03 OCFS LCM-16 SFY 2003-2004 Foster Care Block Grant ...



| |New York State | |

|George E. Pataki |Office of children & Family Services |John A. Johnson |

|Governor |52 Washington street |Commissioner |

| |rensselaer, NY 12144 | |

Local Commissioners Memorandum

| |03-OCFS-LCM-16 |

|Transmittal: | |

|To: |Local District Commissioners |

|Issuing |Strategic Planning and Policy Development |

|Division/Office: |Administration |

|Date: |September 16, 2003 |

|Subject: |SFY 2003-2004 Foster Care Block Grant Allocations |

|Contact Person(s): |See pages 5 and 6 |

|Attachments: |Allocation of $344.5 million |

| |Allocation of $20 million |

| |SFY 2003-2004 Foster Care Block Grant Allocations |

|Attachment Available On – |Yes |

|Line: | |

I. Purpose

The purpose of this memorandum is to provide social services districts (LDSS) with their Foster Care Block Grant allocations for State Fiscal Year (SFY) 2003 – 2004 and program implications as authorized by Chapter 53 of the Laws of 2003.

II. Background

The Child Welfare Financing Law promotes a reduction in the use of foster care placements through three components:

1. A Foster Care Block Grant capping State reimbursement to LDSS for foster care services to the annual amounts appropriated;

2. Uncapped 65 percent State reimbursement after applying available Federal funds (Title IV-E and EAF) for all child welfare services except foster care services; and

3. A Quality Enhancement Fund administered by the Office of Children and Family Services (OCFS) to increase the availability and quality of children and family services programs.

The State appropriation for the Foster Care Block Grant is $364.5 million. Social services districts also will receive $105 million for Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) Emergency Assistance to Families (EAF) Juvenile Delinquents (JD) / Persons In Need of Supervision (PINS) and $41 million for TANF-EAF NYC Tuition. Of the additional Federal funds, 50 percent will be used to offset the Foster Care Block Grant. Therefore, on a statewide basis, the net State share to be available for the districts is $291.5 million along with the Federally funded $105 million for TANF-EAF JD/PINS and the Federally funded $41 million for TANF-EAF NYC Tuition.

III. Program Implications

A. The Foster Care Block Grant includes State reimbursement for foster care services as follows:

▪ care, maintenance, including clothing and special payments, supervision, administrative costs claimed on Schedule D, Schedule D-2 and Schedule K, tuition, and including tuition for foster children placed in residential treatment facilities;

▪ supervision of foster care children in federally funded job corps programs, and;

▪ care, maintenance, supervision and tuition of adjudicated juvenile delinquents or person in need of supervision placed in residential programs operated by authorized agencies and in out-of-state residential programs.

B. The Foster Care Block Grant does not include Federal reimbursement for foster care costs or State reimbursement for claims for:

▪ Committee on Special Education (CSE) payments,

▪ Dormitory Authority payments in excess of Foster Care Block Grant,

▪ State reimbursement for foster care services for Indian tribes,

▪ MA payments for children in foster care,

▪ Independent Living Services.

Separate appropriations are available for these expenditures. The Block Grant contains only those State funds that are available for reimbursement of a district’s expenditures for the services included in the Foster Care Block Grant. District claims that are eligible to receive Federal reimbursement under Title IV-E foster care, Independent Living, and TANF EAF will be submitted for Federal reimbursement even if the district’s claims exceed its Foster Care Block Grant allocation for the current fiscal year.

In addition, the Foster Care Block Grant does not include State expenditures made on behalf of youth placed in Office of Children and Family Services facilities.

C. Methodology

The allocation of $344.5 million of the Foster Care Block Grant appropriation is based on two factors: historical claims and population need for foster care.

Historical Claims

The first part of each social services district’s allocation was determined by the gross foster care claims (originals and supplementals) for the 12-month period ending June 30, 2002. Prorated historical claims were used to distribute 50 percent of the district’s block grant allocation.

Population Need

The second part of the district’s allocation was determined by applying a mathematical formula that combines county population characteristics to estimate need for foster care days in each county. These estimates are then used to apportion available funding in accordance with a social services district’s share of estimated statewide foster care need. The formula is highly predictive of average foster care utilization by all social services districts in 2000 and 2001. It combines four indicators from the set of Kids Count variables that reflect the status of children and families: number of children receiving food stamps; number of eighth grade students proficient on English Language Arts Test; number of pregnancies to girls 15-19; and average number of hospitalizations for asthma for children 0-4.

