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Series: Audits of Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act State Grants

Announced on  | Last Modified on  | Series Number: SRS-A-25-005
Status
Completed
Agency
Administration for Children and Families

OBJECTIVE

Abuse and neglect against a child younger than 18 years old by a parent, caregiver, or another person in a custodial role can have a long-term impact on the child's health, opportunity, and well-being. The Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) provides funds to assist States in child abuse and neglect prevention, assessment, investigation, prosecution, and treatment activities. In Federal FY 2022, the Administration for Children and Families awarded $91.6 million in CAPTA State grant funding to 50 States, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico to improve their child protective services. The funds were distributed based on the relative share of the child population (younger than age 18). Using a risk-based approach, we will conduct audits of CAPTA State grant funding to determine whether awardees complied with Federal and State requirements for the intake, assessment, screening, and investigation of reports of child abuse or neglect.

There are 2 projects in this series.

COMPLETED PROJECTS IN THIS SERIES (2)

Audits of Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act State Grants: West Virginia

Project OAS-25-01-011 • Completed on September 26, 2025

Audits of Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act State Grants: Maine

Project A-01-23-02500 • Completed on November 7, 2024

TIMELINE

  • May 15, 2023
    Series Number SRS-A-25-005 Assigned
  • May 15, 2023
    Project Announced

    Audits of Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act State Grants: Maine - A-01-23-02500

  • June 15, 2023
    Project Announced

    Audits of Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act State Grants: West Virginia - OAS-25-01-011

  • November 7, 2024
    Project Complete - A-01-23-02500

    Audits of Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act State Grants: Maine has been marked as complete. This audit resulted in 5 recommendations.

  • September 26, 2025
    Project Complete - OAS-25-01-011

    Audits of Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act State Grants: West Virginia has been marked as complete. This audit resulted in 4 recommendations.

  • September 26, 2025
    Series Complete

    Audits of Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act State Grants has been marked as complete.

2 REPORT PUBLISHED

Maine Did Not Comply With Screening, Assessment, and Investigation Requirements for Responding to Reports of Child Abuse and Neglect (A-01-23-02500)

25-A-01-009.01 to ACF - Open Unimplemented
Update expected on 01/08/2026
We recommend that the Maine Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Child and Family Services provide additional training to caseworkers and supervisors as appropriate, to achieve compliance with requirements for the immediate screening, risk and safety assessment, and investigation of reports of child abuse and neglect.

25-A-01-009.02 to ACF - Open Unimplemented
Update expected on 01/07/2026
We recommend that the Maine Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Child and Family Services develop written policies and procedures that require its supervisors to review and approve documentation of caseworker interviews with children and adults.

25-A-01-009.03 to ACF - Open Unimplemented
Update expected on 01/07/2026
We recommend that the Maine Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Child and Family Services develop written policies and procedures that require its supervisors to monitor aging reports on a weekly basis to promptly identify delays in the investigation process.

25-A-01-009.04 to ACF - Open Unimplemented
Update expected on 01/07/2026
We recommend that the Maine Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Child and Family Services develop written policies and procedures that outline the steps a caseworker must take to override a report from screened-out to screened-in and manually input a response time.

25-A-01-009.05 to ACF - Closed Implemented
Closed on 07/07/2025
We recommend that the Maine Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Child and Family Services develop written policies and procedures that requires supporting documentation to be maintained within Katahdin to demonstrate that written notification letters were sent.

View in Recommendation Tracker

West Virginia Did Not Comply With Intake, Screening, Assessment, and Investigation Requirements for Responding to Reports of Child Abuse and Neglect (OAS-25-01-011)

On the basis of our sample results, we estimated that 91 percent of the 100 screened-in family reports for our audit period were not in compliance with 1 or more requirements related to the intake, screening, assessment, and investigation of child abuse and neglect.

25-A-01-124.01 to ACF - Open Unimplemented
Update expected on 03/25/2026
We recommend that the West Virginia Department of Human Services, Bureau for Social Services take appropriate steps to ensure child welfare workers perform all required procedures within the intake assessment and the initial assessment processes as required.

25-A-01-124.02 to ACF - Open Unimplemented
Update expected on 03/25/2026
We recommend that the West Virginia Department of Human Services, Bureau for Social Services provide training to supervisors on the requirement to notify mandated reporters of whether the referral was accepted for assessment or screened out.

25-A-01-124.03 to ACF - Open Unimplemented
Update expected on 03/25/2026
We recommend that the West Virginia Department of Human Services, Bureau for Social Services develop a new system edit to prevent an incorrect safety assessment decision based on the impending safety threats selected.

25-A-01-124.04 to ACF - Open Unimplemented
Update expected on 03/25/2026
We recommend that the West Virginia Department of Human Services, Bureau for Social Services develop written policies and procedures that include a requirement for supervisors to monitor child welfare worker progress to ensure interviews with children and adults are conducted as required; and aging reports on a weekly basis to promptly identify delays in closing out the initial assessment within 30 days as required.

View in Recommendation Tracker
Work Plan Type
Office of Audit Services
HHS Agencies
Administration for Children and Families
Issue Areas
Public Health Issues
Target Groups
Children and Families
Financial Groups
Grants