§ 1356.71 Federal review of the eligibility of children in foster care and the eligibility of foster care providers in title IV-E programs.

(a) Purpose, scope and overview of the process. (1) This section sets forth requirements governing Federal reviews of compliance with the title IV-E eligibility provisions as they apply to children and foster care providers under paragraphs (a) and (b) of section 472 of the Act.

(2) The requirements of this section apply to title IV-E agencies that receive Federal payments for foster care under title IV-E of the Act.

(3) The review process begins with a primary review of foster care cases for the title IV-E eligibility requirements.

(i) Title IV-E agencies in substantial compliance. Title IV-E agencies determined to be in substantial compliance based on the primary review will be subject to another review in three years.

(ii) Title IV-E agencies not in substantial compliance. Title IV-E agencies that are determined not to be in substantial compliance based on the primary review will develop and implement a program improvement plan designed to correct the areas of noncompliance. A secondary review will be conducted after the completion of the program improvement plan. A subsequent primary review will be held three years from the date of the secondary review.

(b) Composition of review team and preliminary activities preceding an on-site review. (1) The review team must be composed of representatives of the title IV-E agency, and ACF's Regional and Central Offices.

(2) The title IV-E agency must provide ACF with the complete payment history for each of the sample and oversample cases prior to the on-site review.

(c) Sampling guidance and conduct of review. (1) The list of sampling units in the target population (i.e., the sampling frame) will be drawn by ACF statistical staff from the Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS) data which are transmitted by the title IV-E agency to ACF. The sampling frame will consist of cases of children who were eligible for foster care maintenance payments during the reporting period reflected in a title IV-E agency's most recent AFCARS data submission. For the initial primary review, if these data are not available or are deficient, an alternative sampling frame, consistent with one AFCARS six-month reporting period, will be selected by ACF in conjunction with the title IV-E agency.

(2) A sample of 80 cases (plus a 10 percent oversample of eight cases) from the title IV-E foster care program will be selected for the primary review utilizing probability sampling methodologies. Usually, the chosen methodology will be simple random sampling, but other probability samples may be utilized, when necessary and appropriate.

(3) Cases from the oversample will be substituted and reviewed for each of the original sample of 80 cases which is found to be in error.