[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 153 (Wednesday, August 9, 1995)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 40505-40508]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-19679]



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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Administration for Children and Families

45 CFR Part 1355

RIN 0979-AB58


Title IV-B and Title IV-E of the Social Security Act: Data 
Collection for Foster Care and Adoption

AGENCY: Administration on Children, Youth and Families (ACYF) 
Administration for Children and Families (ACF), HHS.

ACTION: Final rule.

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SUMMARY: The Administration on Children, Youth and Families is adding a 
financial data element to the Appendices of the regulation for data 
collection for foster care and adoption. In addition, we are adding the 
Office of Management and Budget's (OMB) control number for the data 
collection section of the regulation. All States that administer State 
plans under title IV-B and IV-E of the Social Security Act are subject 
to this addition to the Appendices of the regulation.

EFFECTIVE DATE: August 9, 1995.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Daniel H. Lewis, Deputy Associate Commissioner, Children's Bureau, 
Administration on Children, Youth and Families, (202) 205-8618.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background

    The Administration on Children, Youth and Families published a 
final rule on December 22, 1993 (58 FR 67912) that implements the 
requirements of section 479 of the Social Security Act. This section 
requires the Secretary to publish regulations that implement a system 
for the collection of adoption and foster care data in the United 
States. All States that administer State plans under titles IV-B and 
IV-E of the Society Security Act are subject to this regulation.

II. General

    This regulation, 45 CFR part 1355, generally known as the Adoption 
and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS), is designed to 
collect uniform, reliable information on children who are under the 
responsibility of the State title IV-B/IV-E agency for placement and 
care. The collection of adoption and foster care data is mandated by 
section 479 of the Social Security Act. In order to adequately meet the 
intent of the law and the requirements of this regulation, the States' 
data collection systems for AFCARS must be computerized.

[[Page 40506]]

    The Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) will use this 
information to respond to Congressional requests for current data on 
children in foster care or who have been adopted, and to respond to 
questions and requests from other Departments and agencies, including 
the General Accounting Office, the Office of Management and Budget 
(OMB), the DHHS Office of Inspector General, national advocacy 
organizations, States and other interested organizations.

III. Program Description

    Title IV-B, Subpart 1, of the Social Security Act (the Act), the 
Child Welfare Services program, is a formula grant program. Each State 
receives grants during the year representing its allotment. The grants 
provide States with Federal support for a wide variety of State child 
welfare services including: Preplacement preventive services to 
strengthen families and avoid placement of children; services to 
prevent abuse and neglect; foster care and adoption services; and 
certain protections for children in foster care. Title IV-B, Subpart 2, 
Family Preservation and Support Services, is an entitlement program 
which encourages and enables each State to develop and establish or 
expand, and to operate a program of family preservation services and 
community based family support services. Funds under both subparts of 
title IV-B can be used to provide services regardless of the income of 
the families and children who are in need of such services.
    Title IV-E of the Act is an entitlement program which authorizes 
Federal financial participation (FFP) in the costs of State foster care 
maintenance and adoption assistance payments. Federal matching of State 
foster care maintenance payments is available for children in foster 
care who meet certain eligibility criteria that are based, in part, on 
the child's eligibility under the Aid to Families With Dependent 
Children (AFDC) program. The adotpion assistance program under title 
IV-E is designed to assist States in placing ``special needs'' children 
with adoptive families through the provision of an adoption assistance 
payment. In order to be eligible for this program, a child must be 
eligible for AFDC, title IV-E foster care or Supplemental Security 
Income for the Blind and Disabled (SSI) and must meet the statutory 
definition of ``a child with special needs'' according to section 
473(c) of the Act. Title IV-E of the Act is the major single source of 
Federal support for foster care and adoption assistance payments. 
However, over half the funds for adoption and foster care and half the 
children are supported by State and local governments and private 
sector.
    According to State agency information gathered by the American 
Public Welfare Association (APWA) under the Voluntary Cooperative 
Information System (VICS), there were approximately 444,000 children in 
foster care on the last day of 1993.
    In 1990, the most recent year for which data have been analyzed, 
approximately 407,000 children were in foster care. Of these children, 
approximately 69,000 had a plan for adoption and approximately 20,000 
had parental rights terminated or relinquished and were waiting for 
adoptive homes.

