§ 1355.43 Data reporting requirements.

Report periods and deadlines.i.e.,(a) There are two six-month report periods based on the Federal fiscal year: October 1 to March 31 and April 1 to September 30. The title IV-E agency must submit the out-of-home care and adoption assistance data files to ACF within 45 days of the end of the report period ( by May 15 and November 14). If the reporting deadline falls on a weekend, the title IV-E agency has through the end of the following Monday to submit the data file.

Out-of-home care data file.(b) A title IV-E agency must report the information required in § 1355.44 pertaining to each child in the out-of-home care reporting population, in accordance with the following:

(1) The title IV-E agency must report the most recent information for the applicable data elements in § 1355.44(a), (b), and (c).

(2) The title IV-E agency must report the most recent information and all historical information for the applicable data elements in § 1355.44(d) through (i).

(3) For state title IV-E agencies only, regarding only the ICWA-related data elements in § 1355.44(b)(3) through (6) and (i): For a child who entered the out-of-home care reporting population as defined in § 1355.42(a) prior to October 1, 2028 and exits the out-of-home care reporting population on or after October 1, 2028, the state title IV-E agency must report information for the data described in § 1355.44(b)(4)(i) and (ii) and (6)(i) only.

Adoption and guardianship assistance data file.(c) A title IV-E agency must report the most recent information for the applicable data elements in § 1355.45 that pertains to each child in the adoption and guardianship assistance reporting population on the last day of the report period.

Missing information.(d) If the title IV-E agency fails to collect the information for a data element, the title IV-E agency must report the element as blank or otherwise missing. The title IV-E agency is not permitted to default or map missing information that was not collected to a valid response option.

Electronic submission.(e) The title IV-E agency must submit the required data files electronically and in a format according to ACF's specifications.

Record retention.(f) The title IV-E agency must retain all records necessary to comply with the data requirements in §§ 1355.41 through 1355.45. The title IV-E agency's retention of such records is not limited to the requirements of 45 CFR 92.42(b) and (c).

[81 FR 90569, Dec. 14, 2016, as amended at 85 FR 28424, May 12, 2020; 89 FR 96588, Dec. 5, 2024]