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FINDINGS, CONCLUSIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS
INADEQUATE RECONCILIATION OF CHILDREN’S TRUST
ACCOUNTS
The Department did not reconcile all
trust accounts maintained in the Children’s Trust Fund. At June 30, 2005, the Department was in
the process of consolidating children’s trust accounts, previously maintained
in individual savings accounts, into a single checking and investment bank
account (consolidated account).
Approximately $2.1 million out of a total of $4.2 million of the trust
accounts were still in individual savings accounts at June 30. The consolidation process was performed in
increments in cooperation with the Social Security Administration, which makes
electronic deposits into the various children’s trust accounts. The Department maintained a single trust
account ledger to account for each of the children’s trust account
balances. There were 4,419 trust accounts
in the trust account ledger at June 30.
Although the Department was reconciling the trust accounts held in
individual savings accounts at June 30, 2005 to balances reported by the
bank, a reconciliation of the remaining trust account balances to the
consolidated bank account was not performed.
Good internal control
procedures require monthly reconciliations of the Department’s records to the
balances reported by the bank to ensure the balances are accurate and to
maintain adequate control over the children’s trust accounts. (Finding 1, page 11)
Department officials agreed
and stated the bank account balance for the consolidated account has been
reconciled since November 2005.
INCOMPLETE AND UNTIMELY CHILD WELFARE AND FOSTER
CARE FILES
The Department’s Child Welfare and Foster
Care files lacked required documentation and not all case procedures were
performed timely. During our review
of 60 case files, we noted:
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5
administrative case reviews (ACRs) were not performed and 1 was performed one
month late.
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5 ACR
notifications were not sent and 2 were mailed from one to seven days late.
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1 health
summary was not in the file.
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2 education
and development summaries were not in the file.
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21 medical
and dental consent forms were not in the file or were outdated.
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32 placement
and payment authorization forms did not contain all required documentation.
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29 files did
not contain current photographs of the child.
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2 files did
not contain required permanency hearing information.
The Department’s Administrative Procedures
prescribe deadlines and documentation requirements for file maintenance. The failure to follow established
Department procedures could result in inadequate care, unauthorized services
or misuse of State funds. (Finding 3,
pages 15-16) This finding was first reported in 1998.
Department
officials stated they will continue to stress the importance of adequate and
timely documentation for the placement files. (For the previous agency response, see Digest Footnote #1.)
OVERDUE CHILD ABUSE AND NEGLECT DETERMINATIONS
Reports of child abuse and neglect were not always determined
within 60 days as required by the Abused and Neglected Child Reporting
Act. The Act states the Department
shall determine, within 60 days, whether a report is "unfounded" or
"indicated" and provides that the Department may extend the period
up to an additional 30 days for good cause.
Department statistics indicate the following noncompliance:
Total
Reports Determinations Percent of
Fiscal
Requiring
Not Determinations
Year Determinations In Compliance Not In Compliance
2005 66,550 1,140 1.71%
2004 62,069 1,294 2.08%
2003 58,956 952 1.61%
2002 59,080 492 0.83%
2001 59,003 226 0.38%
2000 61,787 187 0.30%
1999 62,054 1,502 2.42%
1998 65,877 2,125 3.23%
1997 68,124 1,223 1.80%
Failure to make a determination of a report within 60 days is
a violation of the Act, could delay the implementation of a service plan, and
could result in further endangerment of the child. (Finding 4, pages 17-18)
This finding was first reported
in 1998.
We recommended the Department determine reports of child
abuse or neglect within 60 days as mandated by State law.
Department officials stated they will continue in their
efforts to achieve 100% compliance in the future. (For the previous agency response, see Digest Footnote #2.)
NEED TO INITIATE INVESTIGATIONS WITHIN 24 HOURS OF RECEIPT
The Department did not initiate an investigation of every
child abuse and neglect case within 24 hours of receipt of the report as
required by the Abused and Neglected Child Reporting Act. Department statistics indicate the
following noncompliance:
Investigations Percent of
Fiscal
Total Not Investigations
Year Investigations In Compliance Not In Compliance
2005 66,793 260 0.39%
2004 62,311 268 0.43%
2003 59,397 220 0.37%
2002 59,241 517 0.87%
2001 60,054 141 0.23%
2000 61,787 219 0.35%
1999 62,618 250 0.40%
1998 65,862 461 0.70%
1997 67,657 426 0.63%
Failure to respond to a report of abuse or neglect within 24
hours is a violation of the Act and could result in further endangerment of
the child. (Finding 5, page 19) This
finding was first reported in 1998.