Year-to-year changes in demand for foster care in very small counties can vary widely and is largely random. Districts with less than an average of 50 children in foster care during 2000 and 2001 received the greater of either an allocation using this methodology or an allocation based on pro-rated expenditures.

This year’s allocation reflects a continued shift from a county’s historic expenditures to its population’s need for foster care. The SFY 2002-2003 allocation methodology gave 75 percent weight to historic expenditures. The SFY 2003-2004 allocation methodology gives 50 percent weight to historic expenditures. OCFS plans to continue to align allocations more closely to demonstrable need of each county’s population for foster care.

D. Possible Program Options

The Child Welfare Financing Law directs local social services districts “to develop and implement children and family services delivery systems that are designed to reduce the need for and length of foster care placements and must document their efforts in the multi-year consolidated services plan and the annual implementation reports.”

Social services districts must use Title IV-E as the funding of choice for all eligible foster care cases. Eligible foster care EAF expenditures made on or after October 1, 2002 will be 100 percent reimbursed with Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) funds.

In addition, the following programmatic and administrative actions, many of which you may be undertaking currently, may be used to help a LDSS stay within its Block Grant allocation:

Program Savings and Cost Avoidance

▪ Conduct case reviews of long-term cases and out-of-county placements,

▪ Review use of alternative placement options,

▪ Review the intake and placement decision-making process,

▪ Examine existing Preventive Services contracts and services,

▪ Examine maximization of Federal funding programs for foster care children, particularly those where placement is in group care or institutional settings.

▪ Review children in Adoption status to determine critical milestones for achieving finalization,

▪ Initiate more aggressive case review practices designed to promote discharge planning or more timely achievement of permanency goals,

▪ Implement Risk Assessments to assess placement practices.

Administrative Actions

▪ Review claiming practices within Children Services with the goal of improving reimbursement under Federal programs,

▪ Conduct programmatic review of placement practices including group care and out-of-county care,

▪ Convene a local DSS task force including local Family Court Judges designed to suggest and develop new methods to divert more costly placements and reduce lengths of stay, e.g. through speeding adoption processing and providing enhanced preventive, independent living and aftercare services.

E. Incentive for Reducing Out of Home Placements

The remaining $20 million of the Foster Care Block Grant is being set aside for use by local social services districts that exceeded the statewide average reduction in the number of foster care children in care, as maintained in the Child Care Review Service (CCRS), from June 30, 2001 to June 30, 2002. Each such social services district is allocated a portion of the set aside funds based on the percentage of youth in care on June 30, 2002 as maintained in CCRS. This redistributes a portion of the Foster Care Block Grant to districts that are meeting the overall objective of the child welfare financing reform. There are 22 local districts that meet this criterion.

Local social services districts shall submit a letter of intent to the OCFS Regional Office, which outlines the manner in which the districts intends to spend the additional allocation. These funds will be added to the district’s Foster Care Block Grant allocation upon the prior approval of the Commissioner of Children and Family Services of the district’s proposal regarding the planned use of these funds. The letter of intent is due on November 10, 2003, 45 days after the release of this LCM. If a letter of intent is not received by the designated date, the funds will be reallocated among all the districts that meet the original criteria of the incentive.

Funding available through this allocation may not be used to increase the rate of payments to voluntary agencies above the Maximum State Aid Rates (MSAR) issued by OCFS pursuant to New York State Social Services Law 398-a. Districts that do not pay up to the MSAR MUST use these funds to increase the rate of payments to voluntary agencies up to the MSAR.

The following are examples of permissible use of the funds for districts that are paying 100 percent of the MSAR to voluntary agencies:

– increase the stipends paid to local district authorized foster parents to bring those payments closer to the maximums issued by OCFS,

– provide tuition assistance to district foster care workers to improve their skills,

– purchase new equipment to assist foster care workers in maintaining case records,

– increase staff salaries (direct care staff only) ,

– foster parent recruitment or recognition,

– training for foster parents, or

– any other initiative, subject to the approval of the Commissioner of Children and Family Services.

The expenditures must be claimable under the Foster Care Block Grant, not the 65 percent Child Welfare Services funds.

IV. Allocations

District allocations of the components of the SFY 2003-2004 Foster Care Block Grant are listed in the Attachments to this publication.

– Attachment A: Allocation of the $344.5 million

– Attachment B: Allocation of the $20 million

– Attachment C: Allocation of the entire SFY 2003-2004 Foster Care Block Grant including the net State share of $291.5 million

V. Fiscal and Claiming

The Foster Care Block Grant is an annual capped allocation for foster care costs that ordinarily would be reimbursed during the State Fiscal Year. The Foster Care Block Grant payments are made generally on a monthly basis and therefore there is no State share settlement of the claims filed for State reimbursement. The local district would get their allocation or their State share of claims whichever is less. The Reimbursement Schedule for SFY 2003-2004 Budget below sets forth the relevant periods for the foster care maintenance, administration and tuition costs covered by this year’s allocations.

