80_FR_27355 80 FR 27263 - Statewide Data Indicators and National Standards for Child and Family Services Reviews

80 FR 27263 - Statewide Data Indicators and National Standards for Child and Family Services Reviews

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Administration for Children and Families

Federal Register Volume 80, Issue 92 (May 13, 2015)

Page Range27263-27266
FR Document2015-11515

On October 10, 2014, the Administration of Children and Families (ACF) published a document in the Federal Register (79 FR 61241). The document provided CB's final plan to replace the statewide data indicators used to determine a state's substantial conformity with titles IV-B and IV-E of the Social Security Act through the Child and Family Services Reviews (CFSRs). This document provides corrections to errors and misstatements in that document and some of the calculations of the statewide data indicators.

Federal Register, Volume 80 Issue 92 (Wednesday, May 13, 2015)
[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 92 (Wednesday, May 13, 2015)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 27263-27266]
From the Federal Register Online  [www.thefederalregister.org]
[FR Doc No: 2015-11515]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Administration for Children and Families

45 CFR Part 1355


Statewide Data Indicators and National Standards for Child and 
Family Services Reviews

AGENCY: Children's Bureau (CB), Administration for Children and 
Families (ACF), Administration on Children, Youth and Families (ACYF), 
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

ACTION: Final Notice of Statewide Data Indicators and National 
Standards for Child and Family Services Reviews; correction.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: On October 10, 2014, the Administration of Children and 
Families (ACF) published a document in the Federal Register (79 FR 
61241). The document provided CB's final plan to replace the statewide 
data indicators used to determine a state's substantial conformity with 
titles IV-B and IV-E of the Social Security Act through the Child and 
Family Services Reviews (CFSRs). This document provides corrections to 
errors and misstatements in that document and some of the calculations 
of the statewide data indicators.

DATES: Effective: May 13, 2015.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Miranda Lynch Thomas, Children's 
Bureau, 1250 Maryland Ave. SW., 8th Floor, Washington, DC 20024, (202) 
205-8138.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    CB implemented the CFSRs in 2001 in response to a mandate in the 
Social Security Amendments of 1994. The reviews are required for CB to 
determine whether such programs are in substantial conformity with 
title IV-B and IV-E plan requirements. The review process, as regulated 
at 45 CFR 1355.31-37, grew out of extensive consultation with 
interested groups, individuals, and experts in the field of child 
welfare and related areas.
    The CFSRs enable CB to: (1) Ensure conformity with federal child 
welfare requirements; (2) determine what is actually happening to 
children and families as they are engaged in child welfare services; 
and (3) assist states to enhance their capacity to help children and 
families achieve positive outcomes. CB conducts the reviews in 
partnership with state child welfare agency staff and other partners 
and stakeholders involved in the provision of child welfare services. 
We have structured the reviews to help states identify strengths as 
well as areas needing improvement within their agencies and programs.
    We use the CFSR to assess state performance on seven outcomes and 
seven systemic factors. The seven outcomes focus on key items measuring 
safety, permanency, and well-being. The seven systemic factors focus on 
key state plan requirements of titles IV-B and IV-E that provide a 
foundation for child outcomes. If we determine that a state has not 
achieved substantial conformity in one or more of the areas assessed in 
the review, the state is required to develop and implement a program 
improvement plan addressing the areas of nonconformity within 2 years. 
CB supports the states with technical assistance and monitors 
implementation of their program improvement plans. If the state is 
unable to complete its program improvement plan successfully, a portion 
of the state's federal title IV-B and IV-E funds is withheld.
    Most relevant to this document are the national standards for state 
performance on statewide data indicators CB uses to determine whether a 
state is in substantial conformity with certain child outcomes. We are 
authorized by the regulations at 45 CFR

[[Page 27264]]

1355.34(b)(4) and (5) to add, amend, or suspend any of the statewide 
data indicators and to adjust the national standards when appropriate. 
If we determine that a state is not in substantial conformity with a 
related outcome due to its performance on an indicator, the state will 
include that indicator in its program improvement plan. The improvement 
a state must achieve is relative to the state's baseline performance at 
the beginning of the program improvement plan period.
    In an April 23, 2014, Federal Register document (79 FR 22604), we 
provided a detailed review of the consultation with the field and 
information considered in developing the third round of the CFSRs and 
proposed a set of statewide data indicators for public comment. We 
considered all public comments and issued a final plan in the October 
10, 2014, Federal Register (79 FR 61241). Simultaneously, CB released 
CFSR Technical Bulletin #8, which provided more details on calculation 
methods and a workbook that showed individual state performance on the 
indicators and preliminary findings of whether the state met the 
national standards at that time based on data submitted as of July 
2014. In responding to state and other stakeholder questions since the 
release of those publications, we have found errors in our descriptions 
and calculations that we are correcting here. We will release an 
amended technical bulletin and workbook concurrently with this Federal 
Register document to make applicable corrections to those documents. We 
will also release the associated syntax in SPSS and STATA format so 
that states and other interested parties can review the detail related 
to the indicators. Although we intend to provide tools that allow the 
state to monitor its performance results on the indicators on a 
periodic basis, we know the additional detail is helpful to states that 
want to monitor themselves more frequently or in more depth. Finally, 
since this document focuses on just the revisions and clarifications 
necessary to the Federal Register document from October 2014, we will 
also publish a document that incorporates these revisions and 
clarifications into the original document.

Language Errors and Clarifications

    This section discusses the language errors and clarifications we 
are making to the original Federal Register document.

