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Under its foster care contract with the Administration for Children’s Services (ACS), Little Flower Children and Family Services (LFCFS) complied with the programmatic provisions of the contract but had weaknesses in certain areas that need to be corrected, according to an audit released by New York City Comptroller William C. Thompson, Jr.

“Little Flower Children and Family Services is entrusted to provide services to our most precious resource - our children,” Thompson said. “While Little Flower is mostly fulfilling its obligations, ACS needs to ensure that the flaws identified in this audit are corrected to make sure that foster children receive all the attention and visits that are required.”

Established in 1929, LFCFS is a social service agency that delivers services and programs to children, families, and disabled adults in New York City and on Long Island. Family foster care is the largest program at LFCFS. From July 1, 2005 to June 30, 2006 (Fiscal Year 2006), LFCFS provided services to 1,377 foster children in about 600 foster boarding homes, and was paid $24.9 million by ACS.

Thompson’s audit - which can be viewed at www.comptroller.nyc.gov - analyzed whether
LFCFS complied with major programmatic provisions of its foster care contract with ACS and whether LFCFS’s days-of-care payment requests to ACS were adequately requested.

The audit revealed that LFCFS completed and included in its files the Family Assessment and Service Plans (FASPs) that are required, and that foster parents received the required background checks, home inspections, and initial training. In addition, LFCFS’s days-of-care payment requests to ACS were adequately supported.

The audit, however, identified several weaknesses:

• According to ACS and LFCFS policies and procedures, the minimum requirement for caseworker contacts with foster children and foster parents are two contacts per month for the first three months and one contact per month thereafter. For 14 of our sample 50 foster children, there was no evidence that LFCFS caseworkers had conducted many of the required contacts and visits with the foster children and parents. Of the 141 contacts and visits required for the 14 cases, there was no documentary evidence that 73 were conducted. In one case, 12 contacts or visits were required but only two were documented. In another case, nine contacts or visits were required but none were documented.

LFCFS officials claimed that caseworkers are making required visits and contacts but occasionally fail to prepare progress notes. Without the notes, however, LFCFS could not demonstrate, nor could auditors verify, that the required visits and contacts were made.

Additionally, although LFCFS has a policy requiring supervisors to review foster child case files, including caseworkers’ progress notes, there is no procedure as to how supervisors should indicate that a review was conducted.

• Foster parents must receive up to 30 hours of pre-service training and are required to attend annual refresher training of four to five hours. Two foster parents in the sample, however, had not completed any refresher training in the past two or three years. LFCFS did not send any follow-up letters to those parents to remind them of the need to complete the training. While ACS indicated that foster children would not be removed from a foster home due to the foster parent’s failure to attend refresher training, LFCFS should ensure foster parents’ attendance given the importance of enhancing their understanding of their responsibilities.

• To receive payment, LFCFS reports to ACS the number of foster children and days of care the foster children were under LFCFS supervision for the given month. The payment amount consists of two parts, an administrative-rate to compensate LFCFS for its services and a pass-through rate that LFCFS pays to foster parents.

For the foster children in the sample, although LFCFS reported to ACS that it was due $836,116 in administrative-rate and pass-through payments, ACS paid LFCFS $846,910 – a difference of $10,794. The difference appears to have resulted mostly from a lack of communication between ACS and LFCFS on administrative-rate payments.

As a result of the audit’s findings, Thompson recommended that LFCFS:

• Ensure that caseworkers consistently document all visits and contacts with foster children and foster parents and maintain these records in the children’s case files;

• Provide supervisory oversight to ensure that all required contacts and visits are conducted and documented; and,

• Follow up on all foster parents who do not attend the annual refresher training to ensure that they attend this required training.

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