The time periods relate to when expenditures were made. If a LDSS exceeds its allocation for a particular State fiscal year, there is no additional funding. Any claims submitted by a LDSS for reimbursement for a particular State fiscal year for which the social services district does not receive State reimbursement during that State fiscal year may not be claimed against that district's block grant apportionment for the next State fiscal year.

However, if a LDSS has not claimed its full allocation during a particular State fiscal year, the remaining allocation may be used for 100 percent State reimbursement for preventive, independent living or aftercare services during the next State fiscal year up to the amount remaining. These claims will be submitted using the LDSS 3922 (instructions will be made available at a later date). In addition to child protective service and adoption services, traditional preventive, independent living and aftercare services would be subject to State reimbursement under the 65 percent Child Welfare Services funds, net of any available Federal funds.

There is no Maintenance of Effort (MOE) requirement associated with the Foster Care Block Grant.

Supplemental claims will be paid from the Foster Care Block Grant allocation that covers the period when the expenditures were made for the services or administrative costs regardless of when the supplemental claims are submitted.

Federal reimbursement will not be affected by this Block Grant and will be settled in the normal manner subject to the availability of Federal funds. Expenditures for allocations included in this LCM are claimed as follows:

Foster Care Schedule K LDSS-3479

Schedule H LDSS-4283

Schedule D2 LDSS-2347-B

Refer to the Fiscal Reference Manual, Volume 2, Chapter 3 for instructions on completing the Schedules K and H. The instructions for the Schedules D and D-2 are in the Fiscal Reference Manual Volume 3 (or Volume 4 for New York City).

Reimbursement Schedule for SFY 2003-2004 Foster Care Block Grant

• Foster Care Maintenance: January 1, 2003 through December 31, 2003

• Foster Care Administration: October 1, 2002 through September 30, 2003

• Foster Care Tuition: EAF October 1, 2002 through September 30, 2003

Non-EAF January 1, 2003 – December 31, 2003

• EAF Foster Care Maintenance, Administration and Tuition are only counted toward the Block Grant if the costs are not eligible to be swapped for Public Assistance reimbursement (NYC Tuition excluded)

VI. Contact Information

Any fiscal questions regarding the Foster Care Block Grant should be directed to:

Deborah Hanor, Director, Bureau of Budget Management at 518-474-1361.

Programmatic questions should be directed to the appropriate Regional Office, Division of Development and Prevention Services:

BRO- Linda Brown (716) 847-3145 USER ID: Linda.Brown@dfa.state.ny.us

RRO- Linda Kurtz (716) 238-8201 USER ID: Linda.Kurtz@dfa,state,ny.us

SRO- Jack Klump (315) 423-1200 USER ID: Jack.Klump@dfa.state.ny.us

ARO- Bill McLaughlin (518) 486-7078 USER ID: William.McLaughlin@dfa.state.ny.us

NYCRO- Fred Levitan (212) 383-1788 USER ID: Fred.Levitan@dfa.state.ny.us

YRO- Pat Sheehy (914) 377-2080 USER ID: Pat.Sheehy@dfa.state.ny.us

Questions pertaining to claiming should be directed to the Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance, Bureau of Financial Services:

Marian Borenstein, Region VI - New York City, 212-383-1735,

User ID: Marian.Borenstein@dfa.state.ny.us

Michael Borenstein, Region V, 631-854-9704,

User ID: Michael.Borenstein@dfa.state.ny.us

Edward Conway, Regions I-IV - Upstate Office, 1-800-343-8859, extension 6-3419,

or 518-486-3419,

User ID: Edward.Conway@dfa.state.ny.us

Nancy Martinez s/s

Issued By

Name: Nancy Martinez

Title: Acting Director

Division/Office: Strategic Planning and Policy Development

Susan A. Costello s/s

Issued By

Name: Susan A. Costello

Title: Deputy Commissioner

Division/Office: Administration

ATTACHMENT A

ALLOCATION OF $344.5 MILLION

ATTACHMENT B

ALLOCATION OF $20 MILLION

ATTACHMENT C

Page 1 of 2

SFY 2003-2004 FOSTER CARE BLOCK GRANT

ATTACHMENT C

Page 2 of 2

SFY 2003-2004 FOSTER CARE BLOCK GRANT

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