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During the week of March 19, 2007, the Children’s Bureau’ (CB) staff from the Central and Regional Offices and the Virginia Department of Social Services’ (DSS) staff conducted a secondary eligibility review of Virginia’s title IV-E foster care program. The purpose of the title IV-E foster care eligibility review was to determine if Virginia was in compliance with the child and provider eligibility requirements as outlined in 45 CFR 1356.71 and Section 472 of the Social Security Act; and to validate the basis of Virginia’s financial claims to ensure that appropriate payments were made on behalf of eligible children to eligible homes and institutions.
This secondary review was conducted as a result of the findings of the initial primary title IV-E review that was performed the week of August 23, 2004 in which Virginia was determined not to be in substantial compliance with title IV-E eligibility requirements for the period under review. As required, the State submitted a title IV-E Program Improvement Plan (PIP) to address areas found to be deficient in its foster care eligibility program. The PIP was approved on February 15, 2005 and a final report was submitted on March 15, 2006. The PIP’s goals and activities included, but were not limited to the following:
Virginia’s secondary title IV-E foster care eligibility review encompassed a sample of all of the title IV-E foster care cases that received a foster care maintenance payment during the period of April 1, 2006 though September 30, 2006. A computerized statistical sample of 180 cases (150 cases plus 30 over sample cases) was drawn from the Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS) data submission which was transmitted by the State agency to CB for the period under review. Of the 30 over sample cases, twenty-five cases were selected for the review to replace cases in which it was found that Virginia had not made title IV-E foster care maintenance payments during the period under review.
During the on-site review each child’s case file in the selected sample was reviewed to determine title IV-E eligibility. The provider’s file was examined to ensure that the foster home or child care institution in which the child was placed during the period under review was licensed or approved and that safety considerations were appropriately addressed. Payments made on behalf of each child were also reviewed to verify that the expenses were allowable under title IV-E. Efforts were made to identify any underpayments that may exist in the reviewed sample cases. In addition, CB and DSS agreed that, subsequent to the on-site review, Virginia would have several weeks in which to submit additional child and provider documentation for any case that was found to be in error, in undetermined status, or to have an ineligible payment. As a result of the provision of additional documentation, a number of case and payment determinations were modified.
For a secondary review, substantial compliance means that either the case error rate or the dollar error rate does not exceed ten percent. As a result of the secondary title IV-E foster care eligibility review conducted in Virginia, six cases were found to be in error for either part or all of the period under review for reasons that are identified in the Case Record Summary section of this report. The dollar value of the sample was $554,595 in Federal Financial Participation (FFP) for the total payments made during the period under review with the error cases totaling 4.09 percent. This data disclosed that Virginia’s dollar error rate was less than ten percent and the case error rate was less than ten percent. Therefore, Virginia is considered to be in substantial compliance with title IV-E child and provider eligibility requirement as outlined in 45 CFR 1356.71 and Section 472 of the Social Security Act. This represents a major improvement from the case findings obtained in the primary title IV-E foster care eligibility review conducted in the State during August of 2004.
In addition to the six cases with errors, 25 cases were identified that contained ineligible payments. Although these cases are not considered error cases for determining substantial compliance, the ineligible maintenance payments and the associated administrative costs are subject to disallowance. A disallowance in the amount of $168,706 FFP for maintenance payments and $224,483 FFP for administrative costs are assessed for the error and non-error cases with ineligible payments. The total disallowance as a result of this review is $393,189 FFP. Please refer to the letter transmitted with this report for further information on the disallowance and to the Disallowance section of this report.
Error Cases
The following chart provides details for the six cases containing errors, the reasons for ineligibility, the appropriate Federal citations, the dates of ineligibility, and the total disallowance amounts.
