AFCARS reporting requirements obligate every state and tribal title IV-E child welfare agency to send the federal Administration for Children and Families two electronic, case-level data files twice a year: one covering every child in foster care during the reporting period, and one covering every child with an active adoption or guardianship assistance agreement. The deadlines are May 15 and November 14. Missing them, or submitting data riddled with errors, can cost an agency federal funding.
The requirement sits in Section 479 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. ยง 679), with the operational rules at 45 CFR Part 1355.1Social Security Administration. Social Security Act 4792eCFR. 45 CFR Part 1355 – General
Deadlines and the Two Reporting Periods
AFCARS runs on the federal fiscal year, split into two six-month reporting periods. The first covers October 1 through March 31; the second covers April 1 through September 30. Agencies have 45 days after each period closes to transmit their files, which fixes the hard deadlines at May 15 and November 14. If a deadline lands on a weekend, the submission is due the following Monday.3eCFR. 45 CFR 1355.43
The Two Files You Submit
Each submission consists of two separate electronic files.
The out-of-home care data file covers every child in the reporting population under 45 CFR 1355.44. It must include both the most recent case information and full historical data for case management elements such as placement changes and permanency plan updates. A child whose placement shifted three times during the six-month window shows up with all three moves recorded.3eCFR. 45 CFR 1355.43
The adoption and guardianship assistance data file captures the most recent information on each child who had an active title IV-E assistance agreement on the last day of the reporting period.3eCFR. 45 CFR 1355.43
Which Children Must Be Included
The definition of foster care in 45 CFR 1355.20 is broader than many people assume. It covers any 24-hour substitute care for a child placed away from their parents when a title IV-E agency has placement and care responsibility. A child qualifies regardless of whether the placement is licensed, whether the state or tribe pays for the care, or whether federal matching funds are involved.4eCFR. 45 CFR 1355.20
That sweeps in traditional foster family homes, placements with relatives, group homes, emergency shelters, residential treatment facilities, and preadoptive homes where a child lives before an adoption is finalized. A child sleeping in a grandparent’s spare room under agency supervision has to be reported the same way as a child in a licensed group facility.4eCFR. 45 CFR 1355.20
On the adoption side, the files must capture children who exit care through adoption or legal guardianship, including finalization dates and the terms of assistance agreements. The statute also specifically requires reporting on children who re-enter foster care after a previously finalized adoption or guardianship, and on children in care identified as sex trafficking victims either before or during their placement.1Social Security Administration. Social Security Act 479
Data Elements You Have to Report
Section 1355.44 spells out dozens of individual data points that agencies must report for every child in out-of-home care. They fall into three groups.
Child and Family Demographics
For each child: date of birth, sex, race, and ethnicity. For foster family and kinship placements, agencies also report the age and marital status of each foster parent along with the license or approval status of the home.5eCFR. 45 CFR Part 1355 – General – Section 1355.44
Removal and Placement History
The file must include the date of removal from the home, the specific reasons for removal (physical abuse, sexual abuse, neglect, parental substance use, abandonment, and other categories), the date of each subsequent placement, the type of setting, and the total number of placements in the current removal episode.5eCFR. 45 CFR Part 1355 – General – Section 1355.44
Case Management and Legal Milestones
Agencies report the permanency plan goal for each child: reunification with parents, adoption, legal guardianship, placement with a relative, or another planned permanent living arrangement. The file also carries the key legal dates: when parental rights were terminated, when adoptive or guardianship rights were established, and when a finalized adoption or guardianship took effect.6eCFR. 45 CFR Part 1355 – General – Section 1355.45
Data Quality Rules
Timeliness is only half the requirement. The regulations require that reported information be free of internal contradictions and logically impossible values. A child’s birth date cannot fall after their entry into foster care. A termination-of-parental-rights date cannot precede the removal date. The statute itself calls for data that is “reliable and consistent over time and among jurisdictions through the use of uniform definitions and methodologies.”1Social Security Administration. Social Security Act 479
ACF runs automated validation checks on each submission and produces data quality reports flagging problems. The Children’s Bureau has acknowledged that some counts are released despite known accuracy limitations, in the interest of showing what agencies actually submitted.7Administration for Children and Families. Data and Statistics: AFCARS
What Happens If You Miss or Fail
Title IV-E provides federal reimbursement to states and tribes for foster care maintenance payments, adoption and guardianship assistance, and related administrative costs. Receiving that money depends on meeting the reporting standards the law establishes, and AFCARS submissions are a core part of that.8Administration for Children and Families. Title IV-E Foster Care Eligibility Reviews Fact Sheet
The Children’s Bureau enforces the standard through Title IV-E eligibility reviews, which validate whether reimbursement claims are legitimate and identify improper payments. If more than five cases in the primary review sample fail federal requirements, the agency is found not in substantial compliance. An agency that exceeds a 10 percent threshold for both the case error rate and the dollar error rate faces a disallowance calculated on the total foster care population for the six-month period under review.8Administration for Children and Families. Title IV-E Foster Care Eligibility Reviews Fact Sheet
Agencies found out of compliance must develop and implement a Program Improvement Plan to correct the deficiencies and regain full funding eligibility.8Administration for Children and Families. Title IV-E Foster Care Eligibility Reviews Fact Sheet
Separately, Child and Family Services Reviews (CFSRs) evaluate broader performance on child safety, permanency, and well-being outcomes. CFSRs draw on AFCARS data as a primary source, so weak or inconsistent submissions can drag down performance measures and trigger additional corrective action requirements that affect future grant allocations.
The System Behind the Submission
Few agencies build standalone systems for AFCARS. Most rely on a broader technology platform called the Comprehensive Child Welfare Information System (CCWIS), governed by 45 CFR 1355.52. CCWIS is the backbone of an agency’s child welfare data infrastructure, and AFCARS is one of the federal reports it must support.9Administration for Children and Families. CCWIS Final Rule Data and Reporting Requirements
The CCWIS rules require that data be precisely defined with specified formats and values, relevant to child welfare operations, and capable of electronic monitoring and analysis. Quality processes must be consistently applied to the data stored in the system.9Administration for Children and Families. CCWIS Final Rule Data and Reporting Requirements The practical consequence: an agency’s ability to submit clean AFCARS files depends on how well its CCWIS is configured. A system that lets caseworkers enter contradictory dates or skip required fields will generate error-laden files no matter how diligent individual workers are.
Recent Rule Changes and Phase-Ins
The data elements have not stayed static. A final rule published on December 14, 2016 expanded the collection to include out-of-home care data, information about children exiting to adoption or legal guardianship, data related to the Indian Child Welfare Act, and details on children with title IV-E adoption or guardianship assistance agreements.10Administration for Children and Families. Regulatory Actions
Implementation was pushed back by a 2018 rule and has been phased in over several years. Certain ICWA-related data elements for state agencies are not required until October 1, 2028.3eCFR. 45 CFR 1355.43 Agencies planning system upgrades should map their CCWIS changes against that phased schedule so new fields are ready to populate before each element becomes mandatory.