Clarification of the Trial Home Visit Adjustment to Permanency 
Performance Areas 1, 2, and 3

    On page 61244, we provided a description of how we calculated the 
permanency in 12 months for children entering foster care indicator. In 
part, we explained that we had applied a trial home visit adjustment to 
this indicator. We stated that this meant that if a child discharges 
from foster care during the 12-month period to reunification with 
parents or other caretakers after a placement setting of a trial home 
visit, any time in that trial home visit that exceeds 30 days is 
discounted from the child's length of stay in foster care. We use six 
6-month Adopting and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS) 
reporting periods of data (3 years) to calculate the numerator in this 
indicator. We are clarifying that the trial home visit adjustment is 
applied to all AFCARS reporting periods used for the indicator.
    If a child discharges from foster care to reunification with 
parents or other caretakers after a placement setting of a trial home 
visit during any of the six report periods used for the indicator, any 
time in that trial home visit that exceeds 30 days is discounted from 
the length of stay in foster care. In other words, the actual date of 
discharge to permanency could occur at any time during the 3 years used 
to calculate this indicator, and the trial home visit would then be 
applied to see if it may result in a reduction in the length of time in 
foster care for the purposes of this data indicator.
    On pages 61244-61245, we explained that the trial home visit 
adjustment was also applied to the following indicators: Permanency in 
12 months for children in foster care 12 to 23 months and permanency in 
12 months for children in foster care 24 months or more. However, this 
is not accurate. We do not apply the trial home visit adjustment to 
these indicators because it has no impact on the outcomes for children 
in care on the first day and followed for only 12 months. This is 
because these indicators rely on only two AFCARS report periods (one 
year of data) and do not look beyond the 12-month period to see whether 
a child has discharged to permanency.

Revisions to Attachment A--Statewide Data Indicators

    Attachment A provided a summary of each final statewide data 
indicator including the numerators, denominators, risk adjustments, and 
data periods used to calculate the national standards.
    In describing the permanency in 12-months indicator for children 
entering foster care, we said that we used the AFCARS periods 2011B 
through 2013A for calculating the national standard for this indicator. 
This was a typographical error. We used six AFCARS report periods for a 
total of 3 years of data: 2011B through 2014A.
    Also, the applicable exclusions and notes were partly in error for 
the following indicators: Permanency in 12 months for children in 
foster care 12 to 23 months and permanency in 12 months for children in 
foster care 24 months. We carried forward the same error described in 
the previous section with regard to the trial home visits adjustment. 
We do not apply the trial home visit adjustment to these indicators.

Revisions to Attachment D--Data Quality Items, Limits, and Applicable 
Measures

    Attachment D provided information on the data quality limits 
applied in determining whether to include state data for calculating 
the indicators.
    Data quality limits are applied to avoid skewing results. There may 
be a number of reasons why a state's data exceeds a data quality limit, 
including outliers that exist in the data. Therefore, not all 
exclusions are necessarily the result of poor data quality. The data 
quality limits outlined in Attachment D are intended to be a guide to 
avoid misrepresenting state performance or national standards.
    Two listed data quality items had typographical errors that changed 
their meaning. The AFCARS Within-file data quality check, ``Percent of 
children on 1st removal,'' is applied to all indicators with the 
exception of recurrence of maltreatment. The limit noted was less than 
95 percent but it should read more than 95 percent. The NCANDS Cross 
File Check named ``Child IDs don't match across years'' should read 
``Child IDs match across years.'' This means that the state has not met 
the item limit if less than 1 percent of the Child IDs match across 
years, as we expect them to be based on patterns of recurrence.
    In addition, the term ``Dropped cases'' was used in the section on 
AFCARS Cross File Checks. This term refers to instances in which a 
child who is reported during one 6-month period is not reported in the 
next period, and there is no record that the child exited. However, 
this term is technically incorrect, as it is the record of the case 
that drops from the file. For clarity, this cross file check should 
instead be referred to as ``Dropped records.''

[[Page 27265]]

    For all NCANDS data quality items outlined in Attachment D, it 
should be noted that these data quality items were applied to victims 
only. This includes all NCANDS cross file and within-file checks.
    With regard to the data quality items applied to the indicator of 
maltreatment in foster care, the table indicates that we apply the 
NCANDS cross file check, ``Child IDs match across years, but dates of 
birth and sex do not match,'' to this indicator. We do not apply this 
check to the maltreatment in foster-care indicator because it requires 
only 1 year of data.
    Finally, for clarification, the NCANDS data quality item ``Some 
victims have AFCARS IDs'' was previously located in the ``NCANDS Data--
Cross File Checks'' section. It should be in the ``NCANDS Within file 
checks'' section, because it requires only the NCANDS child file and 
does not match with AFCARS.

