Institutional Federal Compliance Report 2021

ANDREW M. CUOMO Governor ROBERT F. MUJICA JR. Director of the Budget

SANDRA L. BEATTIE First Deputy Director CHARLES WILLIAMS Deputy Director

The Bureau of Permanency Services home office staff have begun to perform reviews of Title IV-E Adoption Assistance case files. A random sample of cases is selected from chosen districts and notifications sent out requiring them to submit supporting documentation to home office. Staff then affirm that the documentation necessary to make an eligibility determination is present. In the event documentation is missing, home office staff work with the districts to correct the deficiencies. In the event the district is unable to correct the deficiencies a disallowance will be calculated and collected. The results of OCFS’s risk assessment were used to determine the first districts subject to the reviews. OCFS Audit and Quality Control (AQC) has begun performing on-site county claims audits of the districts. The results from the Office’s risk assessment were used to determine which districts to audit first. As part of the audit, a month is selected and the supporting documentation for all claims submitted by the county during that month are reviewed to determine whether expenditures were allowable. This includes Title IV-E Adoption Assistance claims. The scope also includes reviewing the matching requirements relating to payments in the first instance. These audits are ongoing and will be performed throughout the year. Approval of an adoption family is not the same as determining an eligible provider and at the current time our corrective action plan does not address this issue. The approval to adopt a child is a detailed process which includes involvement by the courts.