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Child Welfare Policy Manual Updates
Deletions to the Manual

The following are questions and answers that have been deleted from the manual. They are listed here strictly for historical purposes.

  • 1.1 AFCARS, Compliance and Penalties
    • 1. Question: How are the penalties calculated for a submission (e.g., the 90% accuracy requirement)? (Deleted July 5, 2002)

      Answer: After an opportunity for corrective action, penalties will be calculated on an element by element basis. If an applicable element is missing, out-of-range, or is part of an internal consistency relationship (as dictated in 45 CFR 1355, Appendix E) that fails, it will be converted to missing and considered in error. The percentage of errors per element will then be calculated using the number of errors across all records per element as the numerator, and the number of records that require that element as the denominator. The denominator will not always be the total number of records for each element; rather, the denominator will be the number of records for which an element requires an entry of information. An entry can include unknowns, not applicable, etc. Also in the Foster Care file, records that meet certain criteria are only required to contain "Core" data; in the Adoption file, records in which the State Agency had no involvement are not required to submit elements 5-37. If the percentage yielded from this calculation is greater than the error standard (in most cases 10%), a penalty will be assessed on the file (i.e., foster care or adoption) in which the element appears. In addition, penalties can be incurred by: No submission of a file; Submission of a file after the 45 day submission period; More than 10% of the records in the foster care data contain a removal transaction (computer-generated) date that is more than 60 days from the associated removal date; More than 10% of the applicable records in the foster care file contain a discharge transaction date that is more than 60 days from the actual date of discharge.
      • Source/Date: ACYF-CB-PIQ-95-01 (3/8/95)
      • Legal and Related References: Social Security Act - section 479; 45 CFR Parts 1355, 1356 and 1357


  • 1.2B.6 AFCARS, Data Elements and Definitions, Foster Care Specific Elements, Outcome information
    • 1. Question: Some States do not capture information about outcomes except when the children not only are discharged from agency custody, but also the case is closed and the agency is no longer providing any type of services to the family. If this is the case for a particular State, how will penalties be assessed for lack of information? (Deleted July 5, 2002)

      Answer: Outcome information relates specifically to the intended permanent release of a child from foster care. The regulation requires an outcome at the time the child is discharged from agency custody, that is, the agency no longer has care and responsibility or supervision, which serves to explain why the child exited foster care. Failure to supply required outcome information at the appropriate time will be treated as missing data for the purposes of assessing penalties. (See: 45 CFR 1355, Appendix A, Section I, Roman Numeral X, Questions A and B. Also see: Appendix D, Detailed Foster Care, Element Numbers 56 and 58.)
      • Source/Date: ACYF-CB-PIQ-94-01 (7/8/94)
      • Legal and Related References: Social Security Act - section 479; 45 CFR Parts 1355, 1356 and 1357


  • 1.2B.7 AFCARS, Data Elements and Definitions, Foster Care Specific Elements, Placements
    • 3. Question: If a child is on a trial home visit or has run away as of the end of the reporting period, what is to be reported in the "Date of placement in current foster care setting" field? (Deleted July 5, 2002)

      Answer: "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.)
      • Source/Date: ACYF-CB-PIQ-95-01 (3/8/95)
      • Legal and Related References: Social Security Act - section 479; 45 CFR Parts 1355, 1356 and 1357


    • 14. Question: If a child goes home on a regular basis (e.g., the child is placed in an institution, but goes home to his or her family on weekends), is this considered two placements each week? (Deleted July 5, 2002)

      Answer: 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.)
      • Source/Date: ACYF-CB-PIQ-95-01 (3/8/95)
      • Legal and Related References: Social Security Act - section 479; 45 CFR Parts 1355, 1356 and 1357


    • 16. Question: How are children in shelter care indicated on the AFCARS questionnaire? (Deleted July 5, 2002)

      Answer: 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.)
      • Source/Date: ACYF-CB-PIQ-94-01 (7/8/94)
      • Legal and Related References: Social Security Act - section 479; 45 CFR Parts 1355, 1356 and 1357


  • 2.1A.3 CAPTA, Assurances and Requirements, Access to Child Abuse and Neglect Information, Open courts
    • 2. Question: Some States have enacted laws that allow open courts for juvenile protection proceedings, including child in need of protection or services hearings, termination of parental rights hearings, long-term foster care hearings and in courts where dependency petitions are heard. Questions have arisen about whether courts that are open to the public and allow a verbal exchange of confidential information meet the confidentiality requirements under CAPTA. Do the confidentiality provisions in CAPTA restrict the information that can be discussed in open court? (Deleted April 17, 2006)

