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ADDENDUM TO FINAL REPORT
Commonwealth of Puerto Rico
Secondary Title IV-E Foster Care Eligibility Review
(AFCARS Review Period: April 1, 2006 through September 30, 2006)

Following the issuance of the secondary title IV-E eligibility final report in June 2007, Puerto Rico (PR) submitted a revised payment history. Upon examination, it was discovered that there had not been any title IV-E maintenance payments claimed for samples number 23 and 35, during the PUR. Therefore, it was determined that the cases did not meet the sampling criteria, and needed to be excluded. Absent these two cases, the reviewed sample became 148 cases. In order to fully comply with Federal regulation set forth at 45 CFR §1356.71 (c)(5), which requires that a sample of 150 cases be drawn for the secondary review, samples 23 and 35 were substituted with over-samples 159 and 160, respectively.

On August 30, 2007, the Administration for Children and Families' Children's Bureau's (CB) Regional Office related the preceding information to the PR Administration for Families and Children (ADFAN). CB asked that ADFAN review over-samples 159 and 160 using the title IV-E eligibility on-site review instrument and return the completed review instruments (PDF format) to CB's Regional Office, along with all of the supporting documentation, no later than September 7, 2007.

This Secondary review was conducted as a result of the findings of the Primary review that was completed during the week of August 11, 2003. At that time, Puerto Rico was determined not to be in substantial compliance with the title IV-E eligibility requirements for the period under review. As required, in a determination of non-substantial compliance, Puerto Rico submitted a Program Improvement Plan (PIP) to correct the areas found deficient in its eligibility program for foster care. The PIP, approved with an effective date of December 1, 2004, was based on the State's reports of progress and final implementation of the planned improvements. The PIP goals included, but were not limited to the following:

Results of Additional Samples Review:

On September 7, 2007, ADFAN submitted electronic copies of the completed on-site review instrument and supporting documentation, such as court orders and licensure, relative to over-sample 159. On September 13, 2007, ADFAN submitted a follow up explanation indicating that case sample 23, indeed, had title IV-E payments associated with it from January 2006 until June 2006, which is within the period under review (PUR) of April 1, 2006 to September 30, 2006. Therefore, the case remained in the original review sample, and ultimately only case sample 35 was substituted. Aid to Families with Dependent Children supporting documentation for over-sample 159 was received on September 17, 2007. The payment history for both samples 23 and 159 was received on September 18, 2007.

On September 10, 2007, and September 18, 2007, CB conducted a quality assurance (QA) review of the completed instrument and its accompanying supporting documentation for over-sample 159. The QA review determined that the case was properly rated as non-error without any disallowed payments. Attachment D was revised to reflect the PUR payment history for both sample cases 23 and 159. The secondary review of PR's title IV-E foster care eligibility program for the period of April 1, 2006 to September 30, 2006 was successfully completed. PR is in substantial compliance for the PUR.