to be included in these populations (45 CFR 1356.81(b) and (c). Statistical sampling may not be used to collect data for either the served population or the baseline population. However, at State option, sampling may be used to determine the follow-up population after the State has surveyed the entire baseline population (45 CFR 1356.84).

Question: The file is submitted twice in the year. Do we submit kids who turn 17 in the file for the part of the year in which they turn 17 only? Or in both files for that year?

Answer: We understand this question to be referring to youth in the baseline population who are being reported for their outcomes in a year in which such data is required. A State is required to collect outcomes data on each 17 year old youth in foster care within 45 days following the youth's birthday, but not before that birthday. The State must submit this data for the reporting period in which the data was collected and not in both files (45 CFR 1356.82(a)(2) and 1356.83(a)).

Question: Is a youth who ENTERS care after 17th birthday in the baseline population? If yes, do we have 45 days to collect data? When does 45 days start and stop?

Answer: If the youth enters foster care within 45 days following his or her 17th birthday in a year in which data collection is required on the baseline population, the youth is in the baseline population (45 CFR 1356.81(b) and 1356.83(a)(2)). The 45 days start on the youth's 17th birthday; therefore the data must be collected within 45 days after the youth's 17th birthday.

Question: Do we include clients who enter the baseline population more than 45 days after their 17th birthday?

Answer: No. Youth who enter into foster care more than 45 days after they turn 17 are not included in the baseline population (45 CFR 1356.81(b) and 1356.83(a)(2)).

Question: Is a youth who enters care at 17 years, 5 months, in the baseline population? If so, has the 45 days for data collection already expired?

Answer: See answer above.

Question: What do we do with a kid who enters care at age 17 years 30 days and exits care at age 17 years 32 days (in care for 2 days during the '45 day window')?

Answer: This youth, as described, is a part of the baseline population if he or she was in foster care at some point during the 45 days after his or her 17th birthday in a specified year regardless of the amount of time the youth spends in foster care(45 CFR 1356.81(b) and 73 FR 10342). The State must attempt to collect the required data described in 45 CFR 1356.83(d) during the time the youth is in foster care.

Question: Is a youth who EXITS care prior to 17th birthday, but turns 17 during the FFY part of the baseline population?

Answer: No. To be included in the baseline population, a youth must have been in foster care at some point during the 45 day period following his or her 17th birthday during the specified reporting year (45 CFR 1356.81(b) and 1356.82(a)(2)).

Question: How long do they need to be in foster care to be included in the sample?

Answer: This is no minimum time that a youth has to be in foster care in order to be part of the baseline population (73 FR 10342). However, the youth must be in foster care at some point during the 45 days following their 17th birthday as described in 45 CFR 1356.81(b) to be included in the baseline population.

Question: Per Feds, runaways are included in the baseline population - how do we survey a runaway youth?

Answer: Youth who have run away in foster care are considered to be part of the baseline population if they are still under the placement and care responsibility of the State title IV-B/IV-E agency. If the youth is on runaway status at the time(s) that the State attempts outcomes data collection, the State will report the youth as having run away in the outcomes reporting status element (45 CFR 1356.83(g)(34)) to explain why that youth's information was not collected.

Question: In the original 17-year-old sample, how much can we screen youth for cognitive difficulties that would prevent them from completing the survey?

Answer: A State has the discretion to choose the methods, if any, by which it determines that a youth in the baseline population is unable to participate in the outcomes data collection due to an incapacitating permanent or temporary mental condition (45 CFR 1356.82(a)(2) and 1356.83(g)(34)(iv)). The extent to which a State reports youth as not participated in the outcomes data collection due to incapacitation or other reasons is an area that ACF plans to monitor in order to provide any additional technical guidance, as needed.

Question: To what extent are current and former foster youth going to be involved in data collection?

Answer: Foster youth in the baseline population and former foster youth in the follow-up population will be involved in the data collection process as they will be providing responses to the outcome surveys (45 CFR 1356.82(a)(2) and (3); 73 FR 10350). The extent to which foster and former foster youth in the served populations are directly involved in data collection on independent living services is up to the State. The Children's Bureau intends to provide technical assistance, as needed, to help States engage and involve youth in NYTD data collection activities.

Question: How many elements do we need for the data submission?

Answer: It is not clear from the question whether the issue is related to file formatting requirements related to the data elements or asking for a simple count of the elements. ACF has not finalized file formatting requirements yet, and so this response relates only to the data elements. Any individual youth record may contain up to 58 data elements, depending on the reporting requirements for the specific population. The Final Rule (73 FR 10365) explains that of the 58 elements, 13 elements apply to all youth in the entire reporting population; 20 for youth in the served population; and up to 25 elements apply to each youth in the baseline and follow-up population. Please see 45 CFR 1356.81-83 and the appendix to the Final Rule for definitions of the reporting population and reporting requirements, and the requirements for the data collection and data elements.