      Answer: Yes. The purpose of the confidentiality provision is to protect the privacy rights of individuals receiving services or assistance under this program and to assure that confidential information is not disclosed to unauthorized recipients. Although, under CAPTA, confidential information may be shared with the courts, there is no provision which allows for public disclosure of such information except in cases of child abuse or neglect that result in the death or near death of a child. The confidentiality requirements of CAPTA do not prohibit open courts per se. However, to the extent that the proceedings involve discussion of confidential information from the child abuse and neglect report and record, the confidentiality requirements apply. Accordingly, such information cannot be discussed in a public forum, including an open court. To the extent that confidential information is relevant to the proceedings, it must be discussed in the court's chambers or some other restricted setting, and the pertinent sections of the transcript must be kept confidential as well. Violation of the Federal confidentiality provisions is a State plan compliance issue under CAPTA.
      • Source/Date: ACYF-CB-PIQ-98-01 (6/29/98)
      • Legal and Related References: Social Security Act - section 471 (a)(8); Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA), as amended (42 U.S.C. 5101 et seq.) - section 106; 45 CFR 205.50; 45 CFR 1355.21 (a)


  • 8.1F TITLE IV-E, Administrative Functions/Costs, Match Requirements
    • 1. Question: Can third-party in-kind services and donated funds be used as the State's share for matching purposes under title IV-E? (Deleted August 26, 2002)

      Answer: No. Longstanding Federal policy has been to consistently exclude third party in-kind contributions from qualifying as the State share under Federal matching requirements for the title IV-E Foster Care and Adoption Assistance Program. Similarly, we exclude donated funds for matching purposes to the extent that these funds are donated on a restricted basis as to the type of activity for which the funds may be used or if they revert to the organization providing the service.
      • Source/Date: ACYF-CB-PIQ-84-06 (10/22/84)
      • Legal and Related References: Social Security Act - section 474; 45 CFR Part 1356.60


  • 8.3C TITLE IV-E, Foster Care Maintenance Payments Program, State Plan/Procedural Requirements
    • 10. Question: test (Deleted January 5, 2009)

      Answer: test
      • Source/Date: 12/19/08
      • Legal and Related References: Social Security Act – section 471(a)(2)


  • 8.4F TITLE IV-E, General Title IV-E Requirements, Criminal Record and Registry Checks
    • 1. Question: Does the criminal background check provision require checks at the State level, Federal level, or both? (Deleted January 31, 2007)

      Answer: The statute is silent with respect to this issue. Therefore, the State may exercise its discretion in choosing whether to conduct criminal records checks at the State or Federal level.
      • Source/Date: Preamble to the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (63 FR 50058) (9/18/98)
      • Legal and Related References: Social Security Act - section 471(a)(20); 45 CFR 1356.30


    • 2. Question: Does the criminal records checks provision apply to foster parents and adoptive parents whose licensure or approval predates the passage of the Adoption and Safe Families Act? (Deleted September 20, 2007)

      Answer: The provision applies to "prospective" foster and adoptive parents. Therefore, the provision applies to foster and adoptive parents who are licensed or approved after the date of enactment of the law (November 19, 1997), or the approved delayed effective date if the State required legislation to implement the provision.
      • Source/Date: Preamble to the Final Rule (65 FR 4020) (1/25/00)
      • Legal and Related References: Social Security Act - section 471 (a)(20); 45 CFR 1356.30


    • 26. Question: Is a State able to comply with section 471(a)(20)(A) of the Social Security Act (the Act) if the State is unable to take legible fingerprint impressions of the prospective parent to whom the requirements apply? (Deleted July 2, 2007)

      Answer: No. The State cannot comply with the statute if it is unable to obtain legible fingerprint impressions. Section 471(a)(20)(A) of the Act requires States to have procedures for conducting fingerprint-based checks of national crime information databases (NCID) for certain prospective foster and adoptive parents. A fingerprint of the prospective foster/adoptive parent may be taken through whatever means the State chooses, such as the conventional ink method or a "live scan" fingerprint, which is a computer digitized method.
      • Source/Date: 04/24/07
      • Legal and Related References: Social Security Act – section 471(a)(20)(A)