1.   AFCARS

The State should change the placement setting to pre-adoptive home. However, the number of placements should not change nor should the date of placement. There is no internal consistency check among these elements and therefore, there will be no error detected with the change of placement even though the number of placements has not increased. (See: 45 CFR 1355, Appendix D, Detailed Foster Care, Element Numbers 23, 24, and 41.)

Yes. The system will not consider it an error if the date of placement in current foster care setting is the same day as the date of latest removal from home. (See: 45 CFR 1355, Appendix D, Detailed Foster Care, Element Number 23.)

"Date of placement in current foster care setting" should be the date the child was placed in the setting from which he/she ran away or left for a trial home visit. The "Current Placement Setting" would be changed to either "Runaway" or "Trial Home Visit". (See: 45 CFR 1355, Appendix D, Detailed Foster Care, Element Numbers 23 and 41.)

Generally, the shelter should be coded as the type of placement that it most closely resembles. Therefore, the size of the facility should determine whether the shelter care is considered as an institution or a group home. It is also possible for an emergency shelter to be coded as relative or non-relative foster care if the shelter is a home.

A Pre-Adoptive Home is a home in which the family has been approved to adopt the child. The family may or may not be receiving a foster care payment or an adoption subsidy on behalf of the child. The child is considered in foster care until the adoption has been finalized, that is, a judge has signed the adoption decree.

A Foster Family Home (Non-Relative) is a licensed or approved foster family home regarded by the State as a foster care living arrangement. This placement setting also includes what are referred to in some States as receiving foster homes.

An Institution is a child care facility operated by a public or private agency and providing 24-hour care and/or treatment for children who require separation from their own homes and group living experience. These facilities may include: child care institutions, residential treatment facilities, maternity homes, nursing homes, hospitals, etc.

A Trial Home Visit occurs when the child has been in a foster care placement, but, under continuing State agency supervision, is then returned to the principal caretaker for a limited and specified period of time. If a time period is not specified the child should be identified as having been returned home at the point at which the trial home visit exceeds six months. (See: 45 CFR 1355, Appendix A, Section I, Roman Numeral V, Question A. Also see: Appendix D, Detailed Foster Care, Element Number 41.)

For AFCARS' reporting purposes "Group Homes" are defined as substitute care settings which house 12 or fewer children, whereas, an "Institution" provides care for more than 12 children. Given this distinction of size, and if States are consistent in their use of size as a distinguishing factor, it should be clear as to the types of substitute care children are in and should not pose a major problem.

A Removal is either the physical act of a child being taken from his or her normal place of residence, by court order or a voluntary placement agreement and placed in a substitute care setting, or the removal of custody from the parent or relative guardian pursuant to a court order or voluntary placement agreement which permits the child to remain in a substitute care setting.

Placement occurs after removal and is the physical setting in which a child finds himself or herself, that is, the resultant foster care setting. A new Placement setting results when the foster care setting changes, for example, when a child moves from one foster family home to another or to a group home or institution.

An Episode is a removal with one or more placement settings. A previous episode is one that has been completed by a discharge. A current episode is a removal and one or more placement settings without a discharge.

A Discharge represents that point in time when the child is no longer in foster care under the care and responsibility or supervision of the State agency. For AFCARS purposes, situations in which the State retains supervision of a child and the child returns home on a trial basis, for an unspecified period of time, are considered a discharge from foster care after a six month period. (See: 45 CFR 1355, Appendix A, Section I, Roman Numeral III, Questions A and B. Also see: Appendix D, Detailed Foster Care, Element Numbers 18, 20, and 23.)

If the child, after having run away or experienced a trial home visit, returns to a placement setting different than the one he/she ran away from or left for a trial home visit, then the "Date of Placement in Current Foster Care Setting," "Current Placement Setting," and "Number of Previous Placement Settings during this Removal Episode" will be changed. The following information should be entered, "Date of Placement in Current Foster Care Setting" will be changed to the date the child enters the "different" placement setting, "Current Placement Setting" will be changed to the appropriate setting, and "Number of Previous Placement Settings during this Removal Episode" will be increased by one (+1). (See: 45 CFR 1355, Appendix D, Detailed Foster Care, Element Number 23, 41, and 24, respectively.)

Trial home visits and Runaway are the same in that they are recorded as placement settings. This allows the State to more accurately show the physical setting that the child is in at the time the report period ends. However, they are not counted in the number of placements in order to guard against misleading data. For example, in the case of a child in a group home who runs away for one week and then returns to the group home, if the runaway were counted as a placement it would appear that the child had three placements, when actually the agency had only placed the child once. Likewise, if the child was placed in a trial home visit with the intent that the child would be discharged back to the family the trial home visit should not be considered a placement. The number of placements element is meant to gather information on how many times the agency found it necessary to move the child while in foster care. (See: 45 CFR 1355, Appendix D, Detailed Foster Care, Element Number 24.)

No. While it is important for ACF to know the number of children in runaway status at a particular time, "runaway" is not a placement setting and should not be counted as such. (See: 45 CFR 1355, Appendix D, Detailed Foster Care, Element Numbers 41 and 24, respectively).

If the child returns to the same placement setting they were in, prior to running away or having the trial home visit, only the "Current Placement Setting" will be changed and it will be changed to the placement setting he/she was in prior to running away or leaving for their trial home visit. (See: 45 CFR 1355, Appendix D, Detailed Foster Care, Element Number 41.)

