San Francisco AAP FY 2022/2023 Corrective Action Plan
The Adoption Assistance Program (AAP) was selected as a major program in the City's FY 2022/23 single audit. The Auditor tested AAP's compliance with eligibility requirements. The audit sample consisted of 55 on-going active cases, and 5 intake s...
San Francisco AAP FY 2022/2023 Corrective Action Plan
The Adoption Assistance Program (AAP) was selected as a major program in the City's FY 2022/23 single audit. The Auditor tested AAP's compliance with eligibility requirements. The audit sample consisted of 55 on-going active cases, and 5 intake samples for the Fiscal year 2022-2023 from a random sampling.
Findings
The Auditor tested a statistically valid sample of 60 participants selected from a population of 1,087 cases receiving benefits under the AAP program for the period of July 1, 2022 through June 30, 2023, the Period under review (PUR). The Auditor noted 7 case findings needing improvement. All case findings were from the on-going active case samples. All of the intake cases sampled were correct with no error. There were no findings found to have any dollar amount errors.
The auditor identified the following issues: renewal checklists were not submitted with physical files on a consistent basis. It could not be verified that Supervisor reviews were done consistently on all reassessments as the checklists used by the caseworkers, were not consistently found in the case files.
Response to findings
The Family & Children’s Services Foster Care Eligibility (FCE) unit recognizes the need for improvements through the Auditor’s findings. Inconsistencies were in large part due to the circumstances of the COVID-19 Pandemic. We have changed our previous business practices to improve deficiencies and maintain program integrity.
Root Causes
- COVID-19 pandemic
The pandemic’s restrictions significantly altered FCE’s traditional in-office schedules and business processes, prompting a significant shift towards remote work arrangements and digital transformation. FCE adapted quickly to these operations changes while trying to maintain employee safety. This transition necessitated the need for flexible working hours, increased reliance on virtual communication, implementation of new technologies, and business processes to streamline workflows.
- Physical files
o FCE, during the PUR of this audit, used physical case files. Digital case files offer many advantages that FCE wasn’t able to access, such as easier accessibility, improved organization capabilities through search functions, greater security measures to protect sensitive data from unauthorized access or loss, and better oversight capabilities. Overall, transitioning from physical case files to digital files will result in having files easily accessible and will increase effectiveness and efficiency.
- Staffing issues
During the PUR, there were a variety of staffing issues that included leaves, promotions, and shortages. These staffing changes significantly impacted the administration of FCE program benefits.
Corrective Actions
- Future Staff training
o We have recognized the need to develop refresher training for staff that will provide a thorough understanding of our AAP business processes. These trainings will ensure that AAP case reassessments are processed uniformly across the program. By investing in the development of these refresher staff trainings, we aim to equip our staff with the knowledge and skills necessary to perform their roles effectively and contribute positively towards achieving our organizational goals.
o Time frame to implement trainings will be no later than 6/1/2024 with completion by 10/2024.
- Digital Files
o FCE recognizes the need to move from physical case files to digital case files. The COVID-19 pandemic provided the catalyst to speed up the transition to digital files. With the change to digital imaged files, future case reviews and tasks completed by workers and supervisors can, and will, be done more efficiently and will provide the necessary oversight.
Imaging case files conversion project was created in 4/2023.
FCE is currently at 70% percent converted to digital case files since the implementation of CalSAWS (11/1/2023).
FCE plans to convert to 100% digital files by the end of June 30, 2024.
- Systematic Reporting
o Reports generated from CalSAWS and case tasking will help improve our program’s overall efficiency.
Effective 11/2023, implementation of new task reports generated from CalSAWS will aid staff with reminders of tasks and will improve overall case review.
CalSAWS provides unit Supervisors with reports of overdue, pending and future case actions needed, including AAP reassessments.
By June 30, 2024, FCE will provide unit Supervisors and staff with additional tools to support them with their case tracking and reporting. This includes developing detailed reports accessible through our eligibility system CalSAWS.
The AAP Corrective Action plan will be administered by FCE Program Specialist Justin Hyun and overseen by Program Manager, Juliet Halverson.