Changes to National Standards and State Performance

    This section discusses the changes or clarifications in the methods 
of calculating the national standards and state performance that affect 
the national standards we provided in the original document.
    We made one change to the application of data quality items that 
has an implication for the calculation of national standards and state 
performance. There was an oversight in the application of the data 
quality items for the measure of permanency in 12 months for children 
entering foster care. For this indicator, we originally applied the 
data quality items only to the first four data periods, but upon 
further investigation we determined that the data quality items should 
be applied to all six periods used in the calculation of this measure.
    There was a slight modification made to several calculations that 
require the date of discharge. When calculating the length of stay in 
foster care, age at exit, or other variables that require the data of 
discharge, we previously used an imputed version of the date of 
discharge. An imputed date of discharge was used when the date of 
discharge was missing for a child in one report period, but in the 
subsequent 6-month period the child was reported as being in a new 
removal episode with a value for his or her date of discharge from the 
prior foster care episode. We are no longer using the date of discharge 
from the prior foster care episode to impute missing dates of discharge 
and are using only the date of discharge from foster care submitted to 
us by the state. If that date is missing, it is treated as a missing 
value and no attempt is made to impute the value using subsequent 
files.
    In determining the national standards and the state-by-state 
performance outlined in the workbook, we inadvertently did not use the 
most recent submission for all periods of data for three states. We 
have re-run the analysis and national standards to incorporate these 
resubmissions and all data are now current as of July 10, 2014.
    Due to the above noted changes, Table 1 on page 61249 should be 
replaced as follows:

                     Table 1--National Standards for CFSR Round 3 Statewide Data Indicators
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                      National standard
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Statewide Data Indicators for Safety
 Outcome 1:
    Maltreatment in Foster Care............  8.50 victimizations per 100,000 days in foster care.
    Recurrence of Maltreatment.............  9.1 percent.
Statewide Data Indicators for Permanency
 Outcome 1:
    Permanency in 12 Months for Children     40.5 percent.
     Entering Foster Care.
    Permanency in 12 Months for Children in  43.6 percent.
     Foster Care 12 to 23 Months.
    Permanency in 12 Months for Children in  30.3 percent.
     Foster Care 24 Months or More.
    Re-Entry to Foster Care in 12 Months...  8.3 percent.
    Placement Stability....................  4.12 moves per 1,000 days in foster care.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    On page 61254, we provided an overview of the number of states 
excluded from the national standards for each data indicator. Based on 
the changes noted here, these should be updated as follows:
     Permanency in 12 months for first day cohorts with 12-23 
months and 2 or more years prior time in care: Three states are now 
excluded instead of one.
     Permanency in 12 months for children entering foster care 
indicator: Four states are now excluded instead of three.
     Recurrence of maltreatment: Five states are now excluded 
instead of four.
    There was no change to the number of states excluded for the 
indicators of re-entry to foster care in 12 months, maltreatment in 
foster care, or placement stability.

Changes to Monitoring Statewide Data Indicators in Program Improvement 
Plans

    The changes noted in relation to the calculation of national 
standards also have relevance to the calculation of each state's 
observed and risk-standardized performance, as well as the improvement 
factors used to set program improvement plan goals. Revised state-level 
data, including changes to results indicating the need for a program 
improvement plan, are reflected in the revised workbook.
    The changes in the workbook regarding setting program improvement 
plan targets also reflect a revision to the bootstrapping process 
outlined in Technical Bulletin #8. We began with three observed values 
for 3 years of data, aggregated at the state level. From those three 
values, we averaged them in different combinations to get seven values. 
From those 7 values, a bootstrapping process was used to get 30 values. 
These 30 values were then resampled 1,000 times. After careful review, 
we have determined that we do not have justification for bootstrapping 
to 30 values. We have eliminated that step and are now bootstrapping 
the 7 values to get 1,000 resamples. This yields a grand mean and 
improvement factor that is very similar to the original set, but is 
more reflective of the true parameters.
    Because of these changes, Table 2 has also been revised. In 
addition, upon further reflection we believe that in order to avoid 
confusion, it is best to use the terminology of floors and caps versus 
minimum and maximum amounts of improvement. Using the terms of floors 
and caps is also consistent with the previously issued Technical 
Bulletin #8. All other references to minimum and maximum levels of 
improvement in the original Federal Register document should be

[[Page 27266]]

read as floors and caps. Table 2 should be replaced as follows:

Table 2--Caps and Floors on Program Improvement Plan Improvement Factors
                Relevant to the Statewide Data Indicators
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                               Floor            Cap
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Statewide Data Indicators for Safety
 Outcome 1:
    Maltreatment in Foster Care.........           0.904           0.812
    Recurrence of Maltreatment..........           0.951           0.902
Statewide Data Indicators for Permanency
 Outcome 1:
    Permanency in 12 Months for Children           1.031           1.063
     Entering Foster care...............
    Permanency in 12 Months for Children           1.046           1.082
     in Foster Care 12 to 23 months.....
    Permanency in 12 Months for Children           1.042           1.091
     in Foster Care 24 Months or More...
    Re-Entry to Foster Care in 12 Months           0.891           0.834
    Placement Stability.................           0.959           0.904
------------------------------------------------------------------------


    Dated: May 5, 2015.
Mark H. Greenberg,
Acting Assistant Secretary for Children and Families.
[FR Doc. 2015-11515 Filed 5-12-15; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4184-25-P



                                                                      Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 92 / Wednesday, May 13, 2015 / Rules and Regulations                                                        27263

                                                                                                                                                                                                          Date certain
                                                                                                                                                                                                            Federal
                                                                                                          Community           Effective date authorization/cancellation of     Current effective          assistance
                                                                   State and location                        No.                 sale of flood insurance in community             map date                 no longer
                                                                                                                                                                                                          available in
                                                                                                                                                                                                            SFHAs

