Missouri Title IV-E Foster Care Eligibility Review

October 1, 2000 - March 31, 2001

Introduction

During the week beginning February 4, 2002, Administration for Children and Families (ACF) staff from the Central and Regional Offices and State of Missouri staff conducted an eligibility review of Missouri's Title IV-E foster care program in Jefferson City.

The purpose of the title IV-E foster care eligibility review was (1) to determine if Missouri 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 Missouri's financial claims to ensure that appropriate payments were made on behalf of eligible children and to eligible homes and institutions.

Scope of the Review

The Missouri Title IV-E foster care 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 October 1, 2000 to March 31, 2001. A computerized statistical sample of 120 cases was drawn from the Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS) data which was transmitted by the State agency to the ACF for the period under review. The child's case file was reviewed for the determination of title IV-E eligibility and the provider's file was reviewed to ensure that the foster home or child care institution in which the child was placed was licensed or approved for the period of the review.

During the initial primary review, 80 cases were reviewed. One case was determined to be in error for either part or all of the review period for reasons that are identified in the Case Record Summary section of this report.

Since the number of error cases was fewer than nine, the ACF has determined Missouri to be in substantial compliance.

Case Record Summary

The following details the error case and reason for the error, erroneous payments, and appropriate citations:

The child was placed in a relative foster family home that did not have full licensure for a period of three months. (October, 2000, November, 2000, and December 2000) .472(a)(3), (b), and (c).

The erroneous payments associated with the one error case was calculated as follows, and include all payments claimed on behalf of the child for the entire period of the error.

Sample #	Total	FMAP	FFP
MO. - 69	$1,316	60.51%	$684.00

Areas in Need of Improvement

Since Missouri was in substantial compliance a program improvement plan is not required. There were a few areas that were identified in need of improvement.

If a court order references and incorporates social summaries to meet the reasonable efforts requirement then these reports need to be attached to the court orders.

The review team found some court orders with check lists but no attachments. The orders were not child specific.

In one case the birth date of a child was different in the court order and case record.

Strengths and Model Practices

The Missouri preparation for the IV-E Review was exemplary. They took numerous steps to make this review a success:

A pre-review of all cases was conducted using the IV-E review instrument.
All cases were highly organized for optimal reading.
The eligibility files were separated from the children and family files making it much easier to read for IV-E eligibility.
Eligibility files were tabbed for easy location of necessary documents.
Dropped cases were found prior to the on site review.
The State review team members were highly knowledgeable and came from various disciplines which were key to the review.
Eligibility workers focused on getting reasonable efforts to finalize a permanency plan
The form capturing eligibility data was considered an excellent tool.
The Missouri systems ability to print out a court order history was valuable for the review.

Disallowances

The review included a sample of 80 cases. The sample was drawn from a universe of cases that received at least one title IV-E foster care maintenance payment during the 6-month AFCARS period of October 1, 2000 to March 31, 2001. Based upon the results of the review, the State of Missouri has been determined to be in substantial compliance. One case was determined not to be eligible for funding under title IV-E foster care. Therefore, a disallowance in the amount of $684 in Federal Financial Participation (FFP) is assessed for the entire period of time that this case was determined to be in error.