REPORT DIGEST
DEPARTMENT OF CHILDREN
AND FAMILY SERVICES
FINANCIAL AUDIT and COMPLIANCE EXAMINATION For the Year Ended: June 30, 2007 Summary of Findings: Total this audit 9 Total last audit 12 Repeated from last audit 8 Release Date: May 20, 2008
State of Illinois Office of the Auditor General WILLIAM G. HOLLAND AUDITOR GENERAL To obtain a copy of the
Report contact: Office of the Auditor
General Iles Park Plaza, 740 E. Ash Street Springfield, IL 62703 (217) 782-6046 or TTY (888) 261-2887 This Report Digest and the Full Report are available on the worldwide web at www.auditor.illinois.gov
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SYNOPSIS ¨ Child welfare and foster care files lacked complete and timely prepared documentation. ¨ The Department's child abuse investigations did not always fully comply with State law. For instance, the Department: - Did not always determine whether reports of child abuse and neglect were "unfounded" or "indicated" within 60 days. - Failed to initiate some investigations of child abuse and neglect within 24 hours of receipt. ¨ All contracts were not reviewed and signed prior to the beginning of the contract period. ¨ Contracts with residential and group home service providers did not all include measurable criteria necessary to ensure desired results are achieved. ¨ Overpayments were made to the CMS Telecommunications Revolving Fund in Fiscal Years 2005, 2006 and 2007. Estimated overpayments total $1,400,000. |
FINANCIAL
AUDIT AND COMPLIANCE EXAMINATION
For
The Year Ended June 30, 2007
EXPENDITURE STATISTICS |
FY 2007 |
FY 2006 |
·
Total Expenditures (All Funds)................... |
$1,264,459,082 |
$1,241,370,236 |
OPERATIONS
TOTAL.................................
% of Total Expenditures........................ |
$275,685,253
22% |
$260,258,215
21% |
Personal Services...................................
% of
Operations Expenditures...........
Average No. of Employees............... |
$186,048,044
67%
3,230 |
$178,064,339
68%
3,224 |
Other Payroll Costs (FICA,
Retirement)....................................................
% of Operations Expenditures........... |
$35,314,327
13% |
$28,485,774
11% |
Contractual Services...............................
% of Operations Expenditures........... |
$32,422,591
12% |
$33,740,238
13% |
All Other Operations Items.....................
% of
Operations Expenditures...................... |
$21,900,291
8% |
$19,967,864
8% |
LUMP SUM
AND OTHER PURPOSES TOTAL..........................................................
% of Total Expenditures............................. |
$45,788,291
4% |
$47,211,080
4% |
AWARDS AND
GRANTS TOTAL................
% of Total Expenditures........................ |
$942,985,538
74% |
$933,900,941
75% |
·
Cost of Property and Equipment
(unaudited). |
$30,226,000 |
$30,997,000 |
SELECTED ACTIVITY
MEASURES (unaudited) |
FY 2007 |
FY 2006 |
·
Hotline Calls........................................................ |
258,563 |
257,481 |
·
Children served in-
- Regular foster care.......................................... -
Specialized foster care..................................... -
Relative care................................................... -
Residential placements..................................... -
Independent living............................................ |
5,094
3,199
5,858
1,253
936 |
5,471
3,494
6,189
1,361
929 |
·
Finalized adoptions............................................... |
1,682 |
1,670 |
AGENCY DIRECTOR |
During Audit Period: Mr. Bryan Samuels (7-1-06 – 11-17-06), Mr.
Erwin McEwen, Acting (eff. 11-17-06)
Currently: Mr. Erwin McEwen |
Child case files
incomplete and not timely prepared All child abuse and
neglect determinations not timely completed Historical Analysis
All child abuse and
neglect reports not investigated timely
Historical Analysis
Contracts signed
after beginning of contract period
Additional contract
provisions needed Overpayments made
in 2005, 2006, and 2007 Estimated $1.4
million in overpayments Duplicate payments
made based on CMS Aging Report |
FINDINGS, CONCLUSIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS
INCOMPLETE AND UNTIMELY CHILD WELFARE AND FOSTER CARE FILES The Department’s Child Welfare and Foster
Care files lacked required documentation and not all case procedures were
performed timely. During our review
of 60 case files, we noted: -
3
administrative case reviews (ACRs) were not performed. -
11 ACR
notifications were not sent timely or at all. -
4
Registration and Case Opening Forms were not completed. -
2 Worker
Activity Summaries were not completed. -
2 Client
Contact Summaries were not completed. -
1 Family
Assessment Factor Worksheet was not completed. -
1 Safety
Determination Form was not completed. -
11 medical
and dental consent forms were not in the file or were outdated. -
1 Placement
and Payment Authorization Form was not in the file. -
6 files did
not contain current photographs of the child. -
28 files did
not contain fingerprints of the child. -
16 Permanency
Planning Checklists were not in the file. -
2 initial
placement checklist forms were not in the file. The Department’s Administrative Procedures
prescribe deadlines and documentation requirements for file maintenance. The failure to follow established
Department procedures could result in inadequate care, unauthorized services
or misuse of State funds. (Finding 1,
pages 10-12) This finding was first reported in 1998. Department
officials stated they will continue to stress the importance of adequate and