                                                       Defiance, City of, Shelby County ..........                190246   October 27, 1976, Emerg; August 19, 1986,           ......do * .............     Do.
                                                                                                                             Reg; June 16, 2015, Susp.
                                                       Earling, City of, Shelby County .............              190247   July 18, 1975, Emerg; September 1, 1986,            ......do ...............     Do.
                                                                                                                             Reg; June 16, 2015, Susp.
                                                       Independence, City of, Buchanan                            190031   September 24, 1971, Emerg; May 16, 1977,            ......do ...............     Do.
                                                          County.                                                            Reg; June 16, 2015, Susp.
                                                       Irwin, City of, Shelby County .................            190249   May 1, 1975, Emerg; July 16, 1981, Reg;             ......do ...............     Do.
                                                                                                                             June 16, 2015, Susp.
                                                       Keosauqua, City of, Van Buren County                       190268   January 14, 1975, Emerg; September 5,               ......do ...............     Do.
                                                                                                                             1979, Reg; June 16, 2015, Susp.
                                                       Kirkman, City of, Shelby County ...........                190250   June 9, 1975, Emerg; May 17, 1982, Reg;             ......do ...............     Do.
                                                                                                                             June 16, 2015, Susp.
                                                       Panama, City of, Shelby County ...........                 190251   October 2, 1975, Emerg; August 26, 1980,            ......do ...............     Do.
                                                                                                                             Reg; June 16, 2015, Susp.
                                                       Portsmouth, City of, Shelby County ......                  190507   October 6, 1975, Emerg; September 1,                ......do ...............     Do.
                                                                                                                             1986, Reg; June 16, 2015, Susp.
                                                       Shannon City, City of, Ringgold and                        190521   August 15, 2005, Emerg; May 1, 2011,                ......do ...............     Do.
                                                         Union Counties.                                                     Reg; June 16, 2015, Susp.
                                                       Shelby County, Unincorporated Areas ..                     190905   September 12, 1975, Emerg; February 10,             ......do ...............     Do.
                                                                                                                             1981, Reg; June 16, 2015, Susp.
                                                  Missouri: Caldwell County, Unincorporated                       290788   November 14, 2002, Emerg; July 5, 2005,             ......do ...............     Do.
                                                    Areas.                                                                   Reg; June 16, 2015, Susp.
                                                     *-do- =Ditto.
                                                     Code for reading third column: Emerg.—Emergency; Reg.—Regular; Susp.—Suspension.


                                                    Dated: April 27, 2015.                                  used to determine a state’s substantial                CB conducts the reviews in partnership
                                                  Roy E. Wright,                                            conformity with titles IV–B and IV–E of                with state child welfare agency staff and
                                                  Deputy Associate Administrator, Federal                   the Social Security Act through the                    other partners and stakeholders
                                                  Insurance and Mitigation Administration,                  Child and Family Services Reviews                      involved in the provision of child
                                                  Department of Homeland Security, Federal                  (CFSRs). This document provides                        welfare services. We have structured the
                                                  Emergency Management Agency.                              corrections to errors and misstatements                reviews to help states identify strengths
                                                  [FR Doc. 2015–11502 Filed 5–12–15; 8:45 am]               in that document and some of the                       as well as areas needing improvement
                                                  BILLING CODE 9110–12–P                                    calculations of the statewide data                     within their agencies and programs.
                                                                                                            indicators.                                               We use the CFSR to assess state
                                                                                                            DATES: Effective: May 13, 2015.                        performance on seven outcomes and
                                                  DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND                                  FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:                       seven systemic factors. The seven
                                                  HUMAN SERVICES                                            Miranda Lynch Thomas, Children’s                       outcomes focus on key items measuring
                                                                                                            Bureau, 1250 Maryland Ave. SW., 8th                    safety, permanency, and well-being. The
                                                  Administration for Children and                           Floor, Washington, DC 20024, (202)                     seven systemic factors focus on key state
                                                  Families                                                  205–8138.                                              plan requirements of titles IV–B and IV–
                                                                                                            SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
                                                                                                                                                                   E that provide a foundation for child
                                                  45 CFR Part 1355                                                                                                 outcomes. If we determine that a state
                                                                                                            Background                                             has not achieved substantial conformity
                                                  Statewide Data Indicators and National                                                                           in one or more of the areas assessed in
                                                  Standards for Child and Family                              CB implemented the CFSRs in 2001 in
                                                                                                            response to a mandate in the Social                    the review, the state is required to
                                                  Services Reviews                                                                                                 develop and implement a program
                                                                                                            Security Amendments of 1994. The
                                                  AGENCY:  Children’s Bureau (CB),                          reviews are required for CB to determine               improvement plan addressing the areas
                                                  Administration for Children and                           whether such programs are in                           of nonconformity within 2 years. CB
                                                  Families (ACF), Administration on                         substantial conformity with title IV–B                 supports the states with technical
                                                  Children, Youth and Families (ACYF),                      and IV–E plan requirements. The review                 assistance and monitors implementation
                                                  Department of Health and Human                            process, as regulated at 45 CFR 1355.31–               of their program improvement plans. If
                                                  Services (HHS).                                           37, grew out of extensive consultation                 the state is unable to complete its
                                                  ACTION: Final Notice of Statewide Data                    with interested groups, individuals, and               program improvement plan
                                                  Indicators and National Standards for                     experts in the field of child welfare and              successfully, a portion of the state’s
                                                  Child and Family Services Reviews;                        related areas.                                         federal title IV–B and IV–E funds is
asabaliauskas on DSK5VPTVN1PROD with RULES




