Review of Refugee Cash Assistance Payments in Florida for the Period July 1, 2002, Through June 30, 2005

The objective of this audit was to determine whether the Florida Department of Children and Families (DCF) made Refugee Cash Assistance (RCA) payments only to beneficiaries whose eligibility periods had not expired. We found that during the 3-year period end June 30, 2005, DCF made payments totaling at least $55,530 to beneficiaries whose eligibility periods had expired. In addition, DCF’s computerized eligibility system contained missing or inaccurate dates of entry or of asylum for some beneficiaries, allowing erroneous payments to occur. As a result, DCF made $9,561 in additional erroneous payments to 20 beneficiaries.

In addition to certain procedural recommendations, we recommended that DCF make a financial adjustment of $55,530 for the RCA payments made to ineligible beneficiaries and $9,561 for RCA payments to 20 beneficiaries whose dates of entry or of asylum were not documented in the case files. DCF generally concurred with our recommendations. However, DCF did not address what steps it would take regarding the 20 beneficiaries whose case files did not contain documents that established their eligibility for RCA payments. Therefore, we continued to recommend that DCF recover the $9,561 in overpayments for these 20 beneficiaries.