Child and Family Services Reviews
Better Use of Data and Improved Guidance Could Enhance HHS's Oversight of State Performance
Gao ID: GAO-04-333 April 20, 2004
In 2001, the Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS) Administration for Children and Families (ACF) implemented the Child and Family Services Reviews (CFSR) to increase states' accountability. The CFSR uses states' data profiles and statewide assessments, as well as interviews and an on-site case review, to measure state performance on 14 outcomes and systemic factors, including child well-being and the provision of caseworker training. The CFSR also requires progress on a program improvement plan (PIP); otherwise ACF may apply financial penalties. This report examines (1) ACF's and the states' experiences preparing for and conducting the statewide assessments and on-site reviews; (2) ACF's and the states' experiences developing, funding, and implementing items in PIPs; and (3) any additional efforts that ACF has taken beyond the CFSR to help ensure that all states meet federal goals related to children's safety, permanency, and well-being.
ACF and many state officials perceive the CFSR as a valuable process and a substantial undertaking, but some data enhancements could improve its reliability. ACF staff in 8 of the 10 regions considered the CFSR a helpful tool to improve outcomes for children. Further, 26 of 36 states responding to a relevant question in our survey commented that they generally or completely agreed with the results of the final CFSR report, even though none of the 41 states with final CFSR reports released through 2003 has achieved substantial conformity on all 14 outcomes and systemic factors. Additionally, both ACF and the states have dedicated substantial financial and staff resources to the process. Nevertheless, several state officials and child welfare experts we interviewed questioned the accuracy of the data used in the review process. While ACF officials contend that stakeholder interviews and case reviews complement the data profiles, many state officials and experts reported that additional data from the statewide assessment could bolster the evaluation of state performance. Program improvement planning is under way, but uncertainties have affected the development, funding, and implementation of state PIPs. Officials from 3 of the 5 states we visited said ACF's PIP-related instructions were unclear, and at least 9 of the 25 states reporting on PIP implementation in our survey said that insufficient funding and staff were among the greatest challenges. While ACF has provided some guidance, ACF and state officials remain uncertain about PIP monitoring efforts and how ACF will apply financial penalties if states fail to achieve their stated PIP objectives. Since 2001, ACF's focus has been almost exclusively on the CFSRs and regional staff report limitations in providing assistance to states in helping them to meet key federal goals. While staff from half of ACF's regions told us they would like to provide more targeted assistance to states, and state officials in all 5 of the states we visited said that ACF's existing technical assistance efforts could be improved, ACF officials acknowledged that regional staff might still be adjusting to the new way ACF oversees child welfare programs.
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GAO-04-333, Child and Family Services Reviews: Better Use of Data and Improved Guidance Could Enhance HHS's Oversight of State Performance
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Improved Guidance Could Enhance HHS's Oversight of State Performance'
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Report to Congressional Requesters:
United States General Accounting Office:
GAO:
April 2004:
Child and Family Services Reviews:
Better Use of Data and Improved Guidance Could Enhance HHS's Oversight
of State Performance:
GAO-04-333:
GAO Highlights:
Highlights of GAO-04-333, a report to Congressional Requesters
Why GAO Did This Study:
In 2001, the Department of Health and Human Services‘ (HHS)
Administration for Children and Families (ACF) implemented the Child
and Family Services Reviews (CFSR) to increase states‘ accountability.
The CFSR uses states‘ data profiles and statewide assessments, as well
as interviews and an on-site case review, to measure state performance
on 14 outcomes and systemic factors, including child well-being and
the provision of caseworker training. The CFSR also requires progress
on a program improvement plan (PIP); otherwise ACF may apply financial
penalties. This report examines (1) ACF‘s and the states‘ experiences
preparing for and conducting the statewide assessments and on-site
reviews; (2) ACF‘s and the states‘ experiences developing, funding,
and implementing items in PIPs; and (3) any additional efforts that
ACF has taken beyond the CFSR to help ensure that all states meet
federal goals related to children‘s safety, permanency, and well-
being.
What GAO Found:
ACF and many state officials perceive the CFSR as a valuable process
and a substantial undertaking, but some data enhancements could
improve its reliability. ACF staff in 8 of the 10 regions considered
the CFSR a helpful tool to improve outcomes for children. Further, 26
of 36 states responding to a relevant question in our survey commented
that they generally or completely agreed with the results of the final
CFSR report, even though none of the 41 states with final CFSR reports
released through 2003 has achieved substantial conformity on all 14
outcomes and systemic factors”see figure below. Additionally, both ACF
and the states have dedicated substantial financial and staff resources
to the process. Nevertheless, several state officials and child
welfare experts we interviewed questioned the accuracy of the data
used in the review process. While ACF officials contend that
stakeholder interviews and case reviews complement the data profiles,
many state officials and experts reported that additional data from
the statewide assessment could bolster the evaluation of state
performance.
State Performance on the 14 CFSR Outcomes and Systemic Factors:
[See PDF for image]
[End of figure]
Program improvement planning is under way, but uncertainties have
affected the development, funding, and implementation of state PIPs.
Officials from 3 of the 5 states we visited said ACF‘s PIP-related
instructions were unclear, and at least 9 of the 25 states reporting
on PIP implementation in our survey said that insufficient funding and
staff were among the greatest challenges. While ACF has provided some
guidance, ACF and state officials remain uncertain about PIP
monitoring efforts and how ACF will apply financial penalties if states
fail to achieve their stated PIP objectives.
Since 2001, ACF‘s focus has been almost exclusively on the CFSRs and
regional staff report limitations in providing assistance to states in
helping them to meet key federal goals. While staff from half of ACF‘s
regions told us they would like to provide more targeted assistance to
states, and state officials in all 5 of the states we visited said that
ACF‘s existing technical assistance efforts could be improved, ACF
officials acknowledged that regional staff might still be adjusting to
the new way ACF oversees child welfare programs.
What GAO Recommends:
GAO recommends that the Secretary of HHS ensure that ACF uses the best
available data to measure state performance, clarify PIP guidance, and
help regional offices better integrate their oversight activities. In
commenting on this report, HHS generally agreed with GAO‘s findings
and said that it is committed to continually monitoring and improving
the CFSR process.
www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-04-333.
To view the full product, including the scope and methodology, click on
the link above. For more information, contact Cornelia Ashby at (202)
512-8403 or AshbyC@gao.gov.
[End of figure]
Contents:
Letter:
Results in Brief:
Background:
The CFSR Is a Valuable yet Substantial Undertaking, but Data
Enhancements Could Improve Its Reliability:
Program Improvement Planning Under Way, but Uncertainties Challenge
Plan Development, Implementation, and Monitoring:
ACF's Focus Rests Almost Exclusively on Implementing the CFSR:
Conclusions:
Recommendations for Executive Action:
Agency Comments:
Appendix I: Objectives, Scope, and Methodology:
Objectives:
Scope and Methodology:
Appendix II: List of Outcomes and Systemic Factors and Their
Associated Items:
Outcome Factors:
Systemic Factors:
Appendix III: Dates on Which Site Visit States Reached CFSR Milestones:
Appendix IV: Comments from the Department of Health and Human Services:
Appendix V: GAO Contacts and Acknowledgments:
GAO Contacts:
Staff Acknowledgments:
Related GAO Products:
Tables:
Table 1: Items Most Frequently Assigned a Rating of Area Needing
Improvement among the 41 States Reviewed in 2001, 2002, and 2003:
Table 2: Number of States Including Each of the PIP Strategy Categories
Used in This Study:
Table 3: ACF Regulations and Guidance on Program Improvement Planning:
Figures:
Figure 1: Four Phases of the CFSR Process:
Figure 2: State Performance on the 14 CFSR Outcomes and Systemic
Factors:
Figure 3: Variation in the Start of States' PIP Development:
Figure 4: Average Time Lapse between States' PIP Due Dates and ACF's
PIP Approval:
Figure 5: Most Common Challenges Affecting States' PIP Implementation:
Abbreviations:
ACF: Administration for Children and Families:
AFCARS: Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System:
ASFA: Adoption and Safe Families Act:
CFSR: Child and Family Services Review:
CIP: court improvement program:
FTE: full-time equivalent:
HHS: Department of Health and Human Services:
NCANDS: National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System:
PIP: program improvement plan:
SACWIS: Statewide Automated Child Welfare Information System:
United States General Accounting Office:
Washington, DC 20548:
April 20, 2004:
Congressional Requesters:
Recent media reports have called into question a number of states'
abilities to protect the more than 800,000 children estimated to spend
some time in foster care each year. To help states investigate reports
of child abuse and neglect, provide placements to children outside
their homes, and deliver services to help keep families together, the
federal government provides approximately $7 billion dollars to states
annually. In addition, the federal Department of Health and Human
Services (HHS) monitors states' compliance with key federal goals,
specified in part by the Adoption and Safe Families Act (ASFA) of 1997,
to keep children safe and ensure their placement in stable and
permanent homes.
In 2001, HHS--through its Administration for Children and Families'
(ACF) Children's Bureau--began implementing a new federal review
system, known as the Child and Family Services Reviews (CFSR), to hold
states accountable for improving child welfare outcomes. Unlike prior
federal reviews--which determined states' adherence to certain process
measures--ACF designed the CFSRs as an outcome-oriented approach to
assess children's safety; their timely placement in permanent homes;
and their mental, physical, and educational well-being. ACF also
developed a number of factors to assess states' performance in systemic
areas, such as staff training and foster parent licensing.[Footnote 1]
According to ACF, this CFSR process combines statewide assessments,
which the states complete using a profile of their recent child welfare
data; on-site reviews of child welfare case files; and interviews with
stakeholders[Footnote 2] to provide both qualitative and quantitative
information that helps describe and clarify complex child welfare
issues. Further, states are required to develop and implement program
improvement plans (PIP) to improve their child welfare practice and
capacity when they are found to be deficient. Pursuant to CFSR
regulations, ACF can withhold federal funds if states do not show
adequate progress implementing their PIPs.
To better understand the CFSR process, you asked us to examine (1)
ACF's and the states' experiences preparing for and conducting the
statewide assessments and on-site reviews; (2) ACF's and the states'
experiences developing, funding, and implementing items in their PIPs;
and (3) additional efforts, if any, that ACF has taken beyond the CFSR
to help ensure that all states meet federal goals of safety,
permanency, and well-being for children.
To conduct our work, we surveyed all 50 states, the District of
Columbia, and Puerto Rico regarding their interactions with ACF, the
resources and staffing required to prepare for the review and develop
and implement their PIPs, and any assistance ACF provided throughout
the process. We achieved a 98 percent response rate from this survey,
as Puerto Rico was the only non-respondent. To supplement this
information, we also engaged in intensive post-survey follow-up phone
calls with key states in each phase of the CFSR process. Further, we
visited 5 states--California, Florida, New York, Oklahoma, and Wyoming-
-to obtain first-hand information on states' experiences. We selected
these states for diversity in their location, size, program
administration, performance on the CFSR, and the timing of their
review. We also examined all 31 approved PIPs available as of January
1, 2004, to categorize common strategies states developed to improve
their performance. In addition, we conducted interviews with ACF's
senior officials and regional staff from all 10 regions, ACF
contractors, directors and staff from all 10 national resource centers,
and key child welfare experts.[Footnote 3] We conducted our work
between May 2003 and February 2004 in accordance with generally
accepted government auditing standards. A more detailed discussion of
our scope and methodology appears in appendix I.
Results in Brief:
ACF and many state officials perceive the CFSR as a valuable process--
highlighting many areas needing improvement--and a substantial
undertaking, but some state officials and child welfare experts told us
that data enhancements could improve its reliability. ACF staff in 8 of
the 10 regions considered the CFSR a helpful tool to improve outcomes
for children, and officials from 8 regions noted that the CFSRs were
more intensive and comprehensive than other types of reviews they had
conducted in the past. Further, 26 of the 36 states responding to a
relevant question in our survey commented that they generally or
completely agreed with the results of the final CFSR report, even
though none of the 41 states with final CFSR reports released through
2003 has achieved substantial conformity on all 14 outcomes and
systemic factors. In addition, both ACF and the states have dedicated
substantial financial and staff resources to the process. For example,
ACF committed $6.6 million to hire contractors for review assistance,
and based on survey responses from the 45 states that reported on staff
resources, an average of 47 full-time staff equivalents per state
participated in the statewide assessment phase. Nevertheless, several
state officials and child welfare experts we interviewed questioned the
accuracy of the data used to compile state profiles and establish the
national standards. While ACF officials in the central office contend
that stakeholder interviews and case reviews complement the data
profiles, several state officials and experts reported that additional
data from the statewide assessment could bolster the evaluation of
state performance.