IV. Legislation Establishing New Data Collection Requirements

    Section 9943 of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (OBRA) of 
1986 (Pub. L. 99-509) amended title IV-E of the Social Security Act by 
adding section 479. This section directs the Secretary to promulgate 
regulations for the implementation of a system to collect data relating 
to adoption and foster care in the United States. On December 22, 1993, 
the Department published the AFCARS final rule which requires that 
State agencies administering or supervising the administration of 
titles IV-B and IV-E of the Act implement data collection systems and 
report semi-annually on data elements set forth in the final rule.
    Page 67917 of the preamble to the AFCARS final rule, announced the 
Department's intention to add a foster care financial data element to 
the appendices of the AFCARS regulation. This data element will 
indicate the total monthly amount of foster care benefit paid on behalf 
of each child in foster care. At that time the Department urged 
interested parties to comment on this intention so that expressed 
concerns and comments could be taken into account in the development of 
the data element. Two letters (both from State agencies) were received 
in response to the final rule's request for comments on this matter.
    States should begin submitting the monthly foster care payment 
information with their submittal for the fourth AFCARS reporting 
period, April 1, 1996-September 30, 1996.

V. Discussion of Comments and the Development's Response Part 1355--
General

    Section 1355.40 Foster care and adoption data collection. The 
letters from the State agencies related primarily to the usefulness of 
the financial information and how States are to report it.
    Comment: One comment was that the request for such information 
appears duplicative in light of the information submitted by the States 
in accordance with the ACYF-PI-92-11, issued on August 21, 1992.
    Response: Although the data is similar, the Program Instruction 
requires States submittal of quarterly financial data with a submitted 
monthly average number of children for the quarter. The AFCARS 
financial data element will, for the first time, allow for the analysis 
of a payment per child in foster care, unlike the current average 
dollars per child based on an average monthly number of children. The 
result is the opportunity to develop demographic profiles of children 
and the specific payments each receives. This information can result in 
more comprehensive cost projections for children meeting particular 
demographic profiles during their foster care episodes.
    Comment: Given that AFCARS' reporting frequency is semi-annual, how 
would monthly amounts be reflected?
    Response: Monthly amounts would be reflected in the most recent 
full monthly payment made on behalf of the child during the report 
period.
    Comment: Why is this information necessary on a per child basis, 
since the information can be calculated using the Federal Medical 
Assistance Percentage (FMAP) rate?
    Response: The information is being requested on title IV-E and non 
IV-E children; therefore the FMAP is not always applicable. The 
information on a per child basis can be useful in a number of ways, 
such as:
     Examining costs per placement setting type; and
     Examining costs per child based on a child's demographic 
profile, more specifically, number of disabilities versus costs, age 
vs. costs, etc.
    The understanding of costs as identified above are necessary for 
accurate cost projections.
    Comment: Did you intend that this question would include the 
administrative and training dollars expended?
    Response: No, only the maintenance dollars.
    Comment: Is the data necessary for non-title IV-E children?
    Response: Yes, all children as defined by the AFCARS reporting 
population.
    Comment: For which classes of title IV-E children will the 
information be required?
    Response: The information is required for all children in foster 
care (title IV-

[[Page 40507]]
E and non IV-E) which meet the AFCARS reporting population definition.

Purpose of the Amendment to Sec. 1355.40

    Page 67924 of the preamble of the AFCARS final rule in the 
``Paperwork Reduction Act'' section, identifies the need for and 
approval of a control number by OMB. Paragraphs (a) and (b) of 45 CFR 
1355.40 of the regulation, contain information collection requirements 
for which an OMB approval number is required. In addition, OMB requires 
the approval number to be displayed in the regulation. OMB approved and 
assigned a number to the information collection requirements in 
Sec. 1355.40 on August 22, 1994. This amendment adds that number at the 
end of the section.

VI. Impact Analysis

Executive Order 12866

    Executive Order 12866 requires that regulations be reviewed to 
ensure that they are consistent with the priorities and principles set 
forth in the Executive Order. The Department has determined that this 
rule which adds a financial data element to the appendices and 
additionally publishes the required OMB control number is consistent 
with these priorities and principles. As assessment of the costs and 
benefits of available regulatory alternatives (including not 
regulating) demonstrated that the approach taken in the regulation is 
the most cost-effective and least burdensome while still achieving the 
regulatory objectives.

