Performance Audit of the Children

1
Performance Audit of the Childrens Foster Care
Program, Department of Human Services

• THOMAS H. McTAVISH, C.P.A.
• AUDITOR GENERAL

2
Scope and Potential for Significant Impact

• The audit dealt with some of Michigans most
  vulnerable citizens foster children.
• Foster childrens well-being often depends
  entirely on the critical services and oversight
  provided by state government.
• Significant media attention, interest of the
  legislature.
• Foster Care Services in Michigan are provided
  through a partnership between DHS and contracted
  service providers.

3
Audit Objectives

• To evaluate DHSs and the contracted service
  providers compliance with State laws and
  regulations related to the delivery of Program
  services.
• To assess DHSs effectiveness and efficiency in
  monitoring the delivery of services by Program
  contracted service providers.
• To assess the effectiveness of the Program in
  meeting its outcome goals.
• We reported adverse conclusions for all three
  objectives. The report contained 10 findings and
  12 corresponding recommendations. We classified
  5 of the 10 findings as material.

4
Innovation

• We entered into an agreement with the Michigan
  Department of State Police that allowed them to
  provide us with criminal history background
  information regarding Michigan foster parents and
  other adult household members.
• We coordinated fieldwork with DHS central office,
  local county offices, and contracted agencies.
• We tailored our sample of foster care cases to
  include cases from large and small local county
  offices and private contracted agencies
  geographically dispersed across the state to help
  ensure the recommendations in our audit report
  would be persuasive on a statewide basis. We
  selected 107 case files to review.

5
Innovation, cont.

• This was a unique opportunity for staff from the
  Michigan OAG to meet with contracted agency staff
  providing foster care services.
• Site visits to review foster care records
  sometimes took place in private agency offices.
  This demanded the utmost use of due professional
  care to ensure a positive and successful
  interaction with many individuals who had never
  had this type of experience.

6
Focus of the Recommendations on Effective and
Efficient Government

• The audits first objective addressed compliance
  with material provisions of State laws and
  regulations related to the delivery of Program
  services. The significant error rates cited in
  the report demonstrated that DHS and the
  contracted service providers had not provided
  Program services in an effective manner. (5
  findings, 3 material)
• The second audit objective dealt directly with
  DHSs effectiveness and efficiency in monitoring
  the delivery of services by Program contracted
  service providers. (3 findings 1 material)
• The audits third objective dealt with the
  effectiveness of the Program in meeting its
  outcome goals (2 findings 1 material)

7
Clarity and Conciseness of Communication Style

• The audit report contained complex issues,
  summarized under a
• difficult set of circumstances
• We performed foster care case reads in local
  offices and contracted agencies in five different
  counties.
• Each local office and contracted agency had
  unique nuances and circumstances in the errors
  and exceptions we identified.
• Our report needed to clearly and concisely
  communicate our overall conclusions and
  recommendations in a useful manner to prompt
  reforms statewide.

8
Material Findings

• Criminal History Background Checks
• Required Visits
• Interstate Foster Care Services
• Contract Monitoring
• Child Welfare Outcomes

9
DHS not performing criminal history background
checks

• No evidence of background checks for 12 of 16
  providers reviewed who had criminal convictions
  including drug possession, assault, domestic
  violence.
• 5 adult household members with disqualifying
  convictions after original background checks.
  Convictions included criminal sexual conduct (2)
  and domestic violence (3).
• DHS responded that it would implement an
  automated periodic criminal history background
  check procedure.
• Legislators discussed the need to introduce
  legislation requiring periodic background checks
  during several hearings regarding the audit.

10
Required Visits

• Our review of required visits included 77 local
  office and 29 contracted agency foster care case
  files.
• We found insufficient evidence that DHS made all
  required visits in 96 (91) of 106 case files
  tested.
• There was no evidence to support that caseworkers
  had performed required visits in 718 (33) of the
  2,205 tested.

11
DHS not visiting foster children, their parents,
or their foster parents.
12
Material Findings

• Criminal History Background Checks
• Required Visits
• Interstate Foster Care Services
• Contract Monitoring
• Child Welfare Outcomes

13
Persuasiveness of Conclusions

• The audit report resulted in considerable public
• reaction
• The audit report prompted legislative hearings
  concerning the audit. The Michigan OAG presented
  the audit report before the Senate Standing
  Committee on Families and Human Services and the
  House Standing Committee on Family and Children
  Services.

14
Persuasiveness of Conclusions, cont.

• After we had issued the report, the Director of
  DHS testified in legislative hearings that DHS
  agreed with all of the audits findings and had
  initiated corrective action to address the
  findings.
• c. The audit report received a significant
  amount of media coverage from several Michigan
  television stations and newspapers. The coverage
  included the initial reporting of the audits
  findings and subsequent additional reporting
  regarding the corrective action initiated by DHS.

15
Usefulness to Customer

• This report is useful to vulnerable foster
  children, who may never read the report or be
  aware of its existence, but will realize a higher
  level of accountability and oversight for their
  well-being.
• State Legislators called on DHS to quickly
  address Program deficiencies identified in the
  audit.
• Legislators vowed to introduce legislation if
  necessary to ensure DHS implements certain
  Program improvements.
• Representatives from the Michigan Office of
  Childrens Ombudsman and a private child advocacy
  group, Michigans Children, testified in
  legislative hearings in support of our audit
  recommendations.

16
Action Produced

• DHS indicated that, since the audit, Program
  improvements have included implementation of a
  process to automate periodic criminal history
  background checks for foster care providers and
  other adult household members and enhancement of
  its Services Worker Support System to better
  identify when visits with foster children do not
  occur.
• DHS indicated also that it has sought additional
  funding from the legislature to increase staffing
  levels to meet minimum requirements for
  performing visits with foster children, to
  improve case file documentation of services
  provided to foster children, and to improve its
  oversight of contracted service providers.

17
For Further Information

• Report 43-278-03 available online at
• http//audgen.michigan.gov
• Contacts
• Scott Strong, Deputy Auditor General
• StrongS_at_Michigan.gov
• Mark Freeman, Audit Division Administrator
• FreemanM_at_Michigan.gov