The program improvement planning process for the CFSR, which all states
with final reports have been required to undertake, has been
characterized by many uncertainties, such as those related to federal
guidance and monitoring and the availability of state resources to
implement the plans. Despite such uncertainties, states have included a
variety of strategies in their PIPs to address weaknesses identified in
the review. Such strategies include involving foster and birth parents
in identifying needed services and developing tools to assess the risk
of harm to children. To assist states with PIP development, ACF issued
regulations and guidance to states for developing the plans, but state
responses to this assistance have been mixed. For example, state
officials attributed a lengthy PIP approval process, in part, to
unclear regulations and insufficient guidance. Our analysis of the time
lapse between the date states must submit a PIP and ACF's PIP approval
date shows a range from 45 to 349 business days. Further, 6 of the 21
states reporting on the PIP approval process said that ACF did not
clearly describe the process to them, and officials in 3 of the 5
states we visited said they were unclear as to ACF's expectations
regarding the format and content of the plans. In response to a
question on PIP implementation challenges, at least 9 of 25 states
reported that insufficient funding, staff, and time, as well as high
caseloads, were the most challenging factors. For example, one survey
respondent reported that unless the state receives additional funding,
it would need to lay off social workers and attorneys, making it
difficult to implement some of its improvement strategies. ACF
officials noted that they have clarified PIP expectations and increased
technical assistance over time, but they acknowledge that they are
still unsure how best to monitor state PIP implementation and have not
yet determined when and how to apply the prescribed financial penalties
for states' failures to improve outcomes.
Since 2001, ACF's focus has been almost exclusively on implementing the
CFSRs, and regional staff report limitations in providing assistance to
states in helping them to meet key federal goals. For example, ACF
provides internal training for its staff and technical assistance to
states, but all 18 courses provided to regional staff have dealt with
the various phases of the review. Staff in 2 regional offices told us
that they have not been able to counsel states on such topics as
contracting out for child welfare services and maximizing the receipt
of federal child welfare funds because they have lacked the applicable
training. In addition, while ACF organizes biennial conferences for
state and federal child welfare officials, staff from 5 regions told us
that they wanted more substantive interaction with their ACF colleagues
to increase their overall child welfare expertise. While regional
officials conduct site visits to states, CFSR on-site reviews and PIP-
related assistance account for the majority of regions' time and travel
budgets, and ACF staff from 5 regions said that more frequent visits
with state personnel--outside of the CFSR process--would allow them to
better understand states' programs and cultivate relationships with
state officials. Further, state officials in all 5 of the states we
visited said that ACF's technical assistance needed improvement,
acknowledging, in some cases, that regional office staff were stretched
thin by CFSR demands and, in other cases, that the assistance from
resource center staff lacked focus or practicality. Although ACF
officials told us the CFSR has become the agency's primary mechanism
for monitoring states and facilitating program improvement, they
acknowledged that regional staff might still be adjusting to the new
way ACF oversees child welfare programs.
Given the emphasis that ACF has placed on the CFSRs--and the resources
and time states have invested to prepare for the reviews and address
their deficiencies through program improvement plans--we are
recommending that the Secretary of HHS ensure that ACF uses the best
available data to measure state performance. We are also recommending
that the Secretary clarify PIP guidance and provide guidance to
regional officials on how to better integrate their many oversight
responsibilities. In commenting on a draft of this report, HHS
generally agreed with our findings and recommendations. HHS
acknowledged that the CFSR is a new process that continues to evolve,
and also noted several steps it has taken to address the data quality
concerns we raise in this report. We believe that our findings fully
address these initial actions, as well as the substantial resources the
agency has already dedicated to the review process. However, to improve
its oversight of state performance, our recommendations are meant to
encourage HHS to take additional actions to improve its use of data in
conducting these reviews and enhance PIP-related guidance and regional
officials' understanding of how to incorporate the CFSR process into
their overall improvement and oversight efforts.
Background:
ACF's Children's Bureau administers and oversees federal funding to
states for child welfare services under Titles IV-B and IV-E of the
Social Security Act, and states and counties provide these child
welfare services, either directly or indirectly through contracts with
private agencies.[Footnote 4] Among other activities, ACF staff are
responsible for developing appropriate policies and procedures for
states to follow to obtain and use federal child welfare funds and
conduct administrative reviews of states' case files to ensure that
children served by the state meet statutory eligibility requirements.
In 2001, ACF launched a new outcome-oriented process, known as the
Child and Family Services Reviews (CFSR), to improve its existing
monitoring efforts, which had once been criticized for focusing
exclusively on states' compliance with regulations rather than on their
performance over a full range of child welfare services. Passage of the
1997 Adoption and Safe Families Act (ASFA) helped spur the creation of
the CFSR by emphasizing the outcomes of safety, permanency, and well-
being for children. Subsequently, ACF consulted with state officials,
child welfare experts, and other interested parties, and conducted
pilot CFSR reviews in 14 states. In January 2000, ACF released a notice
of proposed rule making and published final CFSR regulations. In March
2001, ACF conducted the first of its state reviews in Delaware. By
March of 2004, ACF had completed an on-site review in all 50 states,
the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. Although ACF plans to
initiate a second round of reviews, an official start date for this
process has not yet been determined.
As figure 1 indicates, the CFSR is a four-phase process that involves
state staff as well as central and regional ACF officials. This process
begins with a statewide assessment in the first phase.
Figure 1: Four Phases of the CFSR Process:
[See PDF for image]
[End of figure]
The assessment of state performance continues in the second phase, most
commonly known as the on-site review, when ACF sends a team of
reviewers to three sites in the state for one week to assess state
performance. A list of all the outcomes and systemic factors and their
associated items appears in appendix II. In assessing performance, ACF
relies, in part, on its own data systems, known as the National Child
Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS) and the Adoption and Foster Care
Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS), which were designed prior to
CFSR implementation to capture, report, and analyze the child welfare
information collected by the states.[Footnote 5] Today, these systems
provide the national data necessary for ACF to calculate national
standards for key CFSR performance items with which all states' data
will be compared.
After the on-site review, ACF prepares a final report for the state--
identifying areas needing improvement, as well as the outcomes and
systemic factors for which the state was determined not to be in
substantial conformity--and provides the state with an estimated
financial penalty.[Footnote 6] As a result, the state must develop a 2-
year PIP with action steps to address its noted deficiencies and
performance benchmarks to measure progress. Once ACF approves the PIP,
states are required to submit quarterly progress reports, which ACF
uses to monitor improvement. Pursuant to CFSR regulations, federal
child welfare funds can be withheld if states do not show adequate
progress as a result of PIP implementation, but these penalties are
suspended during the 2-year implementation term. As of January 2004, no
financial penalties had been applied, but according to data on the 41
states for which final CFSR reports have been released through December
2003, potential penalties range from $91,492 for North Dakota to
$18,244,430 for California.
ACF staff in HHS's 10 regional offices provide technical assistance to
states through all phases of the CFSR process, and they are also
responsible for reviewing state planning documents required by Title
IV-B, assisting with state data system reviews, and assessing states'
use of IV-E funds. In addition to these efforts, ACF has established
cooperative agreements with 10 national resource centers to help states
implement federal legislation intended to ensure the safety,
permanency, and well-being of children and families. ACF sets the
resource centers' areas of focus, and although each center has a
different area of expertise, such as organizational improvement or
information technology, all of them conduct needs assessments, sponsor
national conference calls with states, collaborate with other resource
centers and agencies, and provide on-site training and technical
assistance to states.[Footnote 7]
Members of the 108th Congress introduced a proposal to provide federal
incentive payments directly to states that demonstrate significant
improvements to their child welfare systems. At the time of
publication, the House of Representatives was considering H.R. 1534,
the Child Protective Services Improvement Act, which contains
provisions to award grants to states with approved PIPs and additional
bonuses to states that have made considerable progress in achieving
their PIP goals for the previous year.
The CFSR Is a Valuable yet Substantial Undertaking, but Data
Enhancements Could Improve Its Reliability:
ACF and many state officials perceive the CFSR as a valuable process--
highlighting many areas needing improvement--and a substantial
undertaking, but some state officials and child welfare experts told us
that data enhancements could improve its reliability. ACF staff in 8 of
the 10 regions considered the CFSR a helpful tool to improve outcomes
for children. Further, 26 of the 36 states responding to a relevant
question in our survey commented that they generally or completely
agreed with the results of the final CFSR report, even though none of
the 41 states with final CFSR reports released through 2003 has
achieved substantial conformity on all 14 outcomes and systemic
factors. In addition, both ACF and the states have dedicated
substantial financial and staff resources to the process. However,
several state officials and child welfare experts we interviewed
questioned the accuracy of the data used to compile state profiles and
establish the national standards. While ACF officials in the central
office contend that stakeholder interviews and case reviews compliment
the data profiles, many state officials and experts reported that
additional data from the statewide assessment could bolster the
evaluation of state performance.
The CFSR Is a Valuable Process for ACF and the States:
ACF and state officials support the objectives of the review,
especially in focusing on children's outcomes and strengthening
relationships with stakeholders, and told us they perceive the process
as valuable. ACF staff in 8 of the 10 regions considered the CFSR a
helpful tool to improve outcomes for children. Also, ACF officials from
8 regional offices noted that the CFSRs were more intensive and more
comprehensive than the other types of reviews they had conducted in the
past, creating a valuable tool for regional officials to monitor
states' performance. In addition, state officials from every state we
visited told us that the CFSR process helped to improve collaboration
with community stakeholders. For example, a court official in New York
said that the CFSR acted as a catalyst for improved relations between
the state agency and the courts, and he believes that this has
contributed to more timely child abuse and neglect hearings.
Additionally, a state official in Florida said that the CFSR stimulated
discussions among agency staff about measuring and improving outcomes,
particularly the data needed to examine outcomes and the resources
needed to improve them. Furthermore, state staff from 4 of the 5 states
we visited told us the CFSR led to increased public and legislative
attention to critical issues in child welfare. For example, caseworkers
in Wyoming told us that without the CFSR they doubted whether their
state agency's administration would have focused on needed reforms.
They added that the agency used the CFSR findings to request
legislative support for the hiring of additional caseworkers.
In addition to affirming the value associated with improved stakeholder
relations, the ACF officials we talked to and many state officials
reported that the process has been helpful in highlighting the outcomes
and systemic factors, as well as other key performance items that need
improvement. According to our survey, 26 of the 36 states that
commented on the findings of the final CFSR report indicated that they
generally or completely agreed with the findings, even though
performance across the states was low in certain key outcomes and
performance items. For example, not one of the 41 states with final
reports released through 2003 was found to be in substantial conformity
with either the outcome measure that assesses the permanency and
stability of children's living situations or with the outcome measure
that assesses whether states had enhanced families' capacity to provide
for their children's needs. Moreover, across all 14 outcomes and
systemic factors, state performance ranged from achieving substantial
conformity on as few as 2 outcomes and systemic factors to as many as
9.[Footnote 8] As figure 2 illustrates, the majority of states were
determined to be in substantial conformity with half or fewer of the 14
outcomes and systemic factors assessed.
Figure 2: State Performance on the 14 CFSR Outcomes and Systemic
Factors:
[See PDF for image]
[End of figure]
States' performance on the outcomes related to safety, permanency, and
well-being--as well as the systemic factors--is determined by their
performance on an array of items, such as establishing permanency
goals, ensuring worker visits with parents and children, and providing
accessible services to families. The CFSR showed that many states need
improvement in the same areas, and table 1 illustrates the 10 items
most frequently rated as needing improvement across all 41 states
reviewed through 2003.
Table 1: Items Most Frequently Assigned a Rating of Area Needing
Improvement among the 41 States Reviewed in 2001, 2002, and 2003:
Item: Assessing the needs and services of child, parents, and foster
parents;
Number of states assigned a rating of area needing improvement: 40.
Item: Assessing mental health of child;
Number of states assigned a rating of area needing improvement: 37.
Item: Establishing the most appropriate permanency goal for the child;
Number of states assigned a rating of area needing improvement: 36.
Item: Demonstrating efforts to involve child and family in case-
planning activities;
Number of states assigned a rating of area needing improvement: 36.