Case Number |
Reason For Ineligibility |
Federal |
Maintenance Payment FFP* |
Administrative Cost FFP* |
94 |
AFDC Eligibility (7/07/06 – 7/31/06)
Placement and Care Responsibility Vested with the State Agency (7/07/06 – 7/31/06) |
477(a)(1) 472(a)(2)(B) |
$593 |
$773 |
108 |
Safety Requirements for Foster Care Provider (6/05/06 – 06/22/06) |
471(a)(20) |
$932 |
$773 |
112 |
AFDC Eligibility (3/10/05 – 2/28/07) |
472(a)(1) |
$5,112 |
$18,443 |
119 |
AFDC Eligibility (8/22/03 – 2/28/07) |
477(a)(1) |
$33,254 |
$31,258 |
OS 24 |
Safety Requirements for Foster Care Provider (1/25/06 – 5/02/06) |
471(a)(20) |
$12,495 |
$2,319 |
OS 25 |
Ineligible Payment (2/01/06 – 7/01/06) |
472(a)(1)-(4),(e)(f)&(g) |
$11,125 |
$3,865 |
Total |
$63,511 |
$57,431 |
||
Grand Total for Error Cases |
$120,942 |
*Amounts rounded to nearest dollar,
Ineligible Payment Cases
The following chart provides details for the 25 cases containing ineligible payments, the reasons for ineligibility, the appropriate citations, the dates of ineligibility, and the disallowance amount.
Case Number |
Reason For Ineligibility |
Federal |
Maintenance Payment FFP* |
Administrative Cost FFP* |
---|---|---|---|---|
15 |
Reasonable Efforts to Make and Finalize a Permanency Plan (4/01/01 – 10/31/01) |
472(a)(1) |
$17,248 |
$3,875 |
17 |
Reasonable Efforts to Make and Finalize a Permanency Plan (4/01/01 – 1/30/03) |
472(a)(1) |
$4,166 |
$14,479 |
18 |
Reasonable Efforts to Make and Finalize a Permanency Plan (4/01/01 – 11/30/02 & 1/01/05 – 1/31/05) |
472(a)(1) |
$3,792 |
$13,856 |
21 |
Placement In a Licensed Foster Family Home (12/01/05 – 12/31/05) |
472(a)(2)(C) |
$156 |
$773 |
32 |
Reasonable Efforts to Make and Finalize a Permanency Plan (4/01/01 – 11/30/03 & 1/01/05 – 1/31/05) |
472(a)(1) |
$5,947 |
$22,071 |
37 |
Placement and Care Responsibility Vested with the State Agency (11/19/06 – 11/30/06) |
472(a)(2)(B) |
$199 |
$0 |
45 |
Ineligible Payment (4/19/04 – 4/30/04 & 4/28/06 – 4/30/06) |
472(a)(1)-(4),(e)(f)&(g) |
$66 |
$0 |
55 |
Ineligible Duplicate Payment (10/01/06 – 11/30/06) |
471(a)(10) |
$326 |
$1,600 |
58 |
Reasonable Efforts to Make and Finalize a Permanency Plan (4/01/01 – 6/30/02)
Ineligible Payment (8/26/05) |
472(a)(1) 472(a)(1)-(4),(e)(f)&(g) |
$9,065 |
$9,782 |
63 |
Placement In a Licensed Foster Family Home (9/01/96 – 10/31/96)
Reasonable Efforts to Make and Finalize a Permanency Plan (4/01/01 – 4/30/03) |
472(a)(2)(C) 472(a)(1) |
$6,390 |
$17,675 |
65 |
Placement In a Licensed Foster Family Home (5/24/05 – 7/30/05) |
472(a)(2)(C) |
$1,053 |
$1,476 |
78 |
Placement In a Licensed Foster Family Home (8/01/05 – 9/30/05) |
472(a)(2)(C) |
$265 |
$1,476 |
81 |
Ineligible Payment (5/01/05 – 5/31/05) |
472(a)(1)-(4),(e)(f)&(g) |
$130 |
$738 |
83 |
Reasonable Efforts to Make and Finalize a Permanency Plan (11/01/01 – 8/31/05) |
472(a)(1) |
$5,386 |
$31,971 |
86 |
Reasonable Efforts to Make and Finalize a Permanency Plan (9/01/04 – 10/31/04) |
472(a)(1) |
$1,046 |
$1,407 |
88 |
Reasonable Efforts to Make and Finalize a Permanency Plan (4/01/01 – 6/30/02) |
472(a)(1) |
$3,580 |
$9,782 |
97 |
Reasonable Efforts to Make and Finalize a Permanency Plan (3/01/02 – 7/31/04) |
472(a)(1) |
$5,939 |
$19,811 |
101 |
Ineligible Duplicate Payment (11/01/06 – 11/30/06) |
471(a)(10) |
$146 |
$800 |
104 |
Reasonable Efforts to Make and Finalize a Permanency Plan (4/01/01 – 5/31/02)