                                                  correction.                                                 The CFSRs enable CB to: (1) Ensure                   withheld.
                                                                                                            conformity with federal child welfare                     Most relevant to this document are
                                                  SUMMARY:   On October 10, 2014, the                       requirements; (2) determine what is                    the national standards for state
                                                  Administration of Children and                            actually happening to children and                     performance on statewide data
                                                  Families (ACF) published a document                       families as they are engaged in child                  indicators CB uses to determine whether
                                                  in the Federal Register (79 FR 61241).                    welfare services; and (3) assist states to             a state is in substantial conformity with
                                                  The document provided CB’s final plan                     enhance their capacity to help children                certain child outcomes. We are
                                                  to replace the statewide data indicators                  and families achieve positive outcomes.                authorized by the regulations at 45 CFR


                                             VerDate Sep<11>2014     15:51 May 12, 2015   Jkt 235001   PO 00000   Frm 00021    Fmt 4700   Sfmt 4700   E:\FR\FM\13MYR1.SGM    13MYR1


                                                  27264             Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 92 / Wednesday, May 13, 2015 / Rules and Regulations

                                                  1355.34(b)(4) and (5) to add, amend, or                 Clarification of the Trial Home Visit                   In describing the permanency in 12-
                                                  suspend any of the statewide data                       Adjustment to Permanency Performance                  months indicator for children entering
                                                  indicators and to adjust the national                   Areas 1, 2, and 3                                     foster care, we said that we used the
                                                  standards when appropriate. If we                          On page 61244, we provided a                       AFCARS periods 2011B through 2013A
                                                  determine that a state is not in                        description of how we calculated the                  for calculating the national standard for
                                                  substantial conformity with a related                   permanency in 12 months for children                  this indicator. This was a typographical
                                                  outcome due to its performance on an                    entering foster care indicator. In part,              error. We used six AFCARS report
                                                  indicator, the state will include that                  we explained that we had applied a trial              periods for a total of 3 years of data:
                                                  indicator in its program improvement                    home visit adjustment to this indicator.              2011B through 2014A.
                                                  plan. The improvement a state must                      We stated that this meant that if a child               Also, the applicable exclusions and
                                                  achieve is relative to the state’s baseline             discharges from foster care during the                notes were partly in error for the
                                                  performance at the beginning of the                     12-month period to reunification with                 following indicators: Permanency in 12
                                                  program improvement plan period.                        parents or other caretakers after a                   months for children in foster care 12 to
                                                                                                          placement setting of a trial home visit,              23 months and permanency in 12
                                                     In an April 23, 2014, Federal Register                                                                     months for children in foster care 24
                                                                                                          any time in that trial home visit that
                                                  document (79 FR 22604), we provided                                                                           months. We carried forward the same
                                                                                                          exceeds 30 days is discounted from the
                                                  a detailed review of the consultation                                                                         error described in the previous section
                                                                                                          child’s length of stay in foster care. We
                                                  with the field and information                                                                                with regard to the trial home visits
                                                                                                          use six 6-month Adopting and Foster
                                                  considered in developing the third                      Care Analysis and Reporting System                    adjustment. We do not apply the trial
                                                  round of the CFSRs and proposed a set                   (AFCARS) reporting periods of data (3                 home visit adjustment to these
                                                  of statewide data indicators for public                 years) to calculate the numerator in this             indicators.
                                                  comment. We considered all public                       indicator. We are clarifying that the trial           Revisions to Attachment D—Data
                                                  comments and issued a final plan in the                 home visit adjustment is applied to all               Quality Items, Limits, and Applicable
                                                  October 10, 2014, Federal Register (79                  AFCARS reporting periods used for the                 Measures
                                                  FR 61241). Simultaneously, CB released                  indicator.
                                                  CFSR Technical Bulletin #8, which                          If a child discharges from foster care                Attachment D provided information
                                                  provided more details on calculation                    to reunification with parents or other                on the data quality limits applied in
                                                  methods and a workbook that showed                      caretakers after a placement setting of a             determining whether to include state
                                                  individual state performance on the                     trial home visit during any of the six                data for calculating the indicators.
                                                  indicators and preliminary findings of                  report periods used for the indicator,                   Data quality limits are applied to
                                                  whether the state met the national                      any time in that trial home visit that                avoid skewing results. There may be a
                                                  standards at that time based on data                    exceeds 30 days is discounted from the                number of reasons why a state’s data
                                                  submitted as of July 2014. In responding                length of stay in foster care. In other               exceeds a data quality limit, including
                                                                                                          words, the actual date of discharge to                outliers that exist in the data. Therefore,
                                                  to state and other stakeholder questions
                                                                                                          permanency could occur at any time                    not all exclusions are necessarily the
                                                  since the release of those publications,
                                                                                                          during the 3 years used to calculate this             result of poor data quality. The data
                                                  we have found errors in our                                                                                   quality limits outlined in Attachment D
                                                  descriptions and calculations that we                   indicator, and the trial home visit would
                                                                                                          then be applied to see if it may result               are intended to be a guide to avoid
                                                  are correcting here. We will release an                                                                       misrepresenting state performance or
                                                  amended technical bulletin and                          in a reduction in the length of time in
                                                                                                          foster care for the purposes of this data             national standards.
                                                  workbook concurrently with this                                                                                  Two listed data quality items had
                                                                                                          indicator.
                                                  Federal Register document to make                                                                             typographical errors that changed their
                                                                                                             On pages 61244–61245, we explained
                                                  applicable corrections to those                         that the trial home visit adjustment was              meaning. The AFCARS Within-file data
                                                  documents. We will also release the                     also applied to the following indicators:             quality check, ‘‘Percent of children on
                                                  associated syntax in SPSS and STATA                     Permanency in 12 months for children                  1st removal,’’ is applied to all indicators
                                                  format so that states and other interested              in foster care 12 to 23 months and                    with the exception of recurrence of
                                                  parties can review the detail related to                permanency in 12 months for children                  maltreatment. The limit noted was less
                                                  the indicators. Although we intend to                   in foster care 24 months or more.                     than 95 percent but it should read more
                                                  provide tools that allow the state to                   However, this is not accurate. We do not              than 95 percent. The NCANDS Cross
                                                  monitor its performance results on the                  apply the trial home visit adjustment to              File Check named ‘‘Child IDs don’t
                                                  indicators on a periodic basis, we know                 these indicators because it has no                    match across years’’ should read ‘‘Child
                                                  the additional detail is helpful to states              impact on the outcomes for children in                IDs match across years.’’ This means
                                                  that want to monitor themselves more                    care on the first day and followed for                that the state has not met the item limit
                                                  frequently or in more depth. Finally,                   only 12 months. This is because these                 if less than 1 percent of the Child IDs
                                                  since this document focuses on just the                 indicators rely on only two AFCARS                    match across years, as we expect them
                                                  revisions and clarifications necessary to               report periods (one year of data) and do              to be based on patterns of recurrence.
                                                  the Federal Register document from                      not look beyond the 12-month period to                   In addition, the term ‘‘Dropped cases’’
                                                  October 2014, we will also publish a                    see whether a child has discharged to                 was used in the section on AFCARS
                                                  document that incorporates these                        permanency.                                           Cross File Checks. This term refers to
                                                  revisions and clarifications into the                                                                         instances in which a child who is
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                                                                                                          Revisions to Attachment A—Statewide                   reported during one 6-month period is
                                                  original document.                                      Data Indicators                                       not reported in the next period, and
                                                  Language Errors and Clarifications                        Attachment A provided a summary of                  there is no record that the child exited.
                                                                                                          each final statewide data indicator                   However, this term is technically
                                                    This section discusses the language                   including the numerators,                             incorrect, as it is the record of the case
                                                  errors and clarifications we are making                 denominators, risk adjustments, and                   that drops from the file. For clarity, this
                                                  to the original Federal Register                        data periods used to calculate the                    cross file check should instead be
                                                  document.                                               national standards.                                   referred to as ‘‘Dropped records.’’