timely documentation for the child case files. (For the previous agency response, see Digest Footnote #1.) OVERDUE CHILD ABUSE AND NEGLECT DETERMINATIONS Reports of child abuse and neglect were not always determined within 60 days as required by the Abused and Neglected Child Reporting Act. The Act states the Department shall determine, within 60 days, whether a report is "unfounded" or "indicated" and provides that the Department may extend the period up to an additional 30 days for good cause. Department statistics indicate the following noncompliance: Total Reports Determinations Percent of Fiscal Requiring Not Determinations Year Determinations In Compliance Not In Compliance 2007 67,732 538 .79% 2006 66,593 1,060 1.59% 2005 66,550 1,140 1.71% 2004 62,069 1,294 2.08% 2003 58,956 952 1.61% 2002 59,080 492 0.83% 2001 59,003 226 0.38% 2000 61,787 187 0.30% 1999 62,054 1,502 2.42% 1998 65,877 2,125 3.23% Failure to make a determination of a report within 60 days is a violation of the Act, could delay the implementation of a service plan, and could result in further endangerment of the child. (Finding 2, pages 13-14) This finding was first reported in 1998. We recommended the Department determine reports of child abuse or neglect within 60 days as mandated by State law. Department officials stated they will continue in their efforts to be within 100% compliance of the timeframes set forth in the Act. (For the previous agency response, see Digest Footnote #2.) NEED TO INITIATE INVESTIGATIONS WITHIN 24 HOURS OF RECEIPT The Department did not initiate an investigation of every child abuse and neglect case within 24 hours of receipt of the report as required by the Abused and Neglected Child Reporting Act. Department statistics indicate the following noncompliance: Investigations Percent of Fiscal Total Not Investigations Year Investigations In Compliance Not In Compliance 2007 67,766 179 0.26% 2006 66,918 154 0.23% 2005 66,793 260 0.39% 2004 62,311 268 0.43% 2003 59,397 220 0.37% 2002 59,241 517 0.87% 2001 60,054 141 0.23% 2000 61,787 219 0.35% 1999 62,618 250 0.40% 1998 65,862 461 0.70% Failure to respond to a report of abuse or neglect within 24 hours is a violation of the Act and could result in further endangerment of the child. (Finding 3, pages 15-16) This finding was first reported in 1998. We recommended the Department continue to strive to initiate investigations of all child abuse and neglect reports within 24 hours of receiving the report as mandated by State law. Department officials agreed with the recommendation and stated they will continue to make efforts to be within 100% compliance of the timeframes established. They said corrective action is taken with employees who fail to comply with the Act. (For the previous agency response, see Digest Footnote #3.) UNTIMELY APPROVAL OF
CONTRACTS The Department did not have an adequate system in place to
ensure that contracts are reviewed and signed on a timely basis. During our review of 21 contracts, we
noted that 19 contracts, totaling $41,916,965, were signed after the
beginning of the contract period. The
Department’s Code of Regulations and prudent business practice require
contracts to be signed prior to the commencement of services or the
procurement of goods. Failure to
obtain signed contracts before the beginning of the contract period does not
bind the contractor to comply with applicable laws, regulations, and rules
and may result in improper and unauthorized payments. (Finding 5, pages 18-19). This finding was first reported in
2002. We recommended the Department approve and sign all contracts before the beginning of the contract period. Department officials agreed and stated they will continue efforts to ensure all contracts are approved and signed before the beginning of the contract period. (For the previous agency response, see Digest Footnote #4.) INADEQUATE CONTRACT PROVISIONS
The Department’s contracts with residential and group home service providers did not all include measurable criteria necessary to ensure desired results are achieved. The Department created the Residential Performance Monitoring Unit (RPMU) to conduct monthly on-site monitoring of the facilities that provide treatment for children. Any deficiencies identified in the site visits are communicated to the Department’s Division of Placement and Permanency which either directs the RPMU to increase the monitoring of the deficient provider or program consultants are utilized. Although the Department made progress in incorporating monitoring and participation requirements in many of the provider contracts, there are still older, existing contracts which do not have specific criteria with which to monitor the services provided. Department officials stated that they are in the process of modifying residential care contracts to include monitoring and participation requirements that were recommended by the RPMU. The absence or insufficiency of these contract requirements could lead to disputes with providers and impede the Department’s ability to effectively monitor programs. (Finding 8, page 22) This finding was first reported in 2003. We recommended the Department continue in its efforts to develop and include measurable criteria and participation requirements in its contracts with all residential and group home service providers. Department officials agreed with our recommendation. (For the previous agency response, see Digest Footnote #5.) OVERPAYMENT OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS BILLINGS The Department made duplicate payments to the Illinois Department of Central Management Services (CMS) Telecommunications Revolving Fund resulting in an overpayment for telecommunication services. CMS reported that the Department made duplicate payments during fiscal year 2007 and failed to request CMS to apply overpayments from fiscal years 2005 and 2006 to fiscal year 2007 invoices. CMS has estimated that these overpayments totaled approximately $1.4 million. Department management stated they