Item: Ensuring stability of foster care placements;
Number of states assigned a rating of area needing improvement: 35.
Item: Achieving a child's goal of adoption;
Number of states assigned a rating of area needing improvement: 35.
Item: Providing a process that ensures that each child has a written
case plan to be developed jointly with the child's parent(s) that
includes the required provisions;
Number of states assigned a rating of area needing improvement: 35.
Item: Ensuring workers conduct face-to-face visits with parent(s);
Number of states assigned a rating of area needing improvement: 34.
Item: Providing services that are accessible to families and children
in all political jurisdictions covered in the state's Child and Family
Services Plan;
Number of states assigned a rating of area needing improvement: 31.
Item: Ensuring workers conduct face-to-face visits with child;
Number of states assigned a rating of area needing improvement: 31.
Source: GAO analysis of the 41 states' final CFSR reports released
through December 31, 2003.
[End of table]
ACF and the States Report That Reviews Have Been a Substantial
Undertaking:
Given the value that ACF and the states have assigned to the CFSR
process, both have spent substantial financial resources and staff time
to prepare for and implement the reviews. In fiscal years 2001-2003,
when most reviews were scheduled, ACF budgeted an additional $300,000
annually for CFSR-related travel. In fiscal year 2004, when fewer
reviews were scheduled, ACF budgeted about $225,000. To further enhance
its capacity to conduct the reviews, and to obtain additional
logistical and technical assistance, ACF spent approximately $6.6
million annually to hire contractors. Specifically, ACF has let three
contracts to assist with CFSR-related activities, including training
reviewers to conduct the on-site reviews, tracking final reports and
PIP documents, and, as of 2002, writing the CFSR final reports.
Additionally, ACF hired 22 new staff to build central and regional
office capacity and dedicated 4 full-time staff and 2 state government
staff temporarily on assignment with ACF to assist with the CFSR
process. To build a core group of staff with CFSR expertise, ACF
created the National Review Team, composed of central and regional
office staff with additional training in and experience with the review
process. In addition, to provide more technical assistance to the
states, ACF reordered the priorities of the national resource centers
to focus their efforts primarily on helping states with the review
process.
Like ACF, states also spent financial resources on the review. While
some states did not track CFSR expenses--such as staff salaries,
training, or administrative costs--of the 25 states that reported such
information in our survey, the median expense to date was $60,550,
although states reported spending as little as $1,092 and as much as
$1,000,000 on the CFSR process.[Footnote 9] For example, California
officials we visited told us that they gave each of the state's three
review sites $50,000 to cover the salary of one coordinator to manage
the logistics of the on-site review. Although ACF officials told us
that states can use Title IV-E funds to pay for some of their CFSR
expenses, only one state official addressed the use of these funds in
our survey, commenting that it was not until after the on-site review
occurred that the state learned these funds could have been used to
offset states' expenses.[Footnote 10] Furthermore, 18 of 48 states
responding to a relevant question in our survey commented that
insufficient funding was a challenge--to a great or very great extent-
-in preparing for the statewide assessment, and 11 of 40 states
responded that insufficient funding was similarly challenging in
preparing for the on-site review. Officials in other states reported
that because available financial resources were insufficient, they
obtained non-financial, in-kind donations to cover expenses associated
with the on-site review. For example, a local site coordinator in
Oklahoma informed us that while the state budgeted $7 per reviewer each
day of the on-site review for food, refreshments, and other expenses,
she needed to utilize a variety of resources to supplement the state's
budget with donations of supplies and food from local companies and
agency staff.
States reported that they also dedicated staff time to prepare for the
statewide assessment and to conduct the on-site review, which sometimes
had a negative impact on some staffs' regular duties. According to our
survey, 45 states reported dedicating up to 200 full-time staff
equivalents (FTEs), with an average of 47 FTEs, to the statewide
assessment process.[Footnote 11] Similarly, 42 states responded that
they dedicated between 3 and 130 FTEs, with an average of 45 FTEs, to
the on-site review process. To prepare for their own reviews, officials
in all 5 states we visited told us that they sent staff for a week to
participate as reviewers in other states. Additionally, local site
coordinators in 4 of the 5 states we visited reported that planning for
the CFSR on-site review was a full-time job involving multiple staff
over a period of months. An official in Florida also told us that the
extensive preparation for the CFSR dominated the work of the quality
assurance unit, which was about 20 people at that time. In addition to
preparing for the review, staff in all 5 of the states we visited, who
served as reviewers in their own states, reported that to meet their
responsibility as case reviewers they worked more than 12-hour days
during the week of the on-site review. For some caseworkers, dedicating
time to the CFSR meant that they were unable or limited in their
ability to manage their typical workload. For example, Wyoming
caseworkers whose case files were selected for the on-site review told
us that they needed to be available to answer reviewers' questions all
day every day during the on-site review, which they said prevented them
from conducting necessary child abuse investigations or home visits.
Child welfare-related stakeholders--such as judges, lawyers, and foster
parents--also contributed time to the CFSR, but some states found it
took additional staff resources to initiate and maintain stakeholder
involvement over time. According to our survey, 46 states reported that
an average of about 277 stakeholders were involved with the statewide
assessment, and 42 states responded that an average of about 126
stakeholders participated in the on-site review.[Footnote 12] However,
state officials told us that it was difficult to recruit and maintain
stakeholder involvement because long time lapses sometimes occurred
between CFSR phases. For example, more than a year can elapse between
completion of the statewide assessment and the initiation of PIP
development--both key points at which stakeholder participation is
critical. Nonetheless, all 5 of the states we visited tried to counter
this obstacle by conducting phone and in-person interviews, holding
focus groups, or giving presentations in local communities to inform
and recruit stakeholders to be involved in the CFSR process. As a
result, some stakeholders were involved throughout the process. For
example, a tribal representative in Oklahoma assisted with the
development of the statewide assessment, was interviewed during the on-
site review, and provided guidance on the needs of Indian children
during PIP development.
States and Child Welfare Experts Report That Several Data Improvements
Could Enhance CFSR Reliability:
State officials in all 5 states, as well as child welfare experts,
reported on several data improvements that could enhance the
reliability of CFSR findings. In particular, they highlighted
inaccuracies with the AFCARS and NCANDS data that are used for
establishing the national standards and creating the statewide data
profiles, which are then used to determine if states are in substantial
conformity. These concerns echoed the findings of a prior GAO study on
the reliability of these data sources, which found that states are
concerned that the national standards used in the CFSR are based on
unreliable information and should not be used as a basis for comparison
and potential financial penalty.[Footnote 13] Several of the state
officials we visited and surveyed also questioned the reliability of
data given the variation in states' data-reporting practice, which they
believe may ultimately affect the validity of the measures and may
place some states at a disadvantage. Furthermore, many states needed to
resubmit their statewide data after finding errors in the data profiles
ACF would have used to measure compliance with the national
standards.[Footnote 14] According to our national survey, of the 37
states that reported on resubmitting data for the statewide data
profile, 23 needed to resubmit their statewide data at least once, with
1 state needing to resubmit as many as five times to accurately reflect
revised data. Four states reported in our survey that they did not
resubmit their data profiles because they did not know they had this
option or they did not have enough time to resubmit before the review.
In addition to expressing these data concerns, child welfare experts as
well as officials in all of the states we visited commented that
existing practices that benefit children might conflict with actions
needed to attain the national standards. Specifically, one child
welfare expert noted that if a state focused on preventing child abuse
and neglect while the child was still living at home, and only removed
the most at-risk children, the state may perform poorly on the CFSR
reunification measure--assessing the timeliness of children's return to
their homes from foster care arrangements--because the children they
did remove would be the hardest to place or most difficult to reunite.
Additionally, officials in New York said that they recently implemented
an initiative to facilitate adoptions. Because these efforts focus on
the backlog of children who have been in foster care for several years,
New York officials predict that their performance on the national
standard for adoption will be lower since many of the children in the
initiatives have already been in foster care for more than 2 years.
These same state officials and experts also commented that they believe
the on-site review case sample of 50 cases is too small to provide an
accurate picture of statewide performance, although ACF officials
stated that the case sampling is supplemented with additional
information. Of the 40 states that commented in our survey on the
adequacy of the case sample size for the on-site review, 17 states
reported that 50 cases were very or generally inadequate to represent
their caseload.[Footnote 15] Oklahoma officials we visited also
commented that they felt the case sample size was too small, especially
since they annually assess more than 800 of their own cases--using a
procedure that models the federal CFSR--and obtain higher performance
results than the state received on its CFSR. Furthermore, because not
every case in the states' sample is applicable to each item measured in
the on-site review, we found that sometimes as few as one or two cases
were being used to evaluate states' performance on an item.
Specifically, an ACF contractor said that several of the CFSR items
measuring children's permanency and stability in their living
conditions commonly have very few applicable cases. For example,
Wyoming had only two on-site review cases applicable for the item
measuring the length of time to achieve a permanency goal of adoption,
but for one of these cases, reviewers determined that appropriate and
timely efforts had not been taken to achieve finalized adoptions within
24 months, resulting in the item being assigned a rating of area
needing improvement.[Footnote 16] While ACF officials acknowledged the
insufficiency of the sample size,[Footnote 17] they contend that the
case sampling is augmented by stakeholder interviews for all items and
applicable statewide data for the five CFSR items with corresponding
national standards, therefore providing sufficient evidence for
determining states' conformity.
All of the states we visited experienced discrepant findings between
the aggregate data from the statewide assessment and the information
obtained from the on-site review, which complicated ACF's determination
of states' performance. Each of the 5 states we visited had at least
one, and sometimes as many as three, discrepancies between its
performance on the national standards and the results of the case
review. We also found that in these 5 states, ACF had assigned an
overall rating of area needing improvement for 10 of the 11 instances
where discrepancies occurred. ACF officials acknowledged the challenge
of resolving data discrepancies, noting that such complications can
delay the release of the final report and increase or decrease the
number of items that states must address in their PIPs. While states
have the opportunity to resolve discrepancies by submitting additional
information explaining the discrepancy or by requesting an additional
case review, only one state to date has decided to pursue the
additional case review.[Footnote 18] In addition, among the states we
visited, for example, one state acknowledged that it has not opted to
pursue the supplemental case review because doing so would place
additional strain on its already limited resources.
Several state officials and experts told us that additional data from
the statewide assessments--or other data sources compiled by the
states--could bolster the evaluation of states' performance, but they
found this information to be missing or insufficiently used in the
final reports. According to our survey, of the 34 states that commented
on the adequacy of the final report's inclusion of the statewide
assessment, 10 states reported that too little emphasis was placed on
the statewide assessment.[Footnote 19] Specifically, 1 state reported
that the final report would have presented a more balanced picture of
the state's child welfare system if the statewide assessment were used
as a basis to compare and clarify the on-site review findings. Further,
child welfare experts and state officials from California and New York-
-who are using alternative data sources to AFCARS and NCANDS, such as
longitudinal data that track children's placements over time--told us
that the inclusion of this more detailed information would provide a
more accurate picture of states' performance nationwide. North Carolina
officials also reported in our survey that they tried to submit
additional longitudinal data--which they use internally to conduct
statewide evaluations of performance--in their statewide assessment,
but HHS would not accept the alternative data for use in evaluating the
state's outcomes. An HHS official told us that alternative data are
used only to assess state performance in situations where a state does
not have NCANDS data, since states are not mandated to have these
systems.
Given their concerns with the data used in the review process, state
officials in 4 of the 5 states believed that the threshold for
achieving substantial conformity was difficult to achieve. One state
official we visited acknowledged that she believed child welfare
agencies should be pursuing high standards to improve performance, but
she questioned the level at which ACF established the thresholds. While
an ACF official told us that different thresholds for the national
standards had been considered, ACF policy makers ultimately concluded
that a more rigorous threshold would be used. ACF officials recognize
that they have set a high standard. However, they believe it is
attainable and supportive of their overall approach to move states to
the standard through continuous improvement.
In preparation for the next round of CFSRs, ACF officials have formed a
Consultation Work Group of ACF staff, child welfare administrators,
data experts, and researchers who will propose recommendations on the
CFSR measures and processes. The group began its meetings prior to our
publication, but no proposals were available.