When answering the question, "Number of Previous Placement Settings During This Removal Episode", include the current placement setting. (See: 45 CFR 1355, Appendix D, Detailed Foster Care, Element Number 24. Also see: Appendix A, Section II, Roman Numeral III, Removal/Placement Setting Indicators.)

"Institution," as it is used for AFCARS reporting, generally indicates large groups of children, even though we acknowledge that this could represent children in mental health facilities, nursing homes, long-term hospital care, juvenile justice facilities, and many other placement settings serving large numbers of individuals. To assist ACF in clarifying placements, we encourage States to footnote significant percentages, for example, 25% of children in institutional care are in juvenile justice facilities.

As a general rule, the ongoing placement setting for the child is the key placement setting to report. It is best to look at a situation like this for the longer term intent for the child's placement in substitute care. If the child's regular placement setting is in an institution, the weekend visits home are not considered new placement settings as "trial home visits," they are understood to be a temporary situation, while the child resides in the institution. The same reasoning would apply to: A child who stays a day or two in a hospital for medical treatment. (In the case of a boarder baby, whose initial placement is a general hospital for medical treatment and continuing care, the hospital stay WOULD be a placement setting); or a child in foster care who spends a week at a summer camp. (See: 45 CFR 1355, Appendix D, Detailed Foster Care, Element Number 24.)

ACF hopes that it will be a rare occasion when a child is placed in an unlicensed facility. But in those rare cases, code the placement setting as the definition that most closely resembles the placement setting. For this case, the placement setting should be coded as a non-relative foster home. (See: 45 CFR 1355, Appendix D, Detailed Foster Care, Element Number 41).

The placement setting for children in shelter care should be classified by type of facility, i.e., Foster Family Home (Relative and Non-Relative), Group Home or Institution. (See: 45 CFR 1355, Appendix A, Section I, Roman Numeral V, Question A. Also see: Appendix D, Detailed Foster Care, Element Number 41.)

AFCARS reporting is not concerned with the status of the substitute care provider, only the number of placement setting changes a child experiences. Consequently, the child in the above question does not experience a placement setting change, therefore, no change will be made to "Number of Previous Placement Settings during this Removal Episode", (See: 45 CFR 1355, Appendix D, Detailed Foster Care, Element Number 24.)

If a child's placement setting status changes to a setting as defined for AFCARS reporting, e.g., a group home becomes licensed as an institution, then for AFCARS reporting purposes we would request that the child's "Current Placement Setting" be changed as appropriate. However, there would be no change in the "Date of Placement in the Current Foster Care Setting" nor in the "Number of Previous Placements During this Removal Episode". (See: 45 CFR 1355, Appendix D, Detailed Foster Care, Element Number 41, 23, and 24 respectively.)

Two placement settings in the current episode. (See: 45 CFR 1355, Appendix D, Detailed Foster Care, Element Number 24.)

If the child remains with the same family, it should not be considered a new placement if the family moves. (See: 45 CFR 1355, Appendix D, Detailed Foster Care, Element Numbers 23, 24, and 41.)

The definitional use of institutional care setting for AFCARS was purposely broadened to make it applicable to situations which cannot be recorded in any other manner. But it remains the same for purposes other than AFCARS reporting.

In general, the State is required to count a placement that lasts more than 24 hours while the child is in foster care under the placement, care or supervision responsibility of the State agency. See 45 CFR 1355.40 and CWPM 1.2B.7 and 1.3. This includes moves that may be made on an emergency or unplanned basis, such as shelter care placements, treatment facility placements, and certain placements for juvenile justice purposes. See CWPM 1.3. However, there are certain temporary living conditions that are not placements, but rather represent a temporary absence from the child's ongoing foster care placement. As such, the State must exclude the following temporary absences from the calculation of the number of previous placement settings for foster care element 24.

• Visitation with a sibling, relative, or other caretaker (i.e., preplacement visits with a subsequent foster care provider or preadoptive parents)
• Hospitalization for medical treatment, acute psychiatric episodes or diagnosis
• Respite care
• Day or summer camps
• Trial home visits
• Runaway episodes

Foster care element 24 is meant to gather information on how many times the agency found it necessary to move the child while in foster care. Therefore, the number of previous placement settings during the removal episode must reflect all placement moves including the current placement and placements into a previous foster care setting, regardless of whether the child was previously placed in that setting. The exception to this policy is with regard to a child who returns to the same foster care setting following a temporary absence that is specifically excluded from the calulation of previous placment settings.(see CWPM 1.2B.7).

The State must indicate the date the child was placed on the trial home visit, or known to have run away from the last placement setting as the "Date of placement in current foster care setting" (foster care element 23). The State must also change the "Current Placement Setting" (foster care element 41) to either "Runaway" or "Trial Home Visit", as appropriate. The State should not increase the "number of previous placement settings during this removal episode" (foster care element 24).

Yes. The State should report to AFCARS children who are under the placement and care responsibility of the title IV-E agency but who ran away prior to the child?s placement in a foster care setting. In this situation, the State should report the child as having a current placement setting (foster care element #41) of runaway and indicate the date the child ran away as the date of placement in current foster care setting (foster care element #23). Since there has not been an actual placement, the State should indicate a placement count (foster care element #24) of zero.

No to both questions. The child remains at a single child care institution and placement and the State must not indicate a change in the date of placement in current foster care setting (foster care element 23), number of previous placement settings (foster care element 24) or the current placement setting (foster care element 41) due to such a move.