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                                                                          Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 92 / Wednesday, May 13, 2015 / Rules and Regulations                                                                          27265

                                                     For all NCANDS data quality items                                   calculating the national standards and                                     was used when the date of discharge
                                                  outlined in Attachment D, it should be                                 state performance that affect the                                          was missing for a child in one report
                                                  noted that these data quality items were                               national standards we provided in the                                      period, but in the subsequent 6-month
                                                  applied to victims only. This includes                                 original document.                                                         period the child was reported as being
                                                  all NCANDS cross file and within-file                                     We made one change to the                                               in a new removal episode with a value
                                                  checks.                                                                application of data quality items that                                     for his or her date of discharge from the
                                                     With regard to the data quality items                               has an implication for the calculation of                                  prior foster care episode. We are no
                                                  applied to the indicator of maltreatment                               national standards and state                                               longer using the date of discharge from
                                                  in foster care, the table indicates that we                            performance. There was an oversight in                                     the prior foster care episode to impute
                                                  apply the NCANDS cross file check,                                     the application of the data quality items                                  missing dates of discharge and are using
                                                  ‘‘Child IDs match across years, but dates                              for the measure of permanency in 12                                        only the date of discharge from foster
                                                  of birth and sex do not match,’’ to this                               months for children entering foster care.                                  care submitted to us by the state. If that
                                                  indicator. We do not apply this check to                               For this indicator, we originally applied                                  date is missing, it is treated as a missing
                                                  the maltreatment in foster-care indicator                              the data quality items only to the first                                   value and no attempt is made to impute
                                                  because it requires only 1 year of data.                               four data periods, but upon further                                        the value using subsequent files.
                                                     Finally, for clarification, the NCANDS
                                                                                                                         investigation we determined that the                                         In determining the national standards
                                                  data quality item ‘‘Some victims have
                                                                                                                         data quality items should be applied to                                    and the state-by-state performance
                                                  AFCARS IDs’’ was previously located in
                                                                                                                         all six periods used in the calculation of                                 outlined in the workbook, we
                                                  the ‘‘NCANDS Data—Cross File Checks’’
                                                                                                                         this measure.                                                              inadvertently did not use the most
                                                  section. It should be in the ‘‘NCANDS
                                                  Within file checks’’ section, because it                                  There was a slight modification made                                    recent submission for all periods of data
                                                  requires only the NCANDS child file                                    to several calculations that require the                                   for three states. We have re-run the
                                                  and does not match with AFCARS.                                        date of discharge. When calculating the                                    analysis and national standards to
                                                                                                                         length of stay in foster care, age at exit,                                incorporate these resubmissions and all
                                                  Changes to National Standards and                                      or other variables that require the data                                   data are now current as of July 10, 2014.
                                                  State Performance                                                      of discharge, we previously used an                                          Due to the above noted changes, Table
                                                    This section discusses the changes or                                imputed version of the date of                                             1 on page 61249 should be replaced as
                                                  clarifications in the methods of                                       discharge. An imputed date of discharge                                    follows:

                                                                                 TABLE 1—NATIONAL STANDARDS FOR CFSR ROUND 3 STATEWIDE DATA INDICATORS
                                                                                                                                                                                                                    National standard