Program Improvement Planning Under Way, but Uncertainties Challenge
Plan Development, Implementation, and Monitoring:
Forty-one states are engaged in program improvement planning, but many
uncertainties, such as those related to federal guidance and monitoring
and the availability of state resources, have affected the development,
implementation, and funding of the PIPs. State PIPs include strategies
such as revising or developing policies, training caseworkers, and
engaging stakeholders, and ACF has issued regulations and guidance to
help states develop and implement their plans. Nevertheless, states
reported uncertainty about how to develop their PIPs and commented on
the challenges they faced during implementation. For example, officials
from 2 of the states we visited told us that ACF had rejected their
PIPs before final approval, even though these officials said that the
plans were similar in the level of detail included in previously
approved PIPs that regional officials had provided. Further, at least 9
states responding to our survey indicated that insufficient time,
funding, and staff, as well as high caseloads, were the greatest
challenges to PIP implementation. As states progress in PIP
implementation, some ACF officials expressed a need for more guidance
on how to monitor state accomplishments, and both ACF and state
officials were uncertain about how the estimated financial penalties
would be applied if states fail to achieve the goals described in their
plans.
State Plans Include a Variety of Strategies to Address Identified
Weaknesses:
State plans include a variety of strategies to address weaknesses
identified in the CFSR review process. However, because most states had
not completed PIP implementation by the time of our analysis, the
extent to which states have improved outcomes for children has not been
determined.[Footnote 20] While state PIPs varied in their detail,
design, and scope, according to our analysis of 31 available PIPs,
these state plans have focused to some extent on revising or developing
policies; reviewing and reporting on agency performance; improving
information systems; and engaging stakeholders such as courts,
advocates, foster parents, private providers, or sister agencies in the
public sector.[Footnote 21] Table 2 shows the number of states that
included each of the six categories and subcategories of strategies we
developed for the purposes of this study, and appendix I details our
methodology for this analysis.
Table 2: Number of States Including Each of the PIP Strategy Categories
Used in This Study:
PIP strategy category: Policies and procedures;
Description (number of states that included the strategy in their
PIP): Review, modify, or develop/implement any policy, procedure, or
case practice standard (31);
Enhance foster home/parent licensing standards (7);
Develop child and family assessment tools, such as protocols for risk/
safety determinations (28);
Identify and adopt any promising practices (19).
PIP strategy category: Data collection and analysis;
Description (number of states that included the strategy in their
PIP): Review and report on agency performance through self-assessments
or internal audits/review (31);
Apply federal CFSR or similar process for internal statewide case
reviews (16);
Improve information and data collection systems (31).
PIP strategy category: Staff supports;
Description (number of states that included the strategy in their
PIP): Train and develop caseworkers (through dissemination and
training on policy or through revisions to overall curriculum) (30);
Assess and monitor staff responsibilities, skills, or performance
(24);
Recruit additional staff/retain staff (14);
Lower caseloads (11);
Increase caseworker pay (1).
PIP strategy category: Foster parent supports/services and resources
for children and families;
Description (number of states that included the strategy in their PIP):
Train and develop foster families'/ providers' skills and capacities
(27);
Recruit and retain foster families (22);
Increase involvement of foster or birth families in case (18);
Expand service array for children and families (includes developing or
enhancing transportation systems to transport siblings and parents for
visits, creating one-stop centers for assistance, modifying visitation
services, and providing any additional support services) (27);
Engage stakeholders such as courts, advocates, foster homes, private
providers, or sister agencies in public sector, e.g., mental health
(can include consultation, training, or formal partnering to improve
services or placements) (31);
Create or improve monitoring of contracts with private providers to
enhance service delivery (includes development of performance based or
outcome-based contracts or other evaluations of provider performance)
(25).
PIP strategy category: State legislative supports;
Description (number of states that included the strategy in their
PIP): State request for legislative action to support any of the above
strategies (20).
PIP strategy category: Federal technical assistance;
Description (number of states that included the strategy in their
PIP): State request technical assistance from ACF or any resource
center to support any of the above strategies (27).
Source: GAO analysis.
[End of table]
Our analysis found that every state's PIP has included policy revisions
or creation to improve programs and services. For example, to address
unsatisfactory performance in the prevention of repeat maltreatment,
California's PIP includes a policy change, pending legislative
approval, granting more flexibility to counties in determining the
length of time they spend with families to ensure child safety and
improve family functioning before closing cases. Additionally, 30 of
the plans included caseworker training; 20 of the plans included
requests for state legislative action; and 27 of the plans included
requests for federal technical assistance from ACF or the resource
centers. For example, California planned to ask its legislature to
allow the agency to consolidate standards for foster care and adoption
home studies, believing this would facilitate the adoption of children
in the state. In addition, New York worked with its legislature to
secure additional funding to improve the accessibility of independent
living and adoption services for children and families.
Our analysis also showed that many states approached PIP development by
building on state initiatives in place prior to the on-site review. Of
the 42 surveyed states reporting in our survey on this topic, 30 said
that their state identified strategies for the PIP by examining ongoing
state initiatives. For example, local officials in New York City and
state officials in California told us that state reform efforts--borne
in part from legal settlements--have become the foundation for the PIP.
In New York, the Marisol case was one factor in prompting changes to
the state's child welfare financing structure.[Footnote 22]
Subsequently, the state legislature established a quality enhancement
fund. Much of this money today supports strategies in New York's PIP,
such as permanency mediation to support family involvement in case
planning and new tools to better assess children's behavioral and
mental health needs. California state officials also informed us that
state reform efforts initiated by the governor prior to the CFSR, such
as implementing a new system for receiving and investigating reports of
abuse and neglect and developing more early intervention programs,
became integral elements in the PIP.
Insufficient Guidance Hampered State Planning Efforts, but ACF Has
Taken Steps to Clarify Expectations and Improve Technical Assistance:
ACF has provided states with regulations and guidance to facilitate PIP
development, but some states believe the requirements have been
unclear. Some of the requirements for program improvement planning are
outlined in the following table.
Table 3: ACF Regulations and Guidance on Program Improvement Planning:
Stage: Development of the PIP;
Requirements: States are required to develop a PIP to address all of
the outcomes and systemic factors determined not to be in substantial
conformity as a result of a CFSR. Although ACF does not require a
specific format for the PIP, it does offer states a suggested format,
called the PIP matrix, to use;
Time frame: States must submit the PIP to ACF for approval within 90
calendar days from the date that the state received written
notification that it is not operating in substantial conformity.
Stage: Approval of the PIP;
Requirements: States must include certain information in the PIP,
including measurable goals, action steps required to correct each
deficiency identified in the final report, anticipated dates of
completion for each action step, amount of progress the state will make
toward national standards, benchmarks to measure state progress
implementing the PIP, and technical assistance needs;
Time frame: No time frame is specified for ACF review and approval of
the PIP. However, ACF guidance says that the regional office should
give prompt attention to the PIP when it is submitted and take the
minimum amount of time necessary to review it and respond to the
state. If ACF notifies the state that the PIP is unacceptable, the
state has 30 calendar days to resubmit the plan for approval.
Stage: Implementation and monitoring of the PIP;
Requirements: ACF will monitor the state's progress in completing the
provisions of the approved PIP by evaluating quarterly status reports
and reviewing the state's Annual Progress and Services Report, which
incorporates the state's progress in implementing the PIP;
Time frame: States must submit status reports to ACF on a quarterly
basis, and the PIP must be implemented within 2 years.
Source: ACF regulations at 45 C.F.R. 1355.35 and guidance.
[End of table]
Some states in our survey indicated that the guidance ACF had provided
did not clearly describe the steps required for PIP approval. In
addition, some state officials believe that even ACF's more recent
efforts to improve PIP guidance have also been insufficient. Of the 21
states reporting on the PIP approval process in our survey, 6 states--
4 reviewed in 2001 and 2 reviewed in 2002--said that ACF did not
clearly describe its approval process, and another 8 states reported
that ACF described the approval process as clearly as it did unclearly.
Further, several states commented in our survey that several steps in
the approval process were unclear to them, such as how much detail and
specificity the agency expects the plan to include, what type of
feedback states could expect to receive, when states could expect to
receive such feedback, and whether a specific format was required.
Officials in the states we visited echoed survey respondents' concerns
with officials from 3 of the 5 states informing us that ACF had given
states different instructions regarding acceptable PIP format and
content. For example, California and Florida officials told us that
their program improvement plans had been rejected prior to final
approval, even though they were based on examples of approved plans
that regional officials had provided. In addition, California officials
told us that they did not originally know how much detail the regional
office expected in the PIP and believed that the level of detail the
regional office staff ultimately required was too high. Although some
steps may be duplicative, officials in California said that the version
of their plan that the region accepted included 2,932 action steps--a
number these officials believe is too high given their state's limited
resources and the 2-year time frame to implement the PIP.
ACF officials have undertaken several steps to clarify their
expectations for states and to improve technical assistance, but state
responses to this assistance have been mixed. For example, in 2002, 2
years after ACF released the CFSR regulations and a procedures manual,
ACF offered states additional guidance and provided a matrix format to
help state officials prepare their plans. ACF officials told us the
agency is also helping states through a team approach to providing on-
site technical assistance. Under this approach, when ACF determines a
state is slow in developing its PIP, the agency sends a team of staff
from ACF and resource centers to the state to provide intensive on-site
technical assistance. An official from West Virginia who had received
this team assistance reported that ACF's support was very beneficial.
Further, ACF has attempted to encourage state officials to start
developing program improvement plans before the final report is
released. To do so, the agency has provided training to state officials
and stakeholders almost immediately after the completion of the on-site
review. ACF has sent staff from the resource center for Organizational
Improvement to provide such training. An official from Utah, however,
reported that the resource center training on PIP development had been
general, and she wished the resource center staff had better tailored
its assistance and provided more examples of strategies other states
are pursuing to improve.
Analysis of state survey responses indicates that starting to develop
improvement plans early can make the 90-day time frame to prepare a PIP
seem adequate. Of 9 states reporting that they started developing their
PIP before or during the statewide assessment phase, 5 said that 90
days was adequate. Nonetheless, 21 of 35 state survey respondents
reported that the 90-day time frame was insufficient. For example, one
respondent reported that 90 days is too short a time to perform tasks
necessary for developing a program improvement plan, such as analyzing
performance data, involving diverse groups of stakeholders in planning
decisions, and obtaining the approval of state officials. Survey
results indicate that increasing numbers of states are developing their
PIPs early in the CFSR process, which may reflect ACF's emphasis on PIP
development. The following figure shows that of the 18 states reviewed
in 2001, only 2 started developing their PIPs before or during the
statewide assessment phase. Among states reviewed in 2003, this share
increased to 5 of 9.
Figure 3: Variation in the Start of States' PIP Development:
[See PDF for image]
[End of figure]
Evidence suggests that lengthy time frames for PIP approval have not
necessarily delayed PIP implementation, and ACF has made efforts to
reduce the time the agency takes to approve states' PIPs. For example,
officials in 3 of the 5 states we visited told us they began
implementing new action steps before ACF officially approved their
plans because many of the actions in their PIPs were already under way.
In addition, according to our survey, of the 28 states reporting on
this topic, 24 reported that they had started implementing their PIP
before ACF approved it. Further, our analysis shows that the length of
time between the PIP due date, which statute sets at 90 days after the
release of the final CFSR report, and final ACF PIP approval has ranged
considerably--from 45 to 349 business days. For almost half of the
plans, ACF's approval occurred 91 to 179 business days after the PIP
was due. As shown in figure 4, however, our analysis indicates that ACF
has recently reduced the time lapse by 46 business days between states'
PIP due dates and ACF's PIP approval.
Figure 4: Average Time Lapse between States' PIP Due Dates and ACF's
PIP Approval:
[See PDF for image]
Notes: Data for states reviewed in 2003 are not included because only 2
states' PIPs had been approved by March 1, 2004.
We used the date that states are required to submit a PIP to calculate
the time lapse. Therefore, the time lapse is calculated from day 90
through the date ACF ultimately approved the plans. States may have
submitted their plans prior to or after the 90-day time frame
designated in regulations, but ACF's contractor--charged with tracking
CFSR-related milestones--does not track the actual PIP submission
dates.
[End of figure]
The shorter time lapse for PIP approval may be due, in part, to the
ACF's emphasis on PIP development. According to one official, ACF has
directed states to concentrate on submitting a plan that can be quickly
approved. Another ACF official added that because of ACF's assistance
with PIP development, states are now submitting higher-quality PIPs
that require fewer revisions.