Penalties

Question: If a state decided not to participate in NYTD, would the maximum penalty be 5%?

Answer: Yes. The maximum penalty for a State not participating in NYTD, or otherwise being out of compliance with NYTD requirements is 2.5 percent of the State's Chafee Foster Care Independence Program (CFCIP) for each report period of noncompliance, which would total five percent annually of the CFCIP funds allocated or reallocated to the State (45 CFR 1356.86). We encourage States to participate in NYTD so the data can be used by States to inform practices that may result in better outcomes for youth who age out of foster care.

Sampling

Question: May a sample be used for the baseline survey of 17 year-olds?

Answer: No. The baseline population includes every youth who is in foster care at some point during the 45 days after their 17th birthday as per 45 CFR 1356.81(b) and 1356.82(a)(2) in a specified year. Sampling may be used only to determine the follow-up population after the State has surveyed the entire baseline population (45 CFR 1356.84).

Funding

Question: Can Chafee funding be used for incentives to get youth to participate?

Answer: As stated in the preamble to the final rule (73 FR 10361), a State may use Chafee Foster Care Independence Program (CFCIP) funds for any and all costs associated with implementing the NYTD. However, we encourage States to be mindful of guidance issued by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) entitled "Guidance on Agency Survey and Statistical Information Collections." While this guidance is directed to Federal agencies, the same general principles should guide State agencies, as well.

In the guidance, OMB states that incentives are used most appropriately with hard-to-find populations or respondents whose failure to participate would jeopardize the quality of the survey data. OMB's guidelines follow a general conceptual framework that seeks to avoid the use of incentives except when the agency has clearly justified the need for the incentive and has demonstrated positive impacts on response and data quality by using an incentive. In justifying their proposed use of incentives, State agencies should consider the following principles, among others:

Data quality: One possible justification for requesting use of an incentive is improvement in data quality. For example, agencies may be able to provide evidence that, because of an increase in response rates, an incentive will significantly improve validity and reliability to an extent beyond that possible through other means.
Improved coverage of specialized respondents, rare groups, or minority populations: A survey may have as its target population a highly selective group. Offering incentives to this population can be justified by describing the importance and difficulty of obtaining their participation in the study.
Equity: Agencies should treat all respondents equally with regard to incentives. OMB generally does not approve agency plans to give incentives solely to convert refusals, or treat specific subgroups differently, unless the plan is part of an experimental design for further investigation into the effects of incentives.

The OMB guidance document can be located at http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/inforeg/pmc_survey_guidance_2006.pdf

Question: If States who now get small Chafee allocations decide to stop taking Chafee money because they can't afford the implementation costs - will those funds be re-distributed to the other States?

Answer: A State that does not comply with the NYTD requirements does not have to forfeit all of its CFCIP funding, rather the State will be subject to a 2.5 percent penalty of its annual CFCIP allocation for each report period of noncompliance (45 CFR 1356.86). However, if a State does not apply for funds under Chafee, as specified in section 477(d)(4) of the Social Security Act, the funds to which the State would be entitled shall be allocated to 1 or more other States on the basis of their relative need for additional payments as determined by the Secretary of Health and Human Services.

Question: Will there be any additional funding for this?

Answer: There is no additional Federal funding set-aside for the NYTD. The CFCIP program was created with a mandate for States to collect data, but the statute does not set-aside funds for that specific purpose. A State with a SACWIS must incorporate NYTD information collection and reporting activities related to children in foster care into their SACWIS system and may claim such information system costs as administrative costs under title IV-E to the extent they are allowable and consistent with a State's APD and cost allocation plan (73 FR 10362).

Question: Will funding be provided above and beyond our annual Chafee grants to help us implement NYTD effectively?

Answer: See Q/A above on additional funding.

Question: Please re-visit the explanation of how smaller States not using a random sample can determine a minimum sample size. Will these States be required to have a 100% sample for the baseline?

Answer: The regulation requires States to use either a simple random sample or another accepted methodology that has been approved by ACF. A State's actual sample size will depend on the number of youth in the baseline population who participate in the outcomes data collection at age 17 (the sampling frame) and the application of the correct formula pursuant to 45 CFR 1356.84(c) and appendix C. We acknowledge that, depending on the number of 17-year-olds in foster care who participate in the outcomes data collection at age 17 in the State, the resulting sample may be the entire baseline population.

Question: How do States go about getting their sampling methodology approved? What is the minimum sample required?