were not aware of the unused overpayment balances from prior fiscal years and had therefore not requested CMS to apply these credits toward fiscal year 2007 CMS billings. They also stated that overpayments at year end can occur for a variety of reasons. CMS billings are frequently not timely and take a considerable amount of time for review within the Department before going to the central payment unit. During the year, the Department pays CMS based upon specific invoices received. Consequently, there is a significant time lag from the point the services are rendered, an invoice is received, a voucher is processed, and the Comptroller issues a warrant. However, as the end of the lapse period approached, the Department made a decision to pay from the CMS Accounts Receivable Aging Report to ensure all FY 07 bills were paid before the lapse period ended. When the Department pays from the Accounts Receivable Aging Report, there is the possibility that in-transit payments are paid twice. This can occur because payments made, but not received and/or entered by CMS prior to the year end report, would still show up as outstanding. The CMS Aging Report is approximately 200 pages long and includes all of the Department’s approximately 150 billing accounts. (Finding 9, pages 23-24) We recommended the Department communicate with CMS to ascertain the amount overpaid and immediately request this amount be applied to outstanding invoices. We also recommended the Department establish procedures to enable payment of specific invoices rather than paying from the CMS Aging Report in order to avoid duplicate payments. Department officials stated they have communicated with CMS and determined that all credits were applied in fiscal year 2008. They are in the process of modifying the vendor payment history review process and will only make payments from invoices. OTHER FINDINGS The remaining findings are reportedly being given attention by the Department. We will review progress toward the implementation of our recommendations during the next examination. AUDITORS’ OPINION Our auditors stated the Department's June 30, 2007 financial statements are fairly presented in all material respects. ____________________________________ WILLIAM G. HOLLAND, Auditor General WGH:KMA:pp SPECIAL ASSISTANT AUDITORS
Our special assistant auditors were Sleeper, Disbrow, Morrison, Tarro & Lively, LLC. DIGEST
FOOTNOTES #1: INCOMPLETE AND UNTIMELY CHILD WELFARE AND FOSTER CARE FILES -
Previous Agency Response
The Department agrees and will continue to stress
the importance of adequate and timely documentation for those cases
identified by the auditors finding as well as for all child and family
cases. The Department will continue
its review of its administrative and internal procedures (AP#5) and policy
guides, as systems are upgraded, to better define the contents of system
files and paper files and which should be relied upon as the file of record. #2: OVERDUE CHILD ABUSE AND NEGLECT DETERMINATIONS - Previous
Agency Response
The Department agrees and will continue to make
diligent efforts to be within 100% compliance of the timeframes set forth in
ANCRA for making final determinations. #3: NEED TO INITIATE INVESTIGATIONS WITHIN 24 HOURS OF RECEIPT -
Previous Agency Response
The Department agrees with the recommendation and
will continue to make efforts to be within 100% compliance of the timeframes
established. Investigations not
meeting the 24-hour requirement are analyzed and the Department plans to
explore corrective action for employees who fail to initiate investigations
within the 24-hour timeframe. #4: UNTIMELY APPROVAL OF CONTRACTS - Previous Agency Response
The Department agrees and will continue to improve
processes that ensure that all contracts are approved and signed before the
beginning of the contract period. Our
procedures, which included completion of the required Procurement Business
Cases, resulted in 970 contracts being mailed to providers prior to July
1. Comparison of the number of
contracts returned reflect our efforts to process contracts as soon as they
are returned from our vendors: Contracts Processed FY 06 FY 05 Prior to July 1 196 0 Within 30 days of July 1 879 577 Within 60 days of July 1
421 642 Within 90 days of July 1
189 398 #5: INADEQUATE CONTRACT PROVISIONS – Previous Agency Response The Department agrees and plans to continue its
efforts to include measurable criteria and participation requirements in the
remaining contracts with residential and group homes service providers. In addition, the Department, the Child Care
Association of Illinois and the Child Welfare Institute have formed a
public-private partnership that was awarded funding from the National Quality
Improvement Center on the Privatization of Child Welfare Services. The partnership will design, implement and
evaluate extension of the Department’s existing performance based contracting
and quality assurance system to residential, independent living and
transitional living programs in order to improve outcomes for this population
of out-of-home care youth. The
project will work closely with our university partners at Northwestern,
University of Illinois Chicago, and Chapin Hall regarding the data elements
that are currently tracked. The
project will capitalize on the existing Child Welfare Advisory Committee
structure to build on recent work regarding performance measures and to also
allow frequent communication opportunities for the provider community. Model protocols are planned by August 2007
with a demonstration period planned for October 2007 through June 2008. It is anticipated that full implementation
could occur for contracts beginning in July 2008 with forums held in April
2009 and 2010 to assess results and practices. |