State and Federal Uncertainties Cloud PIP Implementation and
Monitoring:
Program improvement planning has been ongoing, but uncertainties have
made it difficult for states to implement their plans and ACF to
monitor state performance. Such uncertainties include not knowing
whether state resources are adequate to implement the plans and how
best to monitor state reforms. In answering a survey question about PIP
implementation challenges, a number of states identified insufficient
funding, staff, and time--as well as high caseloads--as their greatest
obstacles. Figure 5 depicts these results.
Figure 5: Most Common Challenges Affecting States' PIP Implementation:
[See PDF for image]
Note: This is based on responses from 25 states. The results reported
in the figure are a sum of the states reporting that the issue was a
challenge to PIP implementation to a very great extent, great extent,
moderate extent, or some/little extent. States not included answered no
extent, no basis to judge, or not applicable.
[End of figure]
In regards to funding, an official from Pennsylvania commented that
because of the state's budget shortfall, no additional funds were
available for the state to implement its improvement plan, so most
counties must improve outcomes with little or no additional resources.
A Massachusetts official reported that fiscal problems in his state
likely would lead the state to lay off attorneys and caseworkers and to
cut funding for family support programs. While state officials
acknowledged that they do not have specific estimates of PIP
implementation expenses because they have not tracked this information
in their state financial systems, many states indicated that to cope
with financial difficulties, they had to be creative and use resources
more efficiently to fund PIP strategies. Of the 26 states responding to
a question in our survey on PIP financing, 12 said that they were
financing the PIP strategies by redistributing current funding, and 7
said that they were using no-cost methods. In an example of the latter,
Oklahoma officials reported pursuing in-kind donations from a greeting
card company so that they could send thank-you notes to foster parents,
believing this could increase foster parent retention and engagement.
States also reported that PIP implementation has been affected by staff
workloads, but these comments were mixed. In Wyoming, for example,
caseworkers told us that their high caseloads would prevent them from
implementing many of the positive action steps included in their
improvement plan. In contrast, Oklahoma caseworkers told us that the
improvement plan priorities in their state--such as finding permanent
homes for children--have helped them become more motivated, more
organized, and more effective with time management. For example, one
caseworker explained that she is quicker now at locating birth fathers
who were previously uninvolved in the child's life because she uses the
Internet to search for these fathers' names. She said this new way of
exploring leads and information--a strategy that stemmed from PIP
development--has been motivating and rewarding because it has decreased
the time spent tracking down paternal relatives and increased the
number of available placements for the child.
ACF officials expressed uncertainty about how best to monitor states'
progress and apply estimated financial penalties when progress was slow
or absent, and 3 of the 5 states we visited reported frustration with
the limited guidance ACF had provided on the PIPs quarterly reporting
process. For example, 4 regional offices told us that they did not have
enough guidance on or experience with evaluating state quarterly
reports. Some regional offices told us they require states to submit
evidence of each PIP action step's completion, such as training
curricula or revised policies, but one ACF official acknowledged that
this is not yet standard procedure, although the agency is considering
efforts to make the quarterly report submission procedures more
uniform. Moreover, ACF staff from one region told us that because PIP
monitoring varies by region, they were concerned about enforcing
penalties. Finally, shortly before California's quarterly report was
due, state officials told us they still did not know how much detail to
provide, how to demonstrate whether they had completed certain
activities, or what would happen if they did not reach the level of
improvement specified in the plan.
Based on data from the states that have been reviewed to date, the
estimated financial penalties range from a total of $91,492 for North
Dakota to $18,244,430 for California, but the impact of these potential
penalties remains unclear. While ACF staff from most regional offices
told us that potential financial penalties are not the driving force
behind state reform efforts, some contend that the estimated penalties
affect how aggressively states pursue reform in their PIPs. For
example, regional office staff noted that one state's separate
strategic plan included more aggressive action steps than those in its
PIP because the state did not want to be liable for penalties if it did
not meet its benchmarks for improvement. State officials also had mixed
responses as to how the financial penalties would affect PIP
implementation. An official in Wyoming said that incurring the
penalties was equivalent to shutting down social service operations in
one local office for a month, while other officials in the same state
thought it would cost more to implement PIP strategies than it would to
incur financial penalties if benchmarks were unmet. Nevertheless, these
officials also said that while penalties are a consideration, they have
used the CFSR as an opportunity to provide better services. One
official in another state agreed that it would cost more to implement
the PIP than to face financial penalties, but this official was
emphatic in the state's commitment to program improvement.
ACF's Focus Rests Almost Exclusively on Implementing the CFSR:
To implement the CFSRs, ACF has focused its activities almost entirely
on the four phases of the review process. However, staff in several
regions report limitations in providing assistance to states in helping
them to meet key federal goals. Although regional staff conduct site
visits to states for reasons beyond the CFSR process, conducting the
CFSR on-site reviews and providing PIP-related assistance to states
account for the majority of regions' time and travel budgets, according
to ACF officials. Further, regional office staff said that more
frequent visits with state personnel--visits outside of the CFSR
process in particular--would allow them to better understand states'
programs and cultivate relationships with state officials. In addition,
state officials in all five of the states we visited said that ACF
technical assistance needed improvement, acknowledging that in some
cases regional office staff were stretched thin by CFSR demands and in
other cases that assistance from resource center staff lacked focus.
While ACF officials in the central office said that the CFSR has become
the primary method for evaluating states' performance, they
acknowledged that regional staff might still be adjusting to the new
way ACF oversees child welfare programs. Further, they told us that ACF
is currently reevaluating the entire structure of its training and
technical assistance, in part to address these concerns.
ACF officials told us that the learning opportunities in the Children's
Bureau are intentionally targeted at the CFSR, but staff in 3 regions
told us that this training should cover a wider range of subjects--
including topics outside of the CFSR process--so that regional
officials could better meet states' needs. All 18 of the courses that
ACF has provided to its staff since 2001 have focused on topics such as
writing final CFSR reports and using data for program improvement. ACF
officials in the central office said that the course selection reflects
both the agency's prioritization of the CFSR process and staff needs.
To ascertain staff training needs, ACF surveyed regional staff in
October 2002, and ACF officials told us they used the survey results in
deciding which courses to offer. Our analysis of this survey, however,
showed that it focused only on training topics directly related to the
CFSR, so it might offer only limited information on whether regional
officials wanted training on other topics. Specifically, the survey
asked staff to check their top 5 training choices from among 11 CFSR-
related topics. While survey respondents were also given the
opportunity to write in additional training tropics they desired, only
2 of the survey's 27 respondents did so.[Footnote 23] One indicated a
greater need for training on Indian child welfare issues, and another
expressed a desire to learn more about the entire child welfare system.
Although it is not possible to determine whether more respondents would
have prioritized non-CFSR training areas had the survey been designed
to elicit such information, our interviews with regional staff suggest
that some of them wish to obtain additional non-CFSR training. For
example, a staff member from one region told us she has not been
adequately trained in child welfare and believed that her credibility
was damaged when a state wanted advice that she could not provide on
how to help older youth prepare to exit from foster care.
In addition to offering training, ACF organizes biennial conferences
for state and federal child welfare officials. Nonetheless, staff from
5 regions told us that they wanted more substantive interaction with
their ACF colleagues, such as networking at conferences, to increase
their overall child welfare expertise. Staff from 6 of the 10 regions
told us that their participation in conferences is limited because of
funding constraints.
Further, staff in all 10 regions provide ongoing assistance or ad hoc
counseling to states, but staff from 6 regions told us they would like
to conduct site visits with states more regularly to improve their
relationships with state officials and provide more targeted
assistance. For example, staff in most regions told us that they assist
states predominantly by e-mail and telephone on topics such as
interpretation of Title IV-E eligibility criteria. Additionally, staff
in 7 regions said that they sometimes visit with states to participate
in state planning meetings--part of the annual child and family
services planning effort--or to give presentations at state conferences
on topics such as court improvement. However, staff in 4 regions felt
their travel funds were constrained and explained that they try to
stretch their travel dollars by addressing states' non-CFSR needs, such
as court improvements, during CFSR-related visits. While an ACF senior
official from central office confirmed that CFSR-related travel
constituted 60 percent of its 2002 child welfare-monitoring budget,
this official added that CFSR spending represents an infusion of
funding rather than a reprioritization of existing dollars and stated
that regional administrators have discretion over how the funds are
allocated within their regions. In addition, the same official stated
that he knew of no instance in which a region requested more money for
travel than it received.
Concerns from state officials in all 5 of the states we visited echoed
those of regional office staff and confirmed the need for improvements
to the overall training and technical assistance structure, while
respondents' comments on our survey showed more mixed perceptions on
the quality of assistance they received. For example, state officials
in New York and Wyoming commented that ACF staff from their respective
regional offices did not have sufficient time to spend with them on
CFSR matters because regional staff were simultaneously occupied
conducting reviews in other states. Further, an Oklahoma state official
commented that assistance from one resource center was not as specific
or helpful as desired. Specifically, when the state asked the resource
center to provide a summary of other states' policies regarding the
intake of abuse and neglect allegations, the resource center did not
provide an analysis of sufficient depth for the state to explore
possible reforms.
According to state survey respondents, however, satisfaction with the
training and technical assistance provided by regional offices varied
by CFSR phase. For example, among states reviewed in 2001, 2002, and
2003, satisfaction was generally highest in the statewide assessment
phase, but then dropped during on-site review and PIP development
before rising again in the PIP implementation phase. Across all phases
of the CFSR process, however, states reviewed in 2003 had much higher
levels of satisfaction with regional office assistance than those
states reviewed in 2001, suggesting improvements to regional office
training and technical assistance as the process evolved. Further,
based on survey data and our follow-up calls with selected states,
satisfaction was also mixed in regard to resource center provided
assistance. For example, among states reporting in our survey on the
quality of assistance provided by the resource center for
Organizational Improvement and the resource center for Information
Technology--the two resource centers that provide specific support to
states regarding data issues and PIP development--satisfaction was
generally lower in every phase among states reviewed in 2003 than among
states reviewed in 2001. The only exception to this was during the PIP
development phase, for which states reviewed in 2003 reported higher
levels of satisfaction with the resource center for Organizational
Improvement than states reviewed in 2001, suggesting positive responses
to the on-site training and technical assistance this resource center
has recently been providing to aid states in their PIP planning
efforts.[Footnote 24]
ACF officials told us the CFSR has become the agency's primary
mechanism for monitoring states and facilitating program improvement,
but they acknowledged that regional office staff might not have
realized the full utility of the CFSR as a tool to integrate all
existing training and technical assistance efforts. Further, according
to ACF officials, meetings to discuss a new system of training and
technical assistance are ongoing, though recommendations were not
available at the time of publication. Levels of resource center
funding, the scope and objectives of the resource centers' work, and
the contractors who operate the resource centers are all subject to
change before the current cooperative agreements expire at the close of
fiscal year 2004.[Footnote 25]
Conclusions:
ACF and the states have devoted considerable resources to the CFSR
process, but concerns remain regarding the validity of some data
sources and the limited use of all available information to determine
substantial conformity. Further, no state to date has passed the
threshold for substantial conformity on all CFSR measures. The majority
of states surveyed agreed that CFSR results are similar to their own
evaluation of areas needing improvement. However, without using more
reliable data--and in some cases, additional data from state self-
assessments--to determine substantial conformity, ACF may be over-or
underestimating the extent to which states are actually meeting the
needs of the children and families in their care. These over-or
underestimates can, in turn, affect the scope and content of the PIPs
that states must develop in response. As states face difficult budget
decisions, accurate performance information could be critical to
deciding how best to allocate resources. We previously reported on the
reliability of state-reported child welfare data and recommended that
HHS consider additional ways to enhance the guidance and assistance
offered to states to help them overcome the key challenges in
collecting and reporting child welfare data. In response to this
recommendation, HHS said that ACF has provided extensive guidance on
how states can improve the quality of their data and acknowledged that
additional efforts were under way.
In addition, the PIP development, approval, and monitoring processes
remain unclear to some, potentially reducing states' credibility with
their stakeholders and straining the federal/state partnership.
Similarly, regional officials are unclear as to how they can accomplish
their various training and technical assistance responsibilities,
including the CFSR. Without clear guidance on how to systematically
prepare and monitor PIP-related documents, and how regional officials
can integrate their many oversight responsibilities, ACF has left state
officials unsure of how their progress over time will be judged and
potentially complicated its own monitoring efforts.
Recommendations for Executive Action:
To ensure that ACF uses the best available data in measuring state
performance, we recommend that the Secretary of HHS expand the use of
additional data states may provide in their statewide assessments and
consider alternative data sources when available, such as longitudinal
data that track children's placements over time, before making final
CFSR determinations.
