Audit Report on the Inwood House Foster Care Contract with the Administration for Children’s Services

AUDIT REPORT IN BRIEF

The Administration for Children’s Services (ACS) is responsible for protecting children from abuse and neglect and provides preventive, foster care, and adoption services.  It contracts with a network of 36 foster care agencies to provide support services to approximately 17,000 foster care children.

In March 2000, ACS entered into a contract with Inwood House (Inwood) to provide foster care services to pregnant young women between the ages of 12 and 20, including preparation for parenting, as well as to their babies after birth.  In January 2006, ACS renewed the contract with Inwood for a three-year term for the period March 1, 2006, through February 28, 2009, for a total amount not to exceed $4,883,974.  This audit examined the compliance of Inwood with major provisions of its foster care contract.

Audit Findings and Conclusions

The audit found that Inwood generally complied with the major programmatic provisions of its foster care contract with ACS.  For 29 of the 30 cases reviewed, caseworkers had regular contacts with the young women and prepared reports on these contacts.  In addition, 14 of the 16 sampled clients who were present at the Maternity Residence on a daily basis and were not AWOL received all of the required services.  Furthermore, the four sampled young women in the Mother-Child Foster Care program and the one sampled young women in the Agency-Operated Boarding Home (AOBH) also received all of the required services.

Our review of the foster parents’ files indicated that all 13 foster parents received the required background checks and training and that pre-placement inspections of their homes were conducted as required.  In addition, the review of the 12 Inwood employee files indicated that the required background checks were completed and that the employees had the credentials and experience necessary for their positions.  Lastly, the Maternity Residence and the AOBH provided an adequate living environment.

However, we have concerns about young women who were AWOL from the Maternity Residence and the services they did not receive because of their absences.  In addition, there was no evidence that Inwood filed Missing Person Reports or otherwise reported the young women’s AWOL status to the police, as required.

The audit also concluded that Inwood did not always receive the correct payment amount for days-of-care requests made to ACS.  We identified both underpayments and overpayments that ACS made to Inwood.

Audit Recommendations

Based on our findings, we make 10 recommendations, 5 of which are listed below.

ACS and Inwood officials should:

• Examine AWOL incidents and try to find solutions to decrease the AWOL rate and the length of time that clients remain AWOL.

• Ensure that all clients receive the required services, including education, independent-living skills, and in-depth interviews with social workers.  In addition, all client contact forms should be reviewed and signed by an Inwood supervisor or manager.

• Ensure that Missing Person Reports are filed for all AWOL young women under the age of 21.  For those who are Person in Need of Supervision (PINS) cases, have Family Court warrants, or are below the age of 21, Inwood officials should insist the police file a Missing Person Report.  If the police will not file the report, Inwood officials should request that a patrol supervisor come to the scene.

• Arrange a meeting with higher-level police officials at the local precinct to discuss difficulties in filing Missing Person Reports for AWOL young women who have PINS case, have Family Court warrants, or are 17 or 18 years of age.

ACS should:

• Ensure that it generates days-of-care payments using the correct rates and number of days of care.

Agency Response

We received a written response from ACS that incorporated the responses of both ACS and Inwood.  ACS officials generally agreed with the recommendations addressed to them (one recommendation was not addressed).  With regard to the recommendations addressed to Inwood, officials generally agreed with all of them but contended that five recommendations were already being addressed during the audit period reviewed.