We recommended the Department continue to strive to initiate
investigations of all child abuse and neglect reports within 24 hours of
receiving the report as mandated by State law.
Department officials agreed with the recommendation and
stated they plan to explore corrective action for employees who fail to
comply with the Act. (For the
previous agency response, see Digest Footnote #3.)
UNTIMELY APPROVAL OF
CONTRACTS
The Department did not have an adequate system in place to
ensure that contracts are reviewed and signed on a timely basis. During our review of 25 contracts, we
noted that 19 contracts, totaling $39,884,160, were signed after the
beginning of the contract period. All
contracts must be approved prior to services being performed in accordance
with Statewide Accounting Management System procedures. Failure to obtain signed contracts before
the beginning of the contract period does not bind the contractor to comply
with applicable laws, regulations, and rules and may result in improper and
unauthorized payments. (Finding 7,
page 21). This finding was first
reported in 2002.
We recommended the Department approve and sign all contracts
before the beginning of the contract period.
Department officials agreed and stated they will continue to
improve processes that ensure all contracts are approved and signed before
the beginning of the contract period.
They provided statistics showing improvement in Fiscal Year 2006. (For the previous agency response, see
Digest Footnote #4.)
EMPLOYEES
WORKED OVERTIME WITHOUT PROPER PRIOR APPROVAL
Department employees worked overtime without proper prior
approval. Department policy requires
supervisory approval of overtime before it is worked. We selected a sample of 15 employees and
reviewed each person’s overtime for a 30-day period. Overtime was incurred on 114 days for
those employees. We noted:
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overtime approval was not documented for 13 days,
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overtime approval forms for 68 days were signed after it was
worked,
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overtime approval forms for 7 days were signed, but not
dated, and
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overtime approval forms for 4 days were signed but not
completed.
Failure to
obtain proper prior approval for overtime may result in an employee being
compensated for overtime not actually performed or warranted. During fiscal year 2005, $2,486,090 was
paid to 1,856 employees for overtime.
(Finding 9, page 23) This
finding was first reported in 2002.
We recommended the Department strictly enforce its
policies and procedures in regards to timekeeping and overtime.
Department officials agreed and stated they will remind
supervisors to review, approve, and date requests for overtime timely as
required. (For the previous agency
response, see Digest Footnote #5.)
INADEQUATE CONTRACT MONITORING
The
Department’s contracts with residential and group home service providers did
not include measurable criteria necessary to ensure desired results are
achieved. In response to previous
compliance examination recommendations, in January 2005, the Department
created the Residential Performance Monitoring Unit (RPMU). The RPMU conducts on-site monitoring of
the facilities that provide treatment for children. Any deficiencies identified in the site visits are communicated
to the Department’s Division of Placement and Permanency which either directs
the RPMU to increase the monitoring of the deficient provider or program
consultants are utilized.
The Department was in the process of modifying residential
care contracts to include monitoring and participation requirements that were
recommended by the RPMU. The absence
or insufficiency of these contract requirements could lead to disputes with
providers and impede the Department’s ability to effectively monitor
programs. (Finding 12, pages
26-27) This finding was first
reported in 2003.
Department officials agreed and stated they plan to continue
efforts to include measurable criteria and participation requirements in all
contracts with residential and group home service providers. They expect to finalize these efforts in
the later part of 2006. (For the
previous agency response, see Digest Footnote #6.)
INADEQUATE EMPLOYEE TIME
REPORTING
The
Department did not adequately document employees’ time spent on official
State business as required by the State Officials and Employees Ethics Act
(Act). Although the Department
maintains various attendance records, not all employees were required to
document that time information submitted was for official State business. The focus of the time reporting records
was on attendance and total hours.
The format used did not require employees to document how they spent
their time or state that their working time was spent on official State
business. The Act requires State
employees to periodically submit time sheets documenting the time spent each
day on official State business to the nearest quarter hour. (Finding 14, page 29)
We recommended the Department require all employees to submit
documentation of time spent each day on official State business.
Department officials agreed and stated they will modify time
sheets so the attendance reported each day will identify the time worked and
reported as “official State business” for each employee.
OTHER FINDINGS
The
remaining findings are reportedly being given attention by the
Department. We will review progress
toward the implementation of our recommendations during the next examination.
Ms. Barbara Piwowarski, Deputy Director and Chief Financial
Officer, provided the Department’s responses.
AUDITORS’ OPINION
Our
auditors stated the Department's June 30, 2005 financial statements are
fairly presented in all material respects.
____________________________________
WILLIAM
G. HOLLAND, Auditor General
WGH:KMA:pp
SPECIAL ASSISTANT AUDITORS
Our special assistant auditors were Sleeper, Disbrow,
Morrison, Tarro & Lively, LLC.