In addition, to ensure that ACF regional offices and states fully
understand the PIP development, approval, and monitoring processes, and
that regional offices fully understand ACF's prioritization of the CFSR
as the primary mechanism for child welfare oversight, we recommend that
the Secretary of HHS take the following two actions:
* issue clarifying guidance on the PIP process and evaluate states' and
regional offices' adherence to this instruction, and:
* provide guidance to regional offices explaining how to better
integrate the many training and technical assistance activities for
which they are responsible, such as participation in state planning
meetings and the provision of counsel to states on various topics, with
their new CFSR responsibilities.
Agency Comments:
We received comments on a draft of this report from HHS. These comments
are reproduced in appendix IV. HHS also provided technical
clarifications, which we incorporated where appropriate.
HHS generally agreed with our findings and noted that the CFSR process
has already focused national attention on child welfare reform, but
because the CFSR is the first review of its kind, HHS is engaged in
continuous monitoring and improvement of the process. However, in its
technical comments, HHS commented that while it acknowledges that the
CFSR is its top priority, it disagreed with our statement that HHS's
focus rests exclusively on implementing the CFSR, stating that the
Administration for Children and Families (ACF) also conducts other
oversight efforts, such as Title IV-E eligibility reviews and AFCARS
assessments. While we acknowledged ACF's other oversight activities in
the background section of the report, this report focuses primarily on
the CFSR and we reflected the comments that ACF officials made
throughout the course of our work that the CFSR was the primary tool
for monitoring state performance and that it served as the umbrella for
all monitoring activities undertaken by central and regional ACF staff.
HHS further noted in its technical comments that we were wrong to
suggest that federal staff do not know how to monitor state PIPs or
assess financial penalties. However, we do not report that ACF is
unsure of how to monitor PIPs or how to assess financial penalties--
rather, we reported that ACF regional staff have not received
sufficient guidance on how to best monitor PIPs and that ACF officials
have not decided how or when to apply such penalties, even though two
states to date have completed their initial PIP implementation
timeframe and all states reviewed thus far are engaged in PIP
development and implementation.
With regard to our first recommendation, HHS acknowledged that several
steps are under way to address necessary data improvements and said
that states have begun to submit more accurate information in their
AFCARS and NCANDS profiles, with HHS's assistance. HHS also commented
that we failed to properly emphasize the states' responsibility to
improve overall data quality. We believe that our report, as well as
our previous report on child welfare data and states' information
systems, addresses HHS's activities and the steps many states have
taken to enhance their CFSR data. Given that many states have developed
independent data collection tools--and included findings from these
instruments in their statewide assessments--our recommendation is meant
to encourage HHS to work more closely with all states to supplement
their AFCARS and NCANDS data in order to improve the determinations
made about state performance.
In addition, HHS commented that our report emphasized the limitations
of the 50 case sample size without focusing on the expenses and the
increased state and federal staff time that would likely be associated
with efforts to increase the sample size. We agree that additional
expenses and staff time would likely be needed to increase the sample
size and recommended that ACF use additional data--beyond the
information collected from the 50 case reviews and ACFARS and NCANDS
data--to develop a more accurate picture of state performance. This
information could include the data that many states already collect on
their performance, such as longitudinal information tracking children
from their time of entry into the system.
In response to our second recommendation, HHS said that it has
continued to provide technical assistance and training to states and
regional offices, when appropriate. HHS noted that it is committed to
continually assessing and addressing training and technical assistance
needs. In this context, our recommendation was intended to encourage
HHS to enhance existing training efforts and focus both on state and on
regional officials' needs in understanding and incorporating the CFSR
process into their overall improvement and oversight efforts.
We also provided a copy of our draft report to child welfare officials
in the five states we visited--California, Florida, New York, Oklahoma,
and Wyoming. We received comments from California, Florida, New York,
and Oklahoma, all of which generally agreed with our findings and
provided various technical comments, which we also incorporated where
appropriate.
We are sending copies of this report to the Secretary of Health and
Human Services, state child welfare directors, and other interested
parties. We will make copies available to others on request. In
addition, the report will be available at no charge on GAO's Web site
at http://www.gao.gov. If you or your staff have any questions or wish
to discuss this material further, please call me at (202) 512-8403 or
Diana Pietrowiak at (202) 512-6239. Key contributors to this report are
listed in appendix IV.
Signed by:
Cornelia M. Ashby,
Director, Education, Workforce, and Income Security Issues:
List of Congressional Requesters:
The Honorable Tom DeLay
Majority Leader House of Representatives:
The Honorable Charles E. Grassley
Chairman, Committee on Finance
United States Senate:
The Honorable George Miller
Ranking Democratic Member
Committee on Education and the Workforce
House of Representatives:
The Honorable Charles B. Rangel
Ranking Democratic Member
Committee on Ways and Means
House of Representatives:
The Honorable Fortney Pete Stark
Ranking Democratic Member
Subcommittee on Health
Committee on Ways and Means
House of Representatives:
The Honorable Benjamin L. Cardin
Ranking Democratic Member
Subcommittee on Human Resources
Committee on Ways and Means
House of Representatives:
[End of section]
Appendix I: Objectives, Scope, and Methodology:
Objectives:
The objectives of our study were to report on (1) ACF's and the states'
experiences preparing for and conducting the statewide assessments and
on-site reviews; (2) ACF's and the states' experiences developing,
funding, and implementing items in the PIP; and (3) additional efforts
that ACF has taken beyond the CFSR to ensure that all states meet
federal goals of safety, permanency, and well-being.
Scope and Methodology:
To gather information about ACF's and the states' experiences with the
CFSR and PIP process, we utilized multiple methodologies to solicit
information from both ACF and the states, including (1) a Web-based
survey to state child welfare agencies; (2) site visits to five states;
(3) a content analysis of all 31 PIPs available as of January 1, 2004;
(4), interviews with ACF officials in Washington and all regional
offices, directors of all resource centers, and child welfare experts
nationwide; and (5) a review of CFSR regulations and the available
guidance offered to states. We conducted our work between May 2003 and
February 2004 in accordance with generally accepted government auditing
standards.
Survey:
To gather information about states' experiences with each phase of the
CFSR and PIP process, we distributed a Web-based survey to all 50
states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico on July 30, 2003. We
pretested the survey instrument with officials in the District of
Columbia, Kentucky, and Maryland; and after extensive follow-up, we
received survey responses from all 50 states and the District of
Columbia for a 98 percent response rate.[Footnote 26] We did not
independently verify the information obtained through the survey.
The survey asked a combination of questions that allowed for open-ended
and close-ended responses. Because some states had not yet begun their
statewide assessments and others had already submitted quarterly PIP
progress reports at the time that our survey was released, the
instrument was designed with skip patterns directing states to comment
only on the CFSR stages that they had begun or completed to that point.
Therefore, the number of survey respondents for each question varied
depending on the number of states that had experienced that stage of
the CFSR and PIP processes.
To supplement the survey and elaborate on survey responses, we selected
10 states with which to conduct follow-up phone calls based on their
answers to the survey's open-ended questions.[Footnote 27] These calls
helped us obtain more specific examples about states' experiences
preparing for the CFSR; developing, funding, and implementing a PIP;
and working with ACF to improve their child welfare systems.
Because this was not a sample survey, there are no sampling errors.
However, the practical difficulties of conducting any survey may
introduce errors, commonly referred to as nonsampling errors. For
example, difficulties in how a particular question is interpreted, in
the sources of information that are available to respondents, or in how
the data are entered into a database or were analyzed, can introduce
unwanted variability into the survey results. We took steps in the
development of the questionnaire, the data collection, and the data
analysis to minimize these nonsampling errors. For example, social
science survey specialists designed the questionnaire in collaboration
with GAO staff with subject matter expertise. Then, the draft
questionnaire was pretested with a number of state officials to ensure
that the questions were relevant, clearly stated, and easy to
comprehend. When the data were analyzed, a second, independent analyst
checked all computer programs. Since this was a Web-based survey,
respondents entered their answers directly into the electronic
questionnaire. This eliminated the need to have the data keyed into a
database thus removing an additional source of error.
Site Visits:
To gather more detailed information about the states' experiences with
the CFSR and PIP process, we selected five states to visit--California,
Florida, New York, Oklahoma, and Wyoming--based on the timing and
results of each state's CFSR, as well as their differences in location,
size of child welfare population, degree of privatization of services,
size of tribal populations, and whether they had state or locally
administered systems. In preparation for the visits and to understand
the unique circumstances in each state, we obtained and reviewed
relevant literature from each of the five states, such as the statewide
assessment, the CFSR final report, and any available PIPs or quarterly
reports. Additionally, we reviewed relevant past or current litigation
that may affect the states' delivery of services as identified by the
National Center for Youth Law's Litigation Docket (2002).
During our visits to each state, we talked with officials from the
state child welfare agency along with officials and staff from at least
one local agency office that was selected for the CFSR on-site review.
Specifically, in each state we spoke with state and local officials
responsible for guiding the states' efforts throughout the review
process; CFSR on-site reviewers; and stakeholders, including judges,
child advocates, private providers, foster parents, and child welfare
staff. Some detailed information regarding key CFSR milestones among
the five states we visited is included in appendix III.
Content Analysis of Available PIPs:
To learn about states' improvement strategies, we conducted a content
analysis of the 31 available PIPs that ACF had approved by January 1,
2004. For each of these PIPs, we classified the state's action steps as
relating to one or more of the following: policies and procedures, data
collection and analysis, staff supports, foster parent supports or
services and resources for children and families, state legislative
supports, and federal technical assistance. Table 2 in the report
summarizes how we classified the PIP strategies and indicates the
number of states including each strategy in its PIP.
Interviews:
To gather information about ACF's experience with the CFSR and PIP
process, we interviewed ACF officials in Washington, D.C., who are
involved in the CFSR process and ACF staff in all 10 of the regional
offices; directors of each resource center; and ACF contractors working
on CFSR-related activities. Further, we observed the final debriefing
sessions for three states--South Carolina, Virginia, and Washington--
during the weeks of their respective on-site reviews.
In addition to our interviews with ACF officials, we also interviewed
10 prominent child welfare experts and researchers, such as those
affiliated with the Chapin Hall Center for Children, the Child Welfare
League of America, the National Coalition on Child Protection Reform,
and the University of California at Berkeley, to learn additional
information about the states' experiences with the CFSR process,
including information about states' concerns with the reliability of
CFSR data, states' involvement of tribes as stakeholders, and the
media's coverage of egregious child welfare cases.
Review of ACF Guidance to States:
To gather information about CFSR regulations and the available training
and technical assistance offered to states, we reviewed ACF's
regulations, its policy memorandums, and the CFSR manual it makes
available to states. In addition, we obtained and reviewed a list of
all of the resource centers' training and technical assistance
activities provided to the five states we visited during our site
visits.
[End of section]
Appendix II: List of Outcomes and Systemic Factors and Their Associated
Items:
(Items with an ampersand have associated national standards.):
Outcome factors:
Child Safety:
Outcome 1: Children are, first and foremost, protected from abuse and
neglect.
Item 1: Timeliness of initiating investigations on reports of child
maltreatment:
Item 2: Repeat maltreatment:
* Recurrence of maltreatment &:
* Incidence of child abuse and/or neglect in foster care &:
Outcome 2: Children are safely maintained in their own homes whenever
possible and appropriate.
Item 3: Services to family to protect child(ren) in home and prevent
removal:
Item 4: Risk of harm to child(ren):
Permanency for Children:
Outcome 3: Children have permanency and stability in their living
conditions.
Item 5: Foster care re-entries &:
Item 6: Stability of foster care placement &:
Item 7: Permanency goal for child:
Item 8: Reunification, guardianship, or permanent placement with
relatives:
* Length of time to achieve permanency goal of reunification &:
Item 9: Adoption:
* Length of time to achieve permanency goal of adoption &:
Item 10: Permanency goal of other planned permanent living arrangement:
Outcome 4: The continuity of family relationships and connections is
preserved for children.
Item 11: Proximity of foster care placement:
Item 12: Placement with siblings:
Item 13: Visiting with parents and siblings in foster care:
Item 14: Preserving connections:
Item 15: Relative placement:
Item 16: Relationship of child in care with parents:
Child and Family Well-being:
Outcome 5: Families have enhanced capacity to provide for their
children's needs.
