an overview georgia program improvement plan - Department of ...

eports. The AFCARS reporting and management reports were of a higher priority and needed to be completed. During these delays,
we performed other tasks that were not dependent on the staff of the Office of Adoptions. The business rule task gave us the biggest
hit in which we have not yet recovered. We are making every effort to finish this project on target. There were some tasks that did not
take as long to complete as estimated. Some time was recovered during those tasks. We hope to gain more ground while completing
future tasks. We also hope to minimize any further delays.
4 th Quarter Report: Goal Achieved. The enhancements to the A-File system have been completed. This will enable the Office of
Adoptions to run reports to evaluate and identify whether delays are occurring between filing for adoption and finalization. Target date
for first report is January 2004 for period of October through December 2003.
DOCUMENTATION PROVIDED 4 th Quarter:
Attached screen print of A-File Database to show addition of 'Filing Date' field.
4 th Quarter Federal Response: Enhancements to the A-File system completed. Target date for first report, that evaluates whether
delays are occurring between filing for adoption and finalization, is January 2004. This step is noted as achieved by State but until the
report is received, ACF cannot note it as achieved.
5 th Quarter Report: Goal is achieved as of February 2004. The State had marked this action step as achieved in error. Although the
enhancements to the A-file system was made, the first quarterly report (October, November, December) to evaluate data and identify
delays was not available until January 2004. Our first report (2-13-04) indicates an average of 1.64 months between filing of adoption
and final hearing. We will continue to evaluate and monitor with quarterly reports. With the passing of SB 192 (effective July 1, 2003)
our hope is to reduce the average time. We already see progress as the first report indicates an average below 60 days, which would
not have been possible prior to passing of this legislation.
5 th Quarter DOCUMENTATION: Report 'Average Time to Final Disposition of Adoption'
8 th Quarter Report: Achieved. Per ACF 7 th quarter request to discuss evaluation of data and what is the state doing: Prior to the
beginning of the PIP, the state had no way to evaluate whether delays were occurring between filing for adoption and finalization.
Law at that time required a 60-day period between filing and finalization of the adoption petition. As a result of the PIP, the state has
achieved enhancement of the A file system to enable us to measure the length of time between filing and finalization of the adoption.
The state has also achieved a change in the law effective July 1, 2003,which was reported under action step E-9, which removes the
mandatory 60-day period, thus allowing immediate hearings. Evaluation of the data shows a decrease from the beginning of the PIP
(+ 2 months) to the current average of 1.63 months for FFY 2004.
8 th Quarter DOCUMENTATION: Adoption Statistics Report, Average Length of Time in Months FFY 2000-2004
Safe Futures – A Plan for Program Improvement
Georgia Department of Human Resources
November, 2004 Quarter 8 - Work Plan E Page 18