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Chapter 2

The Review Team

Composition of the Review Team

A team of individuals, including the following members, conducts the reviews:

• ACF Central and Regional Office staff, and
  
  
• State central and local office staff.

The State agency may elect to include representatives on the State team who are external to the State agency. The external representatives should possess expertise that can be utilized to assist the State agency in identifying strategies for training, technical assistance, and program improvement, and to augment the knowledge of State agency staff about the title IV-E eligibility requirements. Examples of external representatives the State agency may consider including on the State team are staff of the judicial system and tribal and public agency representatives who entered into a title IV-E "placement and care" agreement with the State agency.

A designated ACF Regional Office staff person leads the review team. If possible, the review teams should always consist of an equal number of Federal and State staff as negotiated between the ACF Regional Office and the State agency. From 8 to 10 team members have proven to be an ideal number for a primary review and from 12 to 14 team members for a secondary review. At times, it may be advantageous to have a greater number of State staff, if there is not an equal number of Federal staff. The team also may include cross-ACF Regional or cross-State representatives at the option of the State agency to be reviewed and at the expense of the ACF Region or State sending staff to the review. An ACF Regional Office or State interested in participating in another State's review will make its requests through the ACF Regional Office that is leading the review. The ACF Regional Office review leader will obtain the review State's consent for cross-State or cross-Region participation.

Functions of the Review Team

The role of the review team is to verify every element of eligibility and decide whether the State agency made a correct determination of eligibility for the sample cases. If an incorrect determination is made, the review team must decide which elements of eligibility and payment are incorrect and when the improper payment occurred. The effectiveness of the eligibility review depends on the performance of the review team. Information gathered by the review team is used to identify all sources of improper payments, calculate underpayments and disallowances, and formulate Program Improvement Plans (PIPs). Therefore, it is important that decisions concerning the correctness of sample cases are based on an evaluation of the available facts and are thoroughly and accurately documented on the review instrument. Membership on the review team involves a significant commitment of time and effort.

All team members are expected to:

• participate in any scheduled orientation or training sessions before or during the review;
  
  
• remain present at the review site for the duration of the on-site review, including participation in all scheduled review activities from the entrance conference through the exit conference;
  
  
• conduct all assigned activities associated with the review of case records, including completion of the review instrument(s);
  
  
• participate in a debriefing before the exit conference to discuss the strengths and areas in need of improvement noted during the review;
  
  
• remain available for consultation following the review, if needed, to clarify or supplement information recorded on the instruments; and
  
  
• perform quality control functions as designated by the Team Leader.

Leadership of the Review Team

The On-Site Review Team Leader will be a Federal staff member from the ACF Regional Office who is the liaison to the State agency for the title IV-E foster care eligibility review and who consults with the ACF Central Office in planning the review. The Team Leader serves as the official spokesperson for the ACF while on site and is responsible for ensuring the completion of all tasks. The major responsibilities of the Team Leader and any staff assisting the Team Leader include the following:/p>

• serve as the liaison with State agency leadership in planning review activities;
  
  
• ensure that the sample data are sent to the State agency on a timely basis and that the sample and payment history are available in time to plan the on-site review;
  
  
• plan the details of the on-site review with the ACF Central Office and State agency representatives, including arranging conference calls as needed, transmitting review instructions and procedures to State agency liaisons, and transmitting State material to Federal team members;
  
  
• provide leadership for entrance and exit conferences at the beginning and conclusion of the on-site review;
  
  
• coordinate the development of the written notification letter regarding substantial compliance to the State;
  
  
• coordinate with the ACF Central Office the development, revision, circulation, and release of the final report of the review;
  
  
• provide guidance, as needed, to designated State agency staff toward development of the PIP, when a PIP is necessary;
  
  
• designate someone on the team to perform quality control of the On-Site Review Instruments, in order to identify missing information and inconsistencies (see "Suggested On-Site Quality Control Tasks for the Administration for Children and Families Regional Office Team Leaders," Appendix V);
  
  
• ensure a 10 percent, or more when necessary, quality control review of all cases read (see "Suggested On-Site Quality Control Tasks for the Administration for Children and Families Regional Office Team Leaders," Appendix V);
  
  
• participate in review activities by reading case records or performing quality assessments of the On-Site Review Instruments;
  
  
• maintain a log indicating whether a case is a sample or an oversample case, who read the case, the result of the case review, and a description of the errors, ineligible payments, and underpayments (for an example of a case summary log, see "Title IV-E Foster Care Eligibility Reviews Table of Completed Case Records and Description of Improper Payments," Appendix VI);
  
  
• maintain a list of missing documentation that the State agency could provide that would change a case with ineligible payments to an accurate case;
• if adequate documentation is provided during the on-site review, apply it to the appropriate case record and adjust the On-Site Review Instrument accordingly, in consultation with the case reviewer;
  
  
• maintain a list of sample cases that are eliminated from the sample indicating the replacement oversample case and reason for substitution;
  
  
• retain all documentation provided by the State agency pertaining to underpayments and required for calculating maintenance and administrative cost disallowances that includes the complete payment history for all sample cases including those sample cases in which a disallowance is not assessed (see "Calculation of the Maintenance Payment and Administrative Cost Disallowances for the Title IV-E Primary and Secondary Foster Care Eligibility Reviews and of the National Foster Care Error Rate for the Title IV-E Foster Care Program", Appendix XIV).