Item 17: Needs and services of child, parents, foster parents:
Item 18: Child and family involvement in case planning:
Item 19: Worker visits with child:
Item 20: Work visits with parent(s):
Outcome 6: Children receive appropriate services to meet their
educational needs.
Item 21: Education needs of the child:
Outcome 7: Children receive adequate services to meet their physical
and mental health needs.
Item 22: Physical health of child:
Item 23: Mental health of child.
Systemic Factors:
Systemic factor 1: Statewide information system:
Item 24: State is operating a statewide information system that, at a
minimum, can identify the status, demographic characteristics,
location, and goals for the placement of every child who is (or within
the immediately preceding 12 months has been) in foster care.
Systemic factor 2: Case review system:
Item 25: Provides a process that ensures that each child has a written
case plan to be developed jointly with the child's parent(s) that
includes the required provisions:
Item 26: Provides a process for the periodic review of the status of
each child, no less frequently than once every 6 months, either by a
court or by administrative review.
Item 27: Provides a process that ensures that each child in foster care
under the supervision of the state had a permanency hearing in a
qualified court or administrative body no later than 12 months from the
date the child entered foster care and no less frequently than every 12
months thereafter.
Item 28: Provides a process for termination of parental rights
proceedings in accordance with the provisions of the Adoption and Safe
Families Act.
Item 29: Provides a process for foster parents, pre-adoptive parents,
and relative caregivers of children in foster care to be notified of,
and have an opportunity to be heard in, any review or hearing held with
respect to the child.
Systemic factor 3: Quality assurance system:
Item 30: The state has developed and implemented standards to ensure
that children in foster care are provided quality services that protect
the safety and health of children.
Item 31: The state is operating an identifiable quality assurance
system that is in place in the jurisdictions where the services
included in the Child and Family Services Plan are provided, evaluates
the quality of services, identifies strengths and needs of the service
delivery system, provides relevant reports, and evaluates program
improvement measures implemented.
Systemic factor 4: Training:
Item 32: The state is operating a staff development and training
program that supports the goals and objectives in the Child and Family
Services Plan, addresses services provided under Titles IV-B and IV-E,
and provides initial training for all staff who deliver these services.
Item 33: The state provides for ongoing training for staff that
addresses the skills and knowledge base needed to carry out their
duties with regard to the services included in the Child and Family
Services Plan.
Item 34: The state provides training for current or prospective foster
parents, adoptive parents, and staff of state-licensed or approved
facilities that care for children receiving foster care or adoption
assistance under Title IV-E that addresses the skills and knowledge
base needed to carry out their duties with regard to foster and adopted
children.
Systemic factor 5: Service array:
Item 35: The state has in place an array of services that assess the
strengths and needs of children and families and determine other
service needs, address the needs of families in addition to individual
children in order to create a safe home environment, enable children to
remain safely with their parents when reasonable, and help children in
foster and adoptive placements achieve permanency.
Item 36: The services in item 35 are accessible to families and
children in all political jurisdictions covered in the State's Child
and Family Services Plan.
Item 37: The services in item 35 can be individualized to meet the
unique needs of children and families served by the agency.
Systemic factor 6: Agency responsiveness to the community:
Item 38: In implementing the provisions of the Child and Family
Services Plan, the state engages in ongoing consultation with tribal
representatives, consumers, services providers, foster care providers,
the juvenile court, and other public and private child-and family-
serving agencies and includes the major concerns of these
representatives in the goals and objectives of the Child and Family
Services Plan.
Item 39: The agency develops, in consultation with these
representatives, annual reports of progress and services delivered
pursuant to the Child and Family Services Plan.
Item 40: The state's services under the Child and Family Services Plan
are coordinated with services or benefits of other federal or federally
assisted programs serving the same population.
Systemic factor 7: Foster and adoptive parent licensing, recruitment,
and retention:
Item 41: The state has implemented standards for foster family homes
and child care institutions that are reasonably in accord with
recommended national standards.
Item 42: The standards are applied to all licensed or approved foster
family homes or child care institutions receiving Title IV-E or IV-B
funds.
Item 43: The state complies with federal requirements for criminal
background clearances as related to licensing or approving foster care
and adoptive placements and has in place a case-planning process that
includes provisions for addressing the safety of foster care and
adoptive placements for children.
Item 44: The state has in place a process for ensuring the diligent
recruitment of potential foster and adoptive families that reflect the
ethnic and racial diversity of children in the state for whom foster
and adoptive homes are needed.
Item 45: The state has in place a process for the effective use of
cross-jurisdictional resources to facilitate timely adoptive or
permanent placements for waiting children.
[End of section]
Appendix III: Dates on Which Site Visit States Reached CFSR Milestones:
Date the state submitted its statewide assessment;
California: 7/02;
Florida: 5/01;
New York: 4/01;
Oklahoma: 1/02;
Wyoming: 6/02.
Date ACF began the on-site review;
California: 9/23/02;
Florida: 8/6/ 01;
New York: 6/18/01;
Oklahoma: 3/18/02;
Wyoming: 7/8/02.
Date ACF released the final CFSR report;
California: 1/10/03;
Florida: 4/23/02;
New York: 1/9/02;
Oklahoma: 7/1/02;
Wyoming: 4/1/03.
Time lapse in release of final report;
California: 75 days;
Florida: 182 days;
New York: 143 days;
Oklahoma: 71 days;
Wyoming: 187 days.
Date the state's PIP was due;
California: 4/10/03;
Florida: 7/22/02;
New York: 4/9/02;
Oklahoma: 9/29/02;
Wyoming: 6/30/03.
Date ACF approved the PIP;
California: 6/24/03;
Florida: 4/30/03;
New York: 4/14/03;
Oklahoma: 1/22/03;
Wyoming: 1/1/04.
Time lapse in PIP approval;
California: 54 days;
Florida: 203 days;
New York: 265 days;
Oklahoma: 83 days;
Wyoming: 134 days.
Date the state submitted its first quarterly report;
California: 10/29/ 03;
Florida: 7/30/03;
New York: 8/11/03;
Oklahoma: 5/15/03;
Wyoming: 4/ 30/04.
Total number of outcomes and systemic factors not in substantial
conformity[A];
California: 12;
Florida: 8;
New York: 8;
Oklahoma: 9;
Wyoming: 10.
Estimated financial penalties;
California: $18,244,430;
Florida: $3,639,552;
New York: $2,284,407;
Oklahoma: $727,300;
Wyoming: $137,369.
Source: GAO analysis of ACF data.
[A] The total number of outcomes and systemic factors evaluated in the
CFSR is 14.
[End of table]
[End of section]
Appendix IV: Comments from the Department of Health and Human Services:
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH & HUMAN SERVICES
Office of Inspector General:
Washington, D.C. 20201:
MAR 29 2004:
Ms. Cornelia M. Ashby:
Director, Education, Workforce, and Income Security Issues:
United States General Accounting Office
Washington, D.C. 20548:
Dear Ms. Ashby:
Enclosed are the Department's comments on your draft report entitled,
"Child and Family Services Reviews: Better Use of Data and Improved
Guidance Could Enhance HHS's Oversight of State Performance." The
comments represent the tentative position of the Department and are
subject to reevaluation when the final version of this report is
received.
The Department provided several technical comments directly to your
staff.
The Department appreciates the opportunity to comment on this draft
report before its publication.
Sincerely,
Dara Corrigan:
Acting Principal Deputy Inspector General:
Enclosure:
The Office of Inspector General (OIG) is transmitting the Department's
response to this draft report in our capacity as the Department's
designated focal point and coordinator for General Accounting Office
reports. OIG has not conducted an independent assessment of these
comments and therefore expresses no opinion on them.
Comments of the Department of Health and Human Services on the General
Accounting Office's Draft Report: "Child and Family Services Reviews:
Better Use of Data and Improved Guidance Could Enhance HHS's Oversight
of State Performance" (GAO-04-333):
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) appreciates the
opportunity to comment on the above-referenced GAO draft report.
General Comments:
The Child and Family Service Review (CFSR) process has already had a
significant impact on focusing unprecedented national attention on
child welfare practices and has the potential to be an agent for real
improvement both in child welfare services and outcomes. HHS would like
to acknowledge that because the CFSR is the first review of its kind,
continuous monitoring and improvements to the process itself would be
needed as we become more experienced in assessing State programs in
this manner. Just as States are engaging in this new process of
continuous assessment and improvement, HHS is as well. Therefore, as
issues and concerns arise in this process, we are addressing them
through ongoing training and other avenues. The report confirms that
States feel the same way about the process. The States also indicated
to GAO that the results of the CFSR are typically consistent with what
they know to be the strengths and deficiencies of their child welfare
systems.
We also acknowledge that concerns regarding the usefulness of Adoption
and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS) data noted in
GAO's report are consistent with those reported in the OIG inspection
entitled, "AFCARS: Challenges and Limitations" (OEI-07-01-00660).
Further, based on a series of inspections focused on "Children's Use of
Health Care Services While in Foster Care," the OIG supports the use of
Medicaid claims data in determining State performance in meeting
outcome measures focused on the health and well being of children.
Recommendation 1:
To ensure that HHS uses the best available data in measuring State
performance, the Secretary of HHS should expand the use of additional
data States may provide in their Statewide assessments and consider
alternative data sources, when available, such as longitudinal data
that track children's placements over time, before making final CFSR
determinations.
Comments:
For the most part, HHS is aware already of most of the CFSR-related
issues that are presented in this GAO report. Specifically, the report
addresses areas that HHS is currently working to improve, i.e. the
Program Improvement Plan (PIP) development and approval process, the
quality of technical assistance provided by both regional staff and the
resource centers, the need for guidance on how States can improve data
reliability, etc.
HHS has engaged an independent contractor to assess and make
recommendations for improving the CFSR. In completing its task, the
contractor has convened a Consultation Work Group to provide input into
the process. The establishment of this Work Group is responsive to
requests received from representatives of States that have undergone a
CFSR. The State officials at a national meeting in January 2003 first
made the suggestion.
The role of the Work Group is to provide feedback, new ideas and
insights that will assist the contractor to make recommendations to the
Children's Bureau (Bureau) regarding possible changes or improvements
to the CFSR process, as well as possible adjustments to the outcomes
and measurements of outcomes used in the reviews.
On the issue of data sources and reliability, we specifically chose to
use the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data Reporting System (NCANDS)
and the Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS)
as the data sources for the review because these are the national
systems for data reporting in child welfare. Although data reliability
is a shared issue, the GAO report does not address the fact that States
must take some ownership for problems with data quality, since it is
the data they submit that ultimately is used for the national standards
and for the on-site portion of the CFSR, especially the AFCARS data
requirements. Nonetheless, we recognize the ongoing need to address
data quality concerns. The Bureau and the ACF regional offices have
made concerted efforts to work with States to help improve data
reporting and reliability in recent years. It should be noted that the
quality of the data being submitted by States has dramatically
increased since FY 1998, with the most substantial improvements having
occurred since FY 2000.
HHS provides funding for a national resource center to work with States
around data reporting issues and conducts on-site AFCARS assessments in
each State. Technical assistance on the reporting of NCANDS data is
also available. HHS continues to work extensively with States to point
out potential data inaccuracies and provide consultation and technical
assistance to help them correct data issues. HHS also provides States
with the opportunity to submit corrected data so that we have an
accurate picture.
In addition to efforts to strengthen current AFCARS reporting, for the
last year and a half, an internal work group has convened to look at
the current AFCARS system. The current project will be working to
revise and update the AFCARS system to reflect emerging needs. This
should go a long way in improving the quality of the data submitted by
States.
HHS suggests that the report would be improved if the tradeoffs
inherent in addressing some of the important issues raised were
recognized more explicitly. For instance, the relatively small sample
size for the on-site reviews is discussed on page 15 and the burden of
the on-site reviews is discussed on page 13. Yet, nowhere is it
explicitly recognized that a larger sample size would increase the
already substantial burden of the on-site reviews or that some staff's
regular duties were negatively impacted, preventing caseworkers from
conducting necessary child abuse investigations or home visits. Whether
it is worth imposing this additional burden in order to:
avoid discrepancies between Statewide assessments and on-site reviews
is a judgment call HHS made in designing the review process. That only
one State has chosen to examine additional cases to resolve such a
discrepancy would seem to indicate that the current balance is not
unreasonable (see page 17). Also, while the GAO report criticism that
the current sample size is too small from which to generalize, it fails
to identify for the reader how large a sample size would be required to
be sufficiently representative. Without knowing how much larger the
sample would need to be to address the identified weaknesses, the
reader cannot directly weigh the tradeoffs.
