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Home > Statistics & Research > AFCARS Assessment Reviews > Rhode Island Assessment Review > AFCARS Assessment Review Findings - General Requirements

AFCARS Assessment Review Findings - General Requirements
State: Rhode Island

Requirement Finding/Notes Rating Factor
Population Requirements 2

45 CFR 1355.40(a) Scope of the data collection system - foster care

Must include all children in foster care for whom the agency has responsibility for placement, care, or supervision (45 CFR 1355.40(a)(2)).

  • All children who are required to be provided the protection of section 422(b)(10) of the Social Security Act (the Act) (Appendix A - SECTION II).
  • All children supervised by or under the responsibility of another public agency with which the title IV-B/E agency has an agreement under title IV-E and the State makes title IV-E foster care maintenance payments (Appendix A - SECTION II).

Yes.   The State title IV-B/E agency, Department of Children, Youth and Families (DCYF)), includes the Division of Child Welfare Services, the Division of Juvenile Correctional Services and the Division of Children's Behavioral Health and Education. The State is including most of the children that are in the State's responsibility for care, placement or supervision that are covered under section 422 of the Act. (See notes below.)

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Includes Native American children covered under section 422(b)(10) of the Act, (45 CFR 1355.40(a)(2)). Yes blank cell
Out of State placements. The State making the placement submits the information on the child (45 CFR 1355.40(a)(2)). Yes blank cell
Includes all children who have been in foster care at least 24 hours (Appendix A - SECTION II). The State is incorrectly including children that have been in care for less than 24 hours. blank cell
Does not include children who are in their own homes under the responsibility of the State agency (Appendix A - SECTION II). The State is correctly not including children in their custody that have never been removed from their home. blank cell
Include all children who are in the placement, care, or supervision responsibility of the title IV-B/E agency that are on "trial home visits" (Child Welfare Policy Manual, Section 1.3, AFCARS Reporting Population). The State enters a discharge date on children that are still in the agency's responsibility for care, placement or supervision and placed back into their own home. These children are to be included in AFCARS as open cases. blank cell
Includes youth over the age of 18 if a payment is being made on behalf of the child (Child Welfare Policy Manual, Section 1, AFCARS). The State reports youth over the age of 18 up to the age of 21. The State's age of majority is 18, but a young adult can remain under the care and placement of the agency up to the age of 21 if he or she has developmental disabilities. blank cell

45 CFR 1355.40(a) Scope of the data collection system - adoption

Includes all adopted children placed by the agency, and all adopted children for whom the State agency is providing adoption assistance (either ongoing or for non-recurring expenses), or for whom care or services are provided directly or by contract or agreement with other private or public agencies (45 CFR 1355.40(a)(3)).

  • Report on all children adopted in the State during the reporting period in whose adoption the State has had any involvement. All adoptions after 10/1/94 that meets the criteria below must be reported. Criteria (Appendix B - Section II):
  1. Children who had been in foster care under the responsibility and care of the agency.
  2. All special needs children, whether or not they were in the public foster care system prior to their adoption and for whom non-recurring expenses were reimbursed.
  3. Children adopted for whom an adoption assistance payment or service is being provided based on arrangements with the State agency.
 The State is not reporting all adoptions that are required by the AFCARS standards. The State has adoption agreements with, and provides subsidies to, families that adopted a child through a private agency and the child is a special needs child. These adoptions are not, but should be, included in the AFCARS data submission. blank cell
Adoptions prior to 10/1/94, with title IV-E adoption subsidies, report aggregate data (45 CFR 1355.40(a)(3)). Yes blank cell
For children adopted out of state, the placing State reports the adoption data (45 CFR 1355.40(a)(3)). The State does not, but should, include these children. blank cell
Voluntarily reports on all other adoptions. (Appendix B - Section II). Not applicable. blank cell
Technical Requirements 3
45 CFR 1355.40(b) Foster care and adoption reporting requirements blank cell blank cell
The data must be extracted from the data system as of the last day of the reporting period (45 CFR 1355.40(b)(1)). The State is including data that occurs after the end of the report period. blank cell
The data must be submitted in electronic form as described in Appendix C (45 CFR 1355.40(b)(1)). Yes blank cell
The data must be in record layouts as delineated in Appendix D (45 CFR 1355.40(b). Yes blank cell

Appendix A, 45 CFR 1355 Foster Care Data Elements and Appendix B, 45 CFR 1355 Adoption Data Elements

State uses sequential numbering of the case record number or encrypts the record number.

 The State uses encryption. The State also uses the same routine for NCANDS. blank cell
Appendix C, 45 CFR 1355 Electronic Data Transmission Format blank cell blank cell
Data file must be in ASCII format. Yes blank cell
Elements must be comprised of integer (numeric) value(s). Yes blank cell
All records must be a fixed length. Yes blank cell
ACYF-PI-CB-95-09, Reissued May 23, 1995 blank cell blank cell
State extracts all records based on the transaction date of discharge. Yes blank cell
Data Extraction blank cell blank cell
For children who are in care on the last day of the reporting period, information as of the last day of the period is extracted. See above blank cell
For children who were discharged during the period, information on the most recent episode is extracted. blank cell blank cell
File Creation blank cell blank cell
State attaches footnotes to files. No blank cell
State is using proper format for the creation of footnotes. N/A blank cell
State uses DCU and DQU on its data file. Yes blank cell
Data Conversion blank cell blank cell
State transferred historical information on open cases. Specifically, it included information on: date of first removal, total number of removals, and whether the child's mother was married at the time of the child's birth. If the case was open at the time of conversion, information on the number of placement settings was included. The State converted from its legacy systems in August, 1997. At the time of conversion, all the placement history for every placement was converted to RICHIST. If there was a gap of two weeks, it was considered a discharge. The State converted all open and closed cases that had been open at any time three years prior to conversion. If a record has a removal date prior to 1994, the information is not in RICHIST. blank cell
The information system has the capability of recording historical information. This should apply to both open cases in which historical information must be entered, and for closed cases that re-open after conversion and must be entered into the system. There may be some data clean-up that could be done on the cases. The State should look at this further, especially in light of the upcoming CFSR. blank cell