Press Releases

Comptroller reveals that ADFAN made improper payments of $1.3 million to foster homes for deceased adults

The Office of the Comptroller of Puerto Rico (OCPR) issued a qualified opinion on the operations of the computerized information systems of the Administration of Families and Children (ADFAN) of the Department of the Family. A qualified opinion is issued when the noncompliance, individually or in the aggregate, is significant but not pervasive.

The Report reveals that ADFAN improperly paid $1,261,529 to 231 foster homes, for 381 adults deceased between April 23, 2018 and February 26, 2022. 63% of these payments were made to 13% of the foster homes, and 37% of the payments to 87% of the foster homes.

This situation could constitute the offenses contemplated in the Penal Code of aggravated illegal appropriation, fraud, ideological falsehood, negligence in the performance of duty, and embezzlement of public funds. It is recommended that the secretary of Justice, the executive director of the Office of Government Ethics, the inspector general of the Federal Social Security Administration, and the secretary of the Family evaluate these situations and take the corresponding measures.

The two-finding audit points out that one of the 381 deceased was registered as a participant in another home after their death. ADFAN did not stop the subsidy and made 27 payments of $18,435 to the two homes.

The auditors detected multiple errors in the registered information of 33 deceased in the Mechanized Payments System to Homes and Creditors (SiMPHA). For example, the payment authorization documentation of 18 deceased participants did not have the note that the service was to be discontinued; the progress notes of nine deceased participants did not have evidence of having been visited; and the last management recorded by the social workers with 18 of the deceased participants had occurred between 19 and 523 days before the death.

The most common causes of these situations are attributed to the fact that the home operators did not notify and on occasion concealed information from ADFAN about the death of the participants. In addition, the absence of visits was due to the COVID pandemic and hurricanes Irma and María, the supervisor of the Finance Division did not have direct access to the system, and ADFAN does not have sufficient human resources.

On the other hand, the audit detected that ADFAN did not have written and approved standards and procedures to control access to the users of the Integrated Case Management System (SIMCa). The examination performed revealed that 40 accounts of 16 users who did not work for the company contracted for case management had not been deactivated, and eight accounts of five users that had not been used for years had not been deactivated.

This situation prevents ADFAN from maintaining effective and efficient control over the access accounts and the assigned privileges. In addition, it encourages unauthorized access and the commission of errors or irregularities.

The Report recommends that the administrator of ADFAN establish an agreement with the Department of Health and the Demographic Registry to have access to the Registry of Deaths. In addition, it must carry out collection efforts with the service providers and carry out efforts with the external company responsible for SiMPHA so that it corrects and determines the reason why the system continued to issue payments to six providers with a service discontinuation date.

The approved budget of ADFAN, for the fiscal years from 2020-21 to 2023-2024, amounted to $242,337,000; $238,470,000, $240,640,000, and $274,878,000, respectively.

This report covers the period from July 1, 2018 to March 31, 2023, and is available at www.ocpr.gov.pr.

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Audit Report OC-25-36 can be obtained on our website: www.ocpr.gov.pr.