Regulatory Flexibility Act

    Consistent with the Regulatory Flexibility Act of 1980 (5 U.S.C. ch 
6), the Department tries to anticipate and reduce the impact of rules 
and paperwork requirements on small businesses. For each rule, with a 
``significant economic impact on a substantial number of small 
entities'' an analysis is prepared describing the rule's impact on 
small entities. Small entities are defined in the Regulatory 
Flexibility Act to include small businesses, small non-profit 
organizations, and small governmental entities.
    The primary impact of this rule is on the States which are not 
``small entities'' within the meaning of the Act. For this reason, the 
Secretary certifies that this rule will not have a significant impact 
on a substantial number of small entities.

Paperwork Reduction Act

    Under the Paperwork Act of 1980, Pub. L. 96-511, all Departments 
are required to submit to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for 
review and approval any reporting or recordkeeping requirements in a 
proposed or final rule. The addition of a financial data element in 
several of the Appendices and the OMB control number will not make an 
appreciable change in the burden to the States. Therefore no submission 
to OMB is required.

List of Subjects in 45 CFR CFR Part 1355

    Adoption and foster care, Child welfare, Data collection, 
Definitions, Grant Programs--Social Programs.

(Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance Program Nos. 93.658, Foster 
Care Maintenance, 93.659, Adoption Assistance and 93.645, Child 
Welfare Services-State Grants)

    Dated: July 18, 1995.
Mary Jo Bane,
Assistant Secretary for Children and Families.

    For the reasons set forth in the preamble, 45 CFR part 1355 is 
amended as follows:
    1. The authority citation for part 1355 continues to read as 
follows:

    Authority: 42 U.S.C. 1302.

    2. Section 1355.40 is amended by adding the OMB Control Number at 
the end of the section to read as follows:


Sec. 1355.40  Foster care and adoption data collection.

* * * * *
(Information collection requirements contained in paragraphs (a) and 
(b) of this section were approved on August 22, 1994, by the Office 
of Management and Budget under Control Number 0980-0267).

Appendix A--[Amended]

    3. Appendix A to Part 1355, Sections I and II are amended by adding 
elements XII to each section to read as follows:

Section I--Foster Care Data Elements

* * * * *
    XIII. Amount of the monthly foster care payment (regardless of 
sources). ________________.
* * * * *
Section II--Definition of and Instructions for Foster Care Data 
Elements

* * * * *
    XII. Amount of the monthly foster care payment (regardless of 
sources)--Enter the monthly payment paid on behalf of the child 
regardless of source (i.e., Federal, State, county, municipality, 
tribal, and private payments). If title IV-E is paid on behalf of 
the child the amount indicated should be the total computable 
amount. If the payment made on behalf of the child is not the same 
each month, indicate the amount of the last full monthly payment 
made during the reporting period. If no monthly payment has been 
made during the period, enter all zeros.

Appendix C--[Amended]

    4. In Appendix C to part 1355, under Section number 4., paragraph 
(3) is revised to read as follows:

    4. Personal Computer to Personal Computer * * *
    (3) All records must be a fixed length. The Foster Care Detailed 
Data Elements Record is 150 characters long and the Adoption 
Detailed Data Elements Record is 72 characters long. The Foster Care 
Summary Data Elements Record and the Adoption Summary Data Elements 
Record are each 172 characters long.
* * * * *

Appendix D--[Amended]

    5. In Appendix D to part 1355, Section A, Foster Care, subsection 
1., is amended by revising paragraph a. and adding to paragraph c. the 
following elements at the end of the table and revising the number of 
``Total Characters'' to read as follows:

    1. Foster Care Semi-Annual Detailed Data Elements Record
    a. The record will consist of 66 data elements.
* * * * *
    c. * * *

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                                                                                                        No. of  
               Element No.                 Appendix A data          Data element description           numeric  
                                               element                                                characters
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                                                                
*                  *                  *                  *                  *                  *                
                                                        *                                                       
66......................................  XII               Amount of monthly foster care payment              5
                                                             (regardless of source).                            
                                                                                                    ------------
      Total characters..................  ................  .......................................          150
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[[Page 40508]]

* * * * *

Appendix E--[Amended]

    6. In Appendix E to part 1355, in Section A., subsection 3., 
paragraph b.(2) is amended by adding the following elements to the end 
of the table to read as follows:

    3. Missing Data Standards
* * * * *
    b. * * *
    (2) Less Than Ten Percent Missing Data * * *

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           Element No.                      Element description         
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                        
                  *        *        *        *        *                 
66...............................  Amount of monthly foster care payment
                                    (regardless of source).             
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[FR Doc. 95-19679 Filed 8-8-95; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4184-01-M