Safe Futures A Plan for Program Improvement - Department of ...

3rd Quarter Report/Status: The Adoptions Documentation and Analysis project is 64% complete. The project was projected to be
finished on September 26, 2003. However, the project has fallen behind due to the gathering of business rules taking longer than
expected, key personnel working on AFCARS reporting, and key personnel working on management reports. The business rules were
due to be complete on 12/19/2002, but due to the unavailability of staff (vacations, meetings, etc.), this task was not complete until
February. Also, some processes had to be re-evaluated two or three times. We also fell behind during the documentation of the base
reports. 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'
BARRIERS TO ACHIEVEMENT:
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Safe Futures – A Plan for Program Improvement
Georgia Department of Human Resources
March, 2004 Quarter 5 - Work Plan E Page 30