Recommendation 2:
To ensure that HHS regional offices and States fully understand the PIP
development, approval, and monitoring processes, and that regional
offices fully understand HHS's prioritization of the CFSR as the
primary mechanism for child welfare oversight, we recommend that the
Secretary of HHS take the following two actions:
* issue clarifying guidance on the PIP process and evaluate States' and
regional offices' adherence to this instruction and:
provide guidance to regional offices explaining how to better integrate
the many training and technical assistance activities for which they
are responsible, such as participation in State planning meetings and
the provision of counsel to States on various topics, with their new
CFSR responsibilities.
Comments:
HHS has continued to provide technical assistance and training to
States and regional offices, when appropriate. These efforts include,
but are not limited to, an annual meeting with States that completed
the CFSR in the previous year and ongoing communication with States, as
well as the regional offices. National conferences focusing on this
topic have been held each year. Regional offices have also been
provided technical assistance on AFCARS reporting at Regional Child
Welfare Administrators' meetings. HHS has provided an unprecedented 18
courses on various topics related to the CFSR. HHS is committed to
continue assessing and addressing training and technical assistance
needs.
[End of section]
Appendix V: GAO Contacts and Acknowledgments:
GAO Contacts:
Diana Pietrowiak, (202) 512-6239 Joy Gambino, (202) 512-2838:
Staff Acknowledgments:
In addition to those named above, Elizabeth Caplick and Catherine Roark
made key contributions to this report. Amy Buck, Karen Burke, Jason
Kelly, Stuart Kaufman, Luann Moy, and Jerome Sandau also provided key
technical assistance.
[End of section]
Related GAO Products:
Child Welfare: Improved Federal Oversight Could Assist States in
Overcoming Key Challenges. GAO-04-418T. Washington, D.C.: January 28,
2004.
D.C. Family Court: Progress Has Been Made in Implementing Its
Transition. GAO-04-234. Washington, D.C.: January 6, 2004.
Child Welfare: States Face Challenges in Developing Information Systems
and Reporting Reliable Child Welfare Data. GAO-04-267T. Washington,
D.C.: November 19, 2003.
Child Welfare: Enhanced Federal Oversight of Title IV-B Could Provide
States Additional Information to Improve Services. GAO-03-956.
Washington, D.C.: September 12, 2003.
Child Welfare: Most States Are Developing Statewide Information
Systems, but the Reliability of Child Welfare Data Could be Improved.
GAO-03-809. Washington, D.C.: July 31, 2003.
D.C. Child and Family Services: Key Issues Affecting the Management of
Its Foster Care Cases. GAO-03-758T. Washington, D.C.: May 16, 2003.
Child Welfare and Juvenile Justice: Federal Agencies Could Play a
Stronger Role in Helping States Reduce the Number of Children Placed
Solely to Obtain Mental Health Services. GAO-03-397. Washington, D.C.:
April 21, 2003.
Foster Care: States Focusing on Finding Permanent Homes for Children,
but Long-Standing Barriers Remain. GAO-03-626T. Washington, D.C.: April
8, 2003.
Child Welfare: HHS Could Play a Greater Role in Helping Child Welfare
Agencies Recruit and Retain Staff. GAO-03-357. Washington, D.C.: March
31, 2003.
Foster Care: Recent Legislation Helps States Focus on Finding Permanent
Homes for Children, but Long-Standing Barriers Remain. GAO-02-585.
Washington, D.C.: June 28, 2002.
District of Columbia Child Welfare: Long-Term Challenges to Ensuring
Children's Well-Being. GAO-01-191. Washington, D.C.: December 29, 2000.
Child Welfare: New Financing and Service Strategies Hold Promise, but
Effects Unknown. GAO/T-HEHS-00-158. Washington, D.C.: July 20, 2000.
Foster Care: States' Early Experiences Implementing the Adoption and
Safe Families Act. GAO/HEHS-00-1. Washington, D.C.: December 22, 1999.
Foster Care: HHS Could Better Facilitate the Interjurisdictional
Adoption Process. GAO/HEHS-00-12. Washington, D.C.: November 19, 1999.
Foster Care: Effectiveness of Independent Living Services Unknown. GAO/
HEHS-00-13. Washington, D.C.: November 10, 1999.
Foster Care: Kinship Care Quality and Permanency Issues. GAO/HEHS-99-
32. Washington, D.C.: May 6, 1999.
Juvenile Courts: Reforms Aim to Better Serve Maltreated Children. GAO/
HEHS-99-13. Washington, D.C.: January 11, 1999.
Child Welfare: Early Experiences Implementing a Managed Care Approach.
GAO/HEHS-99-8. Washington, D.C.: October 21, 1998.
Foster Care: Agencies Face Challenges Securing Stable Homes for
Children of Substance Abusers. GAO/HEHS-98-182. Washington, D.C.:
September 30, 1998.
FOOTNOTES
[1] The CFSR measures state performance on 45 performance items, which
correspond to 7 outcomes and 7 systemic factors. The outcomes relate to
children's safety, permanency, and well-being, and the systemic factors
address state agency management and responsiveness to the community.
Six national standards, as reported in the Adoption and Foster Care
Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS) and the National Child Abuse and
Neglect Data System (NCANDS), apply to 5 of the 45 items. Three of
these standards are based on the 75th percentile of all states'
performance--adoption; stability of foster care placements; and length
of time to achieve reunification, guardianship, or permanent placement
with relatives--because a higher incidence is desirable. However, the
remaining three standards--recurrence of maltreatment, incidence of
child abuse/neglect in foster care, and foster care re-entries--are
based on the 25th percentile of state performance, because lower
incidence is a desired outcome for these measures.
[2] The term stakeholder refers to two groups: (1) agency stakeholders,
such as judges or advocates, whose responsibilities are closely related
to the work of the child welfare agency and who can comment on the
agency's overall performance on outcomes and systemic factors, and (2)
case-specific stakeholders, such as parents, caseworkers, children, or
others who are interviewed to provide first-hand information that
supplements reviewers' assessment of paper or electronic case files.
[3] Each of the 10 resource centers operates under a 5-year cooperative
agreement with HHS to help states implement federal child welfare
legislation and provide training and technical assistance to states.
[4] Title IV-B of the Social Security Act, consisting of two subparts,
is the primary source of federal funding for services to help families
address problems that lead to child abuse and neglect and to prevent
the unnecessary separation of children from their families. Funding
under Title IV-E of the Social Security Act is used primarily to pay
for the room and board of children in foster care.
[5] States began voluntarily reporting to NCANDS in 1990, and in 1995
started reporting to AFCARS on the demographic characteristics of
adoptive and foster children and their parents, as well as foster
children's type of placement and permanency goals. We recently issued a
report on states' child welfare information systems and the reliability
of child welfare data. See Child Welfare: Most States Are Developing
Statewide Information Systems, but the Reliability of Child Welfare
Data Could Be Improved, GAO-03-809 (Washington, D.C.: July 31, 2003).
[6] States achieve substantial conformity on outcomes when at least 90
percent of applicable cases are substantially achieved; stakeholder
interviews confirm that state plan and other program requirements are
in place and functioning as described in the applicable regulations or
statute; and performance on items with national standards meets the
applicable threshold. The formula for calculating penalties is based in
part on each state's allocation of federal child welfare funds from
Titles IV-B and IV-E and the number of outcomes and systemic factors
for which substantial conformity has not been achieved.
[7] Resource centers may provide unlimited assistance to states by
phone or e-mail, but on-site training and technical assistance are
restricted to 10 days each year. States must first obtain regional
office approval before on-site training and technical assistance can
occur. ACF officials in both the regions and in headquarters indicated
that they have been flexible with extensions beyond the 10-day cap.
[8] California and Puerto Rico were determined to be in substantial
conformity on 2 outcomes and systemic factors, while North Dakota
achieved substantial conformity on 9.
[9] These values are state-reported and reflect officials' estimates of
costs associated with all CFSR-related activities except those incurred
during PIP implementation. In reporting on their expenses, states were
instructed to include the value of training, travel, infrastructure,
technology, food, administrative supplies, and any other expenses
associated with the CFSR process. States were also asked to provide
supporting documentation for this particular question, but most states
were unable to provide documentation. Many states reported that they
did not track CFSR-related expenses. The 25 states that did provide
estimates were in different phases of the CFSR.
[10] ACF provided preliminary data, based on an inquiry of its regional
offices, showing that 25 states have charged some CFSR-related costs to
Title IV-E.
[11] The number of FTEs participating in each phase of the CFSR is
state-reported. While states were not given specific instructions for
how to calculate FTEs, they were asked to report only on the phases of
the CFSR that they had started or completed. Therefore, states'
responses varied depending on the phase of the CFSR process they were
in and the methods they used to calculate FTEs.
[12] These values are state-reported and represent states' estimates
regarding the number of stakeholders that participated in each phase of
the CFSR process. In answering this question, states were provided with
a list of stakeholders, such as advocates and court officials, to guide
their estimates, but they were not asked to indicate the duration of
stakeholder involvement during each phase.
[13] See GAO-03-809.
[14] ACF provides states with their statewide data about 6 months prior
to the on-site review, during which time states are allowed to make
corrections to the data and resubmit the updated data so it can be used
when determining state conformity with CFSR measures.
[15] According to our calculations--which assumed that the attribute of
interest occurred in about 50 percent of the cases--a sample size of 50
would produce percentage estimates with a 95 percent margin of error of
approximately plus or minus 14 percentage points. This level of
variability is a limitation when attempting to interpret estimates
based on this sample size.
[16] Because one of the two cases applicable to the adoption measure
was assigned a rating of area needing improvement, 50 percent of the
cases for this item were assigned a rating of area needing improvement.
As a result, the item was given an overall rating of area needing
improvement since both cases would have needed to be assigned a rating
of strength for this item to meet the 85 percent threshold necessary to
assign an overall rating of strength.
[17] An ACF statistician also confirmed that the CFSR sample is too
small to generalize to the states' populations and that the three
sites, from which cases are selected, also are not representative.
[18] Virginia requested an additional case review to resolve a
discrepancy between the statewide data and on-site review findings for
the item measuring the state's performance on foster care re-entries.
According to an ACF regional official, the state met the national
standard for this item but the case review findings showed the state
did not meet the threshold for this measure. At the time of
publication, ACF and the state were still finalizing plans to conduct
the additional case review, and until the review is completed, the
state cannot receive its final report.
[19] The remaining 24 respondents reported that the emphasis was "just
about right."
[20] At the time of our analysis, only Delaware and North Carolina had
completed the 2-year term of their PIPs, and to date, ACF is still
analyzing the states' progress and has not determined if there has been
overall improvement or if it will apply financial penalties.
[21] Although 41 states were developing or implementing PIPs at the
time of publication, we reviewed the 31 available PIPs that ACF had
approved as of January 1, 2004.
[22] The plaintiffs in this class action lawsuit filed in 1995 were 11
children, all of whom were abused, sometimes severely. The plaintiffs
sought to restructure New York City's child welfare system and charged
that the city mishandled their cases and deprived them of their rights
under the state and federal constitutions as well as various state and
federal laws. Marisol A. v. Giuliani, 929 F. Supp. 662, 669 (S.D.N.Y.
1996). As part of its settlement with the parties, the state agreed to
monitor the city's staffing requirements and conduct audits of the
city's treatment of children in nine specified areas. Marisol A. v.
Giuliani, 185 F.R.D. 152, 159-160 (S.D.N.Y. 1999).
[23] ACF could not provide a response rate.
[24] According to interviews with ACF regional staff, only one region
is tracking states' satisfaction with the resource centers
systematically. While some regions conduct ad hoc conversations with
state officials after a resource center has provided assistance, ACF
does not have a formal mechanism for collecting or analyzing states'
views on the quality of assistance provided.
[25] Funding levels for each resource center have varied over their 5-
year cooperative agreements, but our analysis of 1999-2003 data shows
that since the implementation of the CFSRs, the funding for the
resource center for Information Technology and the resource center for
Organizational Improvement--the two resource centers that provide
specific support to states regarding data issues and PIP development--
has consistently and substantially increased.
[26] Puerto Rico did not respond to our survey.
[27] The 10 states participating in our phone follow-up survey were
Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Mississippi, North Dakota, New Jersey,
Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Utah, and West Virginia.
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