Answer: States should submit their sampling methodology to their Children's Bureau Regional Office specialist who will consult with the ACF statistician. The minimum sample size will depend on population of youth who participate in the outcomes data collection at age 17 and the application of the sampling requirements at 45 CFR 1356.84(c) and appendix C.

Question: Regarding independent living services, do you have any examples of what "other financial assistance" would include?

Answer: "Other financial assistance" includes any payments made or provided by the State agency to help the youth live independently other than educational or room and board financial assistance. As we explained in the NPRM, the definition in the regulation is minimal because we do not believe we could provide an exhaustive list; however, such assistance may include payments for household expenses, subsidized transportation or payments for business attire for job or college interviews (71 FR 40358).

Question: Does incarceration, i.e., whether the youth was confined for allegedly committing a crime, equate to conviction?

Answer: Not necessarily. A youth may be incarcerated after a wrongful arrest or for a minor infraction and may not be convicted (73 FR 10354). However, since the statute requires that we measure incarceration as an outcome (section 477(f)(1)(A) of the Act), we have used the term to describe a youth who has been confined in a jail, prison, correctional facility, or juvenile or community detention facility in connection with allegedly committing a misdemeanor of felony crime.

SACWIS

Question: Is the data required to be captured in a State's SACWIS system if the State has a SACWIS?

Answer: Yes, States that have elected to build a SACWIS must incorporate NYTD information collection and reporting activities related to children in foster care into their SACIWS system. Regulations at 45 CFR 1355.53(b)(3) and (4) as well as policy at ACF-OISM-001 (part IV) direct States to incorporate all case management and service functions for children in foster care into their SACWIS. Specific components of the NYTD that are included in a State's SACWIS are subject to the APD process.

Question: If our SACWIS system is operational and we need to develop additional functionality to comply to this rule will the development activity be eligible for enhanced funding or operational funding?

Answer: The cost to enhance a SACWIS to support the NYTD reporting requirements for children in foster care is eligible for title IV-E funding. The State may submit an As Needed APD to request additional funding. The applicable rate (operational or developmental) will be determined based on the business case presented in the APD.

Question: Our state is building a new SACWIS, and the proposed time frame for completion is very close to the start date for initial data collection. What steps can we take should the SACWIS not be ready?

Answer: The State should develop contingency plans to capture the information necessary to support NYTD reporting in the absence of an automated system. The cost of these contingency plans can be paid for with CFCIP funds or State funds, but cannot be claimed as SACWIS expenditures.

Question: Can a State utilize a non-SACWIS system to collect survey responses from the 17-year old foster youth population (baseline) and report that data to ACF? The final regulation note (page 10361) the requirement that if a State uses SACWIS, it must be used for case management and service functions, however, we view the NYTD outcome data as separate as the surveys must be completed by foster youth, not social worker staff.

Answer: No. As we stated in the final rule, all States that have elected to build a SACWIS must incorporate NYTD information collection and reporting activities related to children in foster care into their SACWIS system (73 FR 10361)

Question: Do we need an approved APDU before we start working on this project?

Answer: If a State has completed the SACWIS project and the Children's Bureau has closed the APD, a State may enhance the system as an operational expense without submitting an APD if the cost of the system enhancement is less than the thresholds defined at 45 CFR 95.611. If the State has an open APD or is requesting development funding, they should submit an As Needed APD Update as described at 45 CFR 95.605.

Miscellaneous

Question: Since the tracking process is of critical significance will this component of the state plan dominate whether or not a state plan is approved?

Answer: No, NYTD is not a part of Chafee State plan requirements or approval (section 477(b) of the Act).

Question: When do you expect the remaining technical details describing the format and transmission procedures of the data files will be available? Will the file be in XML format?

Answer: We do not have an estimate at this time and we have not made any final decisions about the formatting and transmission procedures. We are working diligently to make this information available to States as soon as possible.

Question: Is NYTD trying to measure the impact of Chafee dollars only?

Answer: No. The services component of NYTD includes youth who receive independent living service paid for or provided by the State agency, rather than with just Chafee funds. As we explained in the NPRM, capturing information about all independent living services offered by the State's CFCIP agency gives a more complete picture of how each State supports youth transitioning into independent living (71 FR 40349). In addition, ACF designed the outcomes component of NYTD to look at outcomes of youth who are or were in foster care regardless of whether they receive independent living services because we believe it is important to capture information on both youth who receive services and those who do not in determining youth outcomes and assessing State performance (71 FR 40350).

Question: Is there a standard database all states would ultimately use?

Answer: No. States may utilize their own data collection system to collect and report data. However, there will be a single Federal database to which States will submit their data.

Question: When do you expect the first report to be available publicly from NYTD

Answer: We are projecting that the first report on data collected on all reporting populations for a one year period, would be available no earlier than June 2012.