Adoptions - Internal Audit Report

Ministry For Children And Families

Description

File No.: 39134Internal Audit ReportMinistry for Children and FamiliesAdoptionsDistributionDeputy Minister S. Manson SingerADM, Management Services L. FosterADM, Community Services & Program Support V. DowieDirector, Child Protection R. DawsonDirector, Adoptions W. MathesonDirector, Program & Management Audits M. ShintoManager, Adoptions C. FixInternal Audit BranchMinistry for Children and FamiliesMay 2000Table of ContentsSection Page No.Glossary.......................................................................................................iExecutive Summary...................................................................................1Introduction ................................................................................................3Purpose.......................................................................................................3Scope and Objectives................................................................................4Approach ....................................................................................................5Comments and Recommendations ..........................................................71.0 Agency Financial Viability........................................................................ 71.1 Financial Analysis ............................................................................................. 71.2 Operating Cost.................................................. ...

Informations

• Publié par: Shoun
• Nombre de lectures: 23
• Langue: English

Extrait

Internal Audit Report Ministry for Children and Families Adoptions

Distribution Deputy Minister ADM, Management Services ADM, Community Services &  Program Support Director, Child Protection Director, Adoptions Director, Program & Management Audits Manager, Adoptions

Internal Audit Branch Ministry for Children and Families

May 2000

File No.: 39134

S. Manson Singer L. Foster V. Dowie R. Dawson W. Matheson M. Shinto C. Fix

Table of Contents Section

Page No.

Glossary....................................................................................................... i

Executive Summary ................................................................................... 1

Introduction ................................................................................................ 3

Purpose....................................................................................................... 3

Scope and Objectives................................................................................ 4

Approach .................................................................................................... 5

Comments and Recommendations .......................................................... 7

1.0 Agency Financial Viability ........................................................................ 7 1.1 Financial Analysis ............................................................................................. 7 1.2 Operating Cost.................................................................................................. 9 1.3 Fees and Revenue.......................................................................................... 10 1.4 Competition..................................................................................................... 13

2.0 Nature and Extent of Adoption Agency Services ................................ 15 2.1 Supporting Documentation.............................................................................. 15 2.2 Nature of Services .......................................................................................... 17 2.3 Extent of Services ........................................................................................... 18

3.0 Agency Employees, Contractors, and Volunteers ............................... 18

4.0 Post Adoption Assistance...................................................................... 20 4.1 Income Test .................................................................................................... 21 4.2 Compliance with Ministry Policies, Procedures and Regulations .................... 23 4.3 Use of "Designated" Definition ........................................................................ 24

5.0 Waiving and Subsidizing Fees............................................................... 24

6.0 Utilization Management Strategies........................................................ 25 6.1 Development and Implementation .................................................................. 26 6.2 Communication and Monitoring ...................................................................... 27

7.0 Roles and Responsibilities of Adoption Staff ...................................... 29 7.1 Roles and Responsibilities .............................................................................. 29 7.2 Timeliness and Cost ....................................................................................... 32

Table of Contents Section

Page No.

8.0 Services Provided and Information Gathered by Headquarters......... 33 8.1 Policy Direction ............................................................................................... 34 8.1.1 Backlog/Shared Workload ................................................................................................ 34 8.1.2 Healthy Infants .................................................................................................................. 35 8.1.3FostertoAdopt..................................................................................................................36 8.2 Program Delivery ............................................................................................ 38 8.2.1 Fee Structure .................................................................................................................... 38 8.2.2MatchingProcess..............................................................................................................39 8.2.3 Relationship with Agencies ............................................................................................... 43 8.3 Information Gathering and Reporting .............................................................. 44 8.4 Administrative Efficiencies and Technical Enhancements .............................. 46

Appendix A.1  Canadian Post Adoption Assistance .......................... 48

Appendix A.2  United States Post Adoption Assistance.................... 50

Glossary

AFA APS CF & CS CIC CRC FTE LDS MCF MIS OCG PAA PAP PCC RSW SN SNAP UMP

Adoptive Families Association Adoptive Parent System Child, Family, and Community Service Children in Care Criminal Record Check full-time equivalent Latter-Day Saints Ministry for Children and Families Management Information System Office of the Comptroller General Post Adoption Assistance Prospective Adoptive Parent Prior Contact Check Registered Social Worker Special Needs Special Needs Adoptive Parents Association Utilization Management Project

Internal Audit Report  Adoptions● i

Executive Summary

The Adoption Branch

District Offices

British ColumbiasAdoption Actwas amended in 1996, replacing legislation drafted 40 years earlier. Through the Director of Child Protection and the Director of Adoptions, the Ministry for Children and Families is responsible for all adoptions in the province, and offers a full range of services to birth parents and adoptive parents. In order to evaluate the impact of the newAdoption Act,the ministry asked the Internal Audit Branch to conduct an audit on specific areas of the Adoptions Program. Working in consultation with the ministry, our audit team analyzed specific areas of the operations of the three major participants in the adoption program: 1. the Adoption Branch; 2. the ministry district offices; and 3. the licensed adoption agencies. As the centre of operations, the Adoption Branch provides many of the services necessary to support the program. During the audit, we identified several areas where changes in policy and program delivery would be beneficial for all parties. In particular, we believe: • there is an opportunity to increase adoption placements by expanding the Foster-to-Adopt process, improving the process for matching children waiting for adoption with prospective parents, and streamlining the services provided by the Adoption Branch; and • Adoption Branch could improve their reporting on the performance measures and may be able to streamline the reporting requirements for the licensed agencies. The ministry district offices are spread throughout the province and provide a range of services for children and families. The main focus in many offices is child protection, with the adoption program playing a less significant role. Staff shortages also affect regional services. To increase the profile and the timeliness of the adoption program, we have outlined several recommendations that include: • creating an adoption liaison/manager position in each region; • each  requestingregion to develop Regional Adoption Plans and adoption-specific Utilization Management projects; and •regions to keep a portion of the savings the  permitting created from the Regional Adoption Plans and Utilization Management Projects.