                                                  Statewide Data Indicators for Safety Outcome 1:
                                                      Maltreatment in Foster Care ........................................................................................................           8.50 victimizations per 100,000 days in fos-
                                                                                                                                                                                                       ter care.
                                                      Recurrence of Maltreatment .........................................................................................................           9.1 percent.
                                                  Statewide Data Indicators for Permanency Outcome 1:
                                                      Permanency in 12 Months for Children Entering Foster Care ....................................................                                 40.5 percent.
                                                      Permanency in 12 Months for Children in Foster Care 12 to 23 Months ...................................                                        43.6 percent.
                                                      Permanency in 12 Months for Children in Foster Care 24 Months or More ...............................                                          30.3 percent.
                                                      Re-Entry to Foster Care in 12 Months .........................................................................................                 8.3 percent.
                                                      Placement Stability .......................................................................................................................    4.12 moves per 1,000 days in foster care.



                                                    On page 61254, we provided an                                        Changes to Monitoring Statewide Data                                       bootstrapping process was used to get
                                                  overview of the number of states                                       Indicators in Program Improvement                                          30 values. These 30 values were then
                                                  excluded from the national standards                                   Plans                                                                      resampled 1,000 times. After careful
                                                  for each data indicator. Based on the                                                                                                             review, we have determined that we do
                                                                                                                           The changes noted in relation to the                                     not have justification for bootstrapping
                                                  changes noted here, these should be
                                                                                                                         calculation of national standards also                                     to 30 values. We have eliminated that
                                                  updated as follows:
                                                                                                                         have relevance to the calculation of each                                  step and are now bootstrapping the 7
                                                    • Permanency in 12 months for first                                  state’s observed and risk-standardized                                     values to get 1,000 resamples. This
                                                  day cohorts with 12–23 months and 2 or                                 performance, as well as the                                                yields a grand mean and improvement
                                                  more years prior time in care: Three                                   improvement factors used to set                                            factor that is very similar to the original
                                                  states are now excluded instead of one.                                program improvement plan goals.                                            set, but is more reflective of the true
                                                    • Permanency in 12 months for                                        Revised state-level data, including                                        parameters.
                                                  children entering foster care indicator:                               changes to results indicating the need                                       Because of these changes, Table 2 has
                                                  Four states are now excluded instead of                                for a program improvement plan, are                                        also been revised. In addition, upon
                                                  three.                                                                 reflected in the revised workbook.                                         further reflection we believe that in
                                                                                                                           The changes in the workbook                                              order to avoid confusion, it is best to use
                                                    • Recurrence of maltreatment: Five
                                                                                                                         regarding setting program improvement                                      the terminology of floors and caps
                                                  states are now excluded instead of four.
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                                                                                                                         plan targets also reflect a revision to the                                versus minimum and maximum
                                                    There was no change to the number                                    bootstrapping process outlined in                                          amounts of improvement. Using the
                                                  of states excluded for the indicators of                               Technical Bulletin #8. We began with                                       terms of floors and caps is also
                                                  re-entry to foster care in 12 months,                                  three observed values for 3 years of data,                                 consistent with the previously issued
                                                  maltreatment in foster care, or                                        aggregated at the state level. From those                                  Technical Bulletin #8. All other
                                                  placement stability.                                                   three values, we averaged them in                                          references to minimum and maximum
                                                                                                                         different combinations to get seven                                        levels of improvement in the original
                                                                                                                         values. From those 7 values, a                                             Federal Register document should be


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                                                  27266                   Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 92 / Wednesday, May 13, 2015 / Rules and Regulations

                                                  read as floors and caps. Table 2 should
                                                  be replaced as follows:

                                                   TABLE 2—CAPS AND FLOORS ON PROGRAM IMPROVEMENT PLAN IMPROVEMENT FACTORS RELEVANT TO THE STATEWIDE
                                                                                           DATA INDICATORS
                                                                                                                                                                                                                        Floor       Cap

                                                  Statewide Data Indicators for Safety Outcome 1:
                                                      Maltreatment in Foster Care ............................................................................................................................              0.904       0.812
                                                      Recurrence of Maltreatment .............................................................................................................................              0.951       0.902
                                                  Statewide Data Indicators for Permanency Outcome 1:
                                                      Permanency in 12 Months for Children Entering Foster care .........................................................................                                   1.031       1.063
                                                      Permanency in 12 Months for Children in Foster Care 12 to 23 months .......................................................                                           1.046       1.082
                                                      Permanency in 12 Months for Children in Foster Care 24 Months or More ...................................................                                             1.042       1.091
                                                      Re-Entry to Foster Care in 12 Months .............................................................................................................                    0.891       0.834
                                                      Placement Stability ...........................................................................................................................................       0.959       0.904



