The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG) performed an audit of the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services (ODJFS) allocation of federal funding costs associated with multiple Administration for Children and Families (ACF) programs. The State of Ohio administers the ACF program as the cognizant agency for receiving federal funds. However, the Ohio county agencies coordinate and provide these services to eligible children and families.  The counties report the costs to the state agency and the state then reports and claims costs for federal reimbursement.    The issue identified related to how Hamilton County spent and reported federal funding to the state agency for claiming to ACF.  Through dissecting the reported costs incurred by the county and the various providers, it was noted that the county charged to multiple child welfare organizations costs to indirect pools and cost pools allocated to ACF programs. 

The OIG examined the state’s Public Assistance Cost Allocation Plan and how county costs are described and reportedly allocated through the various cost pools.  The plan describes direct child welfare costs as contract costs, purchased services and maintenance costs that can be applied to a designated child welfare program.  The plan provides guidance for charging costs that benefit more than one federally funded program.  In addition, the indirect costs located within the specific program areas should be reported to the specific cost pool and allocated to the benefiting local, state and federal programs based on the results of the random moment time study. 

The recommended disallowance identified in the OIG report totals $58.9 million, crossing multiple ACF programs including:  Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), Child and Family Services (Title IV-B), Child Support and Establishment of Paternity (Title IV-E), Foster Care and Adoption Assistance (Title IV-E), Social Services Block Grant (Title XX) and Child Care and Development Block Grant.  The OIG report cited 45 CFR 92.40 (a) as support of the findings of the review.  This regulation requires that the state agency is responsible for monitoring its grantees to ensure compliance with applicable Federal requirements.   

About Kay Casey

Kay Casey has over 20 years of experience in federal and state child welfare policy and programs, having worked for the federal Administration for Children and Families (ACF) and the Florida Department of Children and Families prior to joining PCG. She is responsible for the review and assessment of fiscal processing systems that impact a state’s ability to identify, document, and report expenditures for federal reporting purposes accompanied with the programmatic impact on the state’s system of care.

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