● Internal Audit Report  Adoptions

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Licensed Adoption Agencies

One of the key changes in the new act was the licensing of independent adoption agencies. The licensed adoption agencies offer some of the same services as the adoption branch. There are seven licensed adoption agencies in British Columbia  four in the lower mainland, and one each in Victoria, Kelowna, and Prince George. We visited four of the seven agencies. Although we were unable to conclude on the long-term financial viability of agencies, we did find some legitimate current financial concerns. In our report, we have made a number of suggestions to help strengthen the financial stability of the licensed agencies, including utilizing more contractors. The ministry can assist the agencies in improving their financial viability and reduce the ministry backlog by:

• areas where agencies could assist the regions in considering reducing backlogs;  raising the adoption fees of the ministry to provide greater • consistency with the average fees of the agencies; and •agency involvement for direct placements and increasing  healthy infant, inter-country, inter-provincial adoptions. We believe that implementing the recommendations in this report could result in improved timeliness of adoptions and increased placements. If the number and timeliness of placements were each improved by 10%, the ministry could save over $566,000 annually. We would like to thank the management and staff of the Adoption Branch and the regional and district offices of the Ministry for Children and Families, as well as the licensed adoption agencies we visited, for their assistance and co-operation during the course of this audit.

2● Internal Audit Report  Adoptions

David J. Fairbotham Executive Director Internal Audit Branch March 23, 2001

Introduction

Purpose

Recent changes to theAdoption Actwere effective November 4, 1996 and replaced legislation drafted 40 years ago. The new Act is built around the principles of fairness, balance, freedom of choice and, above all, the best interests of the child. Some of the key changes include: • of all non-relative adoptions; regulation • licensing of independent adoption agencies; • greater recognition of birth fathers and their right to be involved in the adoption process; and •adopted persons and their birth parents to freer access by information identifying each other. The Ministry for Children and Families (MCF or the ministry) offers a full range of pre-and-post-adoption services to birth parents and adoptive families. Staff in the regions provide the majority of the services to the clients, while staff in headquarters manage the administrative and policy end of the adoption program. Birth parents and prospective adoptive parents also have the option of going to non-profit adoption agencies licensed by the ministry for healthy infant and international adoptions. There are currently seven agencies: four in the lower mainland, and one in each of Victoria, Kelowna and Prince George. No fees are charged to birth parents whether they work with the ministry or an adoption agency. The ministry charges fees to prospective adoptive parents for services related to the adoption of healthy infants, for direct placements and for inter-country adoptions, but does not charge for services related to the adoption of children with special service or placement needs. In addition, the ministry provides financial assistance to eligible parents who adopt a child qualifying for the Post Adoption Assistance program. The fees charged to prospective adoptive parents by the agencies for various services must be approved by the ministry. However, the fees and how they are packaged vary amongst the agencies.

● Internal Audit Report  Adoptions

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The purpose of this audit was to determine if ministry management has assurance that: • the licensed agencies are financially viable and whether the financial viability impacts the range of services they provide; and •regions are providing the full range of adoption services  the and are in compliance with specific sections of theAdoption Actand regulations.

Scope and Objectives

a)

b)

We visited a sample of licensed adoption agencies to determine: • financial viability; their  the nature and extent of adoption services provided to • birth parents and prospective adoptive parents and how it impacts financial viability. The process did not include an assessment of the impact on service quality; and •if agency employees, contractors and volunteers are  suitably screened, qualified, trained and supervised. We visited a sample of district offices to: • the Post Adoption Assistance program to review determine if it is administered in accordance with ministry policies, procedures and regulations and whether the income test is applied consistently and the definition of "designated" is used properly; • review the process of waiving or subsidizing adoption fees to determine if the method of calculating the subsidy is reasonable. • whether utilization management strategies for determine adoptions have been developed, communicated, implemented and monitored.

4● Internal Audit Report  Adoptions

Approach

•  reviewthe roles and responsibilities of adoption staff to determine: ¾ the various responsibilities such as preparing if children for adoption, registering children as available for adoption and matching children available for adoption with prospective adoptive parents have been clearly identified and communicated; and ¾ responsibilities are carried out on a timely basis, if given the circumstances involved, and if not, the financial consequences to the ministry. c) We visited headquarters to: • review the services provided and information gathered and shared by headquarters to determine if they are providing the required services and receiving and providing the required information from and to the regions/agencies.

The audit involved visits to: • a sample of regions, including: iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii • sample of licensed agencies consisting of: a

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