DIGEST
FOOTNOTES
#1: INCOMPLETE AND UNTIMELY CHILD WELFARE AND FOSTER CARE FILES -
Previous Agency Response
The Department continues to stress the importance
of adequate and timely documentation for child and family cases. The Department has been implementing
revised practices for providing childcare using the new practices in
designing and implementing a new information system. It is our intention to include controls
for much of the required documentation in the new system. Additionally, as noted in the chart shown
in the finding, many of the cases selected in the sample were opened prior to
the current year. We cannot correct
those failures, however we strive to ensure current requirements are met.
#2: OVERDUE CHILD ABUSE AND NEGLECT DETERMINATIONS - Previous
Agency Response
The Department will continue in its efforts to
achieve 100% compliance. The Division
of Child Protection managerial staff works to ensure that reports of child
abuse and neglect are completed within 60 days as required by the
statute. Management staff of the
Division of Child Protection receives weekly ticklers that identifies when
reports are approaching 60 days and staffing meetings are held
accordingly. The purpose of the
staffing meetings is to ensure that supervision is occurring with staff to
determine if there is a good cause for extending the time limit beyond 60
days.
#3: NEED TO INITIATE INVESTIGATIONS WITHIN 24 HOURS OF RECEIPT -
Previous Agency Response
The Department continues to strive to initiate
investigations of all child abuse and neglect reports within 24 hours of
receiving reports and achieve 100% compliance. The Division of Child Protection managerial staff continues its
efforts to ensure that supervision is occurring when reports are being
initiated and that follow-up supervision is occurring to ensure that the
supervisor approves the CERAP within 24 hours in order to assess the safety
of the alleged victim(s). This is the
mandate of all staff that initiates investigations of child abuse and
neglect.
#4: UNTIMELY APPROVAL OF CONTRACTS - Previous Agency Response
The Department agrees with the auditor’s comments
and recommendations regarding sound internal control procedures. However, we must also comply with the
Procurement Code, 30 ILCS 500/20-60, under which we would have to terminate
and cancel a contract (not revise it) in any year for which the General
Assembly fails to make an appropriation sufficient to make payments under the
terms of the contract. As a part of
addressing this repeat finding, we have reviewed procedures and contract
language in order to develop processes that will allow compliance with the
applicable rules and statutes including filing of late affidavit forms, where
required. A number of changes have
been made to procedures for developing and processing documents for
professional and artistic contracts and for other contracts for services,
including “file only contracts”, that will allow the Department to meet its
service delivery mandate as well as consider “sound internal control”. A new tracking mechanism has been
implemented which has increased accountability over each contract and
enhanced efficiencies in processing contract information in the Department’s
information systems.
#5: EMPLOYEES WORKED OVERTIME WITHOUT PROPER PRIOR APPROVAL -
Previous Agency Response
The Department agrees that overtime should be paid
only when necessary and that overtime costs impact the Department’s budget
and availability to deliver services.
It also believes no employee should be compensated for overtime unless
it was worked and authorized. The
Department will review the detailed procedures followed to prepare and
maintain the completed forms and revise or re-issue the procedures and
instructions for staff and supervisors as necessary. As the finding identifies, each of the
employees worked overtime. The
finding also states that some forms were either not signed or were not dated,
some were missing at the time of the audit work, some forms were approved
after the overtime was worked, and that one was not approved by the
employee’s supervisor. This
demonstrates that procedures are in place but that all the documentation and
retention practices may not be in place as intended. While this finding, as written, appears to
be directed toward the payroll unit, this day-to-day
timekeeping/record-keeping is within each unit of the Department. Training for timekeepers includes
descriptions of payroll and personnel rules and procedures issued by the Office
of Employee Services/Labor Relations and the Budget Office.
#6: INADEQUATE CONTRACT MONITORING
- Previous Agency Response
In response to the FY 03 audit finding, the
Department agreed that there is a need for additional monitoring of
residential and group home service providers. Creation of this function was included in the FY 05 budget and,
once approved, the implementation process was begun. The Residential Performance Monitoring
(RPM) Unit is fully functional as of January 2005.
The unit is responsible for conducting consistent
on-site monitoring of residential and group home facilities that provide
treatment for our children. The RPM
monitors will spend most of their time on-site at the assigned facilities,
observing social interaction and monitoring treatment services. This unit will complete the establishment
of measurable criteria for performance and process outcomes that will lead to
quality services and life domain outcomes for our children. The results of the monitoring function
will become an integral part of the contract negotiations with each provider.
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