                                                    Dated: May 5, 2015.                                                   DATES:   This action is effective on May                                 alteration, or repair of ships in NOAA’s
                                                  Mark H. Greenberg,                                                      13, 2015. However, Commerce will                                         fleet of vessels. 40 U.S.C. 3131 et seq.
                                                  Acting Assistant Secretary for Children and                             accept comments on this interim final                                    requires prime contractors to furnish
                                                  Families.                                                               rule until June 12, 2015.                                                performance and payment bonds for
                                                  [FR Doc. 2015–11515 Filed 5–12–15; 8:45 am]                             ADDRESSES: The final rule is available at                                contracts in excess of $150,000, for the
                                                  BILLING CODE 4184–25–P                                                  www.regulations.gov, or by contacting                                    construction, alteration, or repair of any
                                                                                                                          the Department of Commerce: Room                                         public building or public work of the
                                                                                                                          1854, 1401 Constitution Avenue NW.,                                      Federal government including ship
                                                  DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE                                                  Washington, DC 20230.                                                    construction, alteration, and repairs.
                                                                                                                             You may submit comments on this                                       NOAA’s Office of Marine and Aviation
                                                  48 CFR Parts 1328 and 1352                                              interim final rule on regulations.gov,                                   Operations (OMAO) operates a fleet of
                                                                                                                          search for RIN 0605–AA37, click the                                      hydrographic survey, oceanographic
                                                  [Document No.: 150129094–5094–01]
                                                                                                                          ‘‘Comment Now!’’ icon, complete the                                      research and fisheries survey vessels,
                                                  RIN 0605–AA37                                                           required fields, and enter or attach your                                consistent with its mission to perform
                                                                                                                          comments.                                                                offshore and deep-sea survey
                                                  Commerce Acquisition Regulation                                            Comments sent by any other method,                                    operations, coastal mapping,
                                                  (CAR); Waiver of Bond Requirement                                       to any other address or individual, or                                   oceanographic research, and other
                                                  for Contracts To Repair, Alter or                                       received after the end of the comment                                    functions that ensures public safety and
                                                  Construct Certain Research and                                          period, may not be considered. All                                       the preservation of the Nation’s property
                                                  Survey Vessels for the National                                         comments received are a part of the                                      and natural resources. The waiver
                                                  Oceanic and Atmospheric                                                 public record and will generally be                                      authority will align the Commerce’s
                                                  Administration                                                          posted for public viewing on                                             authorities with those of other Federal
                                                  AGENCY:  Department of Commerce                                         www.regulations.gov without change.                                      agencies, including the U.S. Department
                                                  (Commerce).                                                             All personal identifying information                                     of the Navy and the U.S. Coast Guard,
                                                                                                                          (e.g., name, address, etc.) submitted                                    and is expected to address significant
                                                  ACTION: Interim final rule.
                                                                                                                          voluntarily by the sender will be                                        difficulties NOAA has experienced in
                                                  SUMMARY:    We, the Department of                                       publicly accessible. Do not submit                                       obtaining competitive bids for ship
                                                  Commerce (Commerce), issue an interim                                   confidential business information, or                                    repairs. The authorization for this
                                                  final rule to provide procedures for                                    otherwise sensitive or protected                                         waiver lasts as long as it is included in
                                                  waiving performance and payment                                         information. The Department of                                           appropriations measures, or authorizing
                                                  bonds required under U.S. law,                                          Commerce will accept anonymous                                           legislation, enacted by Congress.
                                                  associated with contracts for the repair,                               comments (enter ‘‘N/A’’ in the required                                     Commerce publishes this action to
                                                  alteration and construction of the                                      fields if you wish to remain                                             amend the CAR to provide guidance for
                                                  National Atmospheric and                                                anonymous). Attachments to electronic                                    implementing the authority granted to
                                                  Oceanographic Administration’s                                          comments will be accepted in Microsoft                                   the Secretary of Commerce in the
                                                  (NOAA) fleet of research and survey                                     Word or Excel, WordPerfect, or Adobe                                     Appropriations Act. The following is a
                                                  vessels operated by the Office of Marine                                PDF file formats only.                                                   summary of the procedures which will
                                                  and Aviation Operations (OMAO). The                                     FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:                                         be in the amendment to the CAR.
                                                  regulations implement the authority                                     Virna Winters, 202–482–3483.                                                NOAA ships enter into either a dry
                                                  provided to the Secretary of Commerce                                   SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:                                               docking or dockside repair period every
                                                  in Section 111 of the ‘‘Department of                                                                                                            fiscal year, typically in the first or
                                                  Commerce Appropriations Act, 2015,’’                                    Background                                                               second quarter of the fiscal year. Each
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                                                  and comport with language in the                                          Section 111 of the ‘‘Department of                                     vessel is equipped with highly
                                                  Appropriation Committee’s report                                        Commerce Appropriations Act, 2015,’’                                     advanced survey instruments, state of
                                                  instructing NOAA to promulgate                                          Division B, Title I of Public Law 113–                                   the art electronics, computers, and
                                                  regulations prior to implementing the                                   235 (Dec. 16, 2014) (Appropriations Act)                                 navigational and communications
                                                  waiver authority. This final rule amends                                granted the Secretary of Commerce the                                    systems, which must be kept
                                                  the CAR by inserting a section and                                      authority to waive the performance and                                   operational to ensure the safety of the
                                                  amending a part to add the contract                                     payment bond requirement under 40                                        crew and the ship’s schedule. It also is
                                                  language for the waivers.                                               U.S.C. 3131 et seq., for the construction,                               often necessary for emergency repairs to


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Document Created: 2015-12-16 07:47:07
Document Modified: 2015-12-16 07:47:07
CategoryRegulatory Information
CollectionFederal Register
sudoc ClassAE 2.7:
GS 4.107:
AE 2.106:
PublisherOffice of the Federal Register, National Archives and Records Administration
SectionRules and Regulations
ActionFinal Notice of Statewide Data Indicators and National Standards for Child and Family Services Reviews; correction.
DatesEffective: May 13, 2015.
ContactMiranda Lynch Thomas, Children's Bureau, 1250 Maryland Ave. SW., 8th Floor, Washington, DC 20024, (202) 205-8138.
FR Citation80 FR 27263 

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