PLEASE NOTE: This policy
issuance has been withdrawn in its entirety and should be used only
for historical or reference purposes.
| ACF Administration for Children and Families |
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN
SERVICES |
|
| 1. Log No.: ACYF-PI-85-2 | 2. Issuance Date: 01/29/85 | |
| 3. Originating Office: Children's Bureau | ||
| 4. Key Word: Section 427-Triennial Review | ||
PROGRAM INSTRUCTION
TO: State Agencies and Indian Tribal Organizations Administering Title IV-B of the Social Security Act
SUBJECT: Section 427 Compliance -- Triennial Review
LEGAL AND RELATED BACKGROUND: Section 427 and Section 475 of the Social Security Act (the Act).
SUMMARY: In order to pass the Triennial Compliance Review (TCR), at least 90 percent of the foster care cases reviewed must meet the three critical elements and at least 15 of the 18 other statutory requirements.
BACKGROUND: Section 427 of title IV-B provides that a State may be eligible for incentive payments, if among other things, it "has implemented and is operating to the satisfaction of the Secretary" certain systems providing protection for children in foster care. However, before ACYF conducts an initial compliance review, a State must certify that it meets all the statutory requirements.
These statutory requirements include the conduct of an inventory and the implementation and operation of a statewide information system, a system of case review for each child in foster care, a service program to facilitate reunification with families, or other permanent placements, and a preplacement preventive service program designed to help children remain with their families. Once a State has certified to these protections, funds are made available to the State.
ACYF then conducts a two-part review to verify compliance.
The first part of the compliance review determines whether a State has fully implemented its systems. This is called an administrative procedures review. In this part of the compliance review, ACYF looks at the administrative procedures a State has in place to implement the protections specified in the statute at section 427. The Department considers a State to be in compliance with this part of the review only if it has fully implemented 100 percent of the statutory provisions. This means that the inventory must have been conducted and the statewide information system, the case review system, and the services program(s) must have been implemented and be in operation. For example, reviewers verify the State's statutory or administrative procedures established to implement the case review system through administrative directives, guidelines, manuals, or working procedures with courts. State administrative procedures must make all the statutory protections mandatory and must document each and every element of the case review system. Only if the State achieves 100 percent compliance with the administrative procedures review requirements will ACYF conduct the second part of the compliance review, the case record survey.
The case record survey is a review of the operational aspect of compliance. The Secretary has exercised her discretion in determining whether States are operating their systems to her satisfaction by establishing acceptable levels of performance regarding the number of statutory protections which individual case records must contain and the number of satisfactory case records required for an acceptable State systems.
Like the administrative procedures review, the case record survey also focuses on the statutory requirements found in section 427. A sample of case records is reviewed. Reviewers first determine if the three critical elements which make up the case review system are implemented for each case under review.
These critical elements, statutorily mandated in section 427(a)(2)(B) and specifically set forth in section 475(1) and (5), require that:
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the case plan be a written document; the periodic review be conducted no less frequently than once every six months; and the dispositional hearing be conducted no later than 18 months after the child's original placement and periodically thereafter as defined by the State. |
If a case record does not meet any one of these three critical elements it is considered a failed case. If a case meets the three critical elements, reviewers then determine to what extent the 18 other statutory requirements related to the three critical elements are applied to the case (see attachment I). Cases which document that the required number of elements have been met are considered acceptable.
INSTRUCTION: This Program Instruction identifies the three types of section 427 compliance reviews and indicates the percentage of acceptable cases required in each for a State to demonstrate eligibility for section 427 funds. In the Initial Compliance Review (ICR), at least 66 percent of the State agency's foster care cases must meet the three critical elements and, in addition, meet at least 13 of the 18 other statutory requirements. Increasingly higher levels of performance are required in later year reviews. If a State meets the ICR requirements, a compliance review is conducted for the following fiscal year. In this review, known as a Subsequent Compliance Review (SCR), at least 80 percent of the State agency's foster care cases must meet the three critical elements and at least 13 of the 18 other statutory requirements.
States that meet the requirements of the SCR will be reviewed for the third year following the year for which the SCR was conducted and for every third year thereafter. In this review, known as a Triennial Compliance Review (TCR), at least 90 percent of the State agency's foster care cases must meet the three critical elements and at least 15 of the 18 other statutory requirements.
Attachment II contains the Instructions for a section 427 Triennial Review regarding the Case Record Survey Sample and the appropriate Decision Table to be used.
EFFECTIVE: Upon Receipt
INQUIRIES TO: Regional Program Directors, ACYF
/s/
Dodie Livingston
COMMISSIONER
Attachments:
Attachment
I - Eighteen Elements
Attachment II - Instructions for Sec. 427 Triennial Reviews:
Case Record Sample Survey and Triennial Review Decision Tables III
and IV