Safety Requirements for Foster Care Provider (8/29/05 – 9/03/05) |
472(a)(1) 471(a)(20) |
$35,383 |
$9,124 |
105 |
Placement and Care Responsibility Vested with the State Agency (1/18/07 – 1/31/07) |
472(a)(2)(B) |
$163 |
$0 |
116 |
Safety Requirements for Foster Care Provider (2/09/05 – 3/11/05 & 7/05/05 – 8/05/05) |
471(a)(20) |
$3,303 |
$1,476 |
125 |
Reasonable Efforts to Make and Finalize a Permanency Plan (5/01/03 – 8/31/03) |
472(a)(1) |
$967 |
$2,723 |
143 |
Reasonable Efforts to Make and Finalize a Permanency Plan (9/01/03 – 9/30/03) |
472(a)(1) |
$172 |
$681 |
145 |
Ineligible Payment (3/13/06) |
472(a)(1)-(4),(e)(f)&(g) |
$40 |
$0 |
OS-15 |
Placement In a Licensed Foster Family Home (8/01/05 – 9/30/05) |
472(a)(2)(C) |
$265 |
$1,476 |
Total |
$105,195 |
$167,052 |
||
Grand Total for Ineligible Payment Cases |
$272,247 |
*Amounts rounded to nearest dollar.
Underpayment Cases
The following chart provides details for the 19 cases containing underpayments in which the child was title IV-E eligible but title IV-E maintenance was not claimed by the State. Virginia may file a claim for these cases once they verify that all eligibility criteria were met. Reimbursement for these cases in which title IV-E eligible children may be requested only for claims that are within the two-year time limitation as described in 45 CFR 95.7.
Case |
Maintenance |
8 |
$566 |
9 |
$150 |
22 |
$186 |
42 |
$50 |
50 |
$44 |
65 |
$642 |
74 |
$122 |
79 |
$40 |
85 |
$1,516 |
89 |
$928 |
99 |
$246 |
108 |
$25 |
114 |
$349 |
118 |
$2,945 |
145 |
$27 |
OS 2 |
$189 |
OS 5 |
$1,676 |
OS 18 |
$225 |
OS 21 |
$3,331 |
Total FFP |
$13,256 |
While Virginia has made significant progress in improving its foster care maintenance program over the past several years, there are some areas DSS should continue to focus attention on to further the advancements in the program.
OTHER IDENTIFIED ISSUES
Virginia’s secondary review included a sample of 150 cases with a dollar value of $554,595 for the period under review. The sample was drawn from a universe of cases that received at least one title IV-E foster care maintenance payment during the six-month AFCARS period of April 1, 2006 through September 30, 2006. Based on the results of the review, Virginia has been found to be in substantial compliance. However, six cases were determined to be in error and an additional 25 cases were identified as having ineligible payments. Therefore, a disallowance in the amount of $120,942 in Federal Financial Participation (FFP) for title IV-E foster care maintenance payments and related administrative costs for the cases determined to be in error is being assessed for the entire period of time that these cases were determined to be in error. An additional disallowance of $272,247 in FFP is being assessed for title IV-E foster care payments claimed improperly for the cases determined to be non-error cases. The total disallowance as a result of this review is $393,189 FFP.
REVIEW TEAM MEMBERS
Federal Review Team | Virginia Review Team |
Alan Ademski | Suzanne Andrews |
Tina Chang | Tinker Barnes |
Christine Craig | Janet Gaskins |
Pamela Evans | Gary Gerczak |
Gary Koch | Lucinda Hale |
Diane Koehler | Arlene Hamilton |
Maurine Kozik | Lynette Isbell |
Penny Maza | Sarah Jones |
Julie Mochon | Kent Jorgenson |
Anh Nghiem | Dianne Roberson |
Lisa Pearson | Iris Robinson |
Tom Strawderman | Carolyn Smith |
Amy White | Debbie Tomlinson |
Therese Wolf | |