A saving is a budget line that falls. Value is a child found sooner, a placement that holds, a harm that does not happen. This page keeps them apart, because decision-makers who are handed the two mixed together rightly trust neither.
The return: a ledger, not a slogan
A working system can save money in six places and create value in a seventh. Here is where the money goes today, where the return comes from, and the rules we hold ourselves to before we put a number on it.
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Paid, recurring, attributable
A ledger, not a slogan
Walk me through it · about three minutes
Six lines a state already pays. No total, until a pilot measures it.
Six lines, already being paid, and five costs a state has paid in documents a state can read.
Before anything changes
Six lines, already being paid.
- 01Repeated screeningsThe same person checked separately for each league, agency or employer, and paying each time.$39.75one Texas fingerprint check for a paid employee, as Texas DFPS publishes it ($37.75 for foster parents and volunteers), paid each time; Pennsylvania’s FBI check for employees and foster parents rises from $24.95 to $27.95 on October 1, 2026sourced
- 02Failed or late reportingA child missing from care who is not reported, or reported late, stays missing longer.47%of episodes never reported to NCMEC and 22% late; 19% not properly reported for NCIC (HHS-OIG estimates, 2018 to 2020). Per-episode search and services cost: state-heldsourcedstate-held
- 03Improper placement paymentsMaintenance paid while a child is absent or a placement is unverified.$650,000nearly, paid in one state for children missing more than 30 days (HHS-OIG, May 2022); 40 state agencies reported procedures that kept paying providers after a child went missing. Absent child-days: state-heldsourcedstate-held
- 04Caseworker timeTravel to visits that do not happen; documentation after the fact.95%of required monthly caseworker visits: the federal standard the time is spent meeting. Visits attempted versus completed, and minutes per record: state-heldstate-held
- 05Audit findings and corrective actionDisallowed federal dollars, improvement plans, consultants.—review reports are public by state; corrective-action budgets are notstate-held
- 06Litigation and monitorsClass actions, court monitors, settlements.$57.3 millionin court-monitor fees Texas reported for its foster-care class action, plus $146.3 million in other agency costs, September 2019 to November 2023sourced
NetNo total until a pilot supplies measured values.
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Scale, for context rather than claims: state child-welfare agencies spent $34.3 billion in SFY2022 (Child Trends); federal child-welfare funding is $11.7 billion in FY2026, most of it Title IV-E (Congressional Research Service).
The six cost lines, with everything that is already known
| Cost line | What it is | What is already known |
|---|---|---|
| Repeated screenings | The same person checked separately for each league, agency or employer, and paying each time. | Texas DFPS publishes $39.75 for a paid employee’s fingerprint check and $37.75 for foster parents and volunteers; Pennsylvania’s FBI check for employees and foster parents rises from $24.95 to $27.95 on October 1, 2026; Little League requires each league to check its coaches, managers and other regular volunteers every year; fingerprint checks of prospective foster and adoptive parents are federally required. sourced |
| Failed or late reporting | A child missing from care who is not reported, or reported late, stays missing longer. | 47% of episodes never reported to NCMEC and 22% late; 19% not properly reported for NCIC (HHS-OIG estimates, 2018 to 2020). Georgia: 1,790 children reported missing from care in 2018 to 2022; NCMEC identified 410 as likely victims of child sex trafficking. sourced Per-episode search and services cost: state-held |
| Improper placement payments | Maintenance paid while a child is absent or a placement is unverified. | 40 state agencies reported procedures that kept paying providers after a child went missing, and one state paid nearly $650,000 for children missing more than 30 days (HHS-OIG, 2022); GAO has faulted how the improper-payment rate is estimated. sourced Absent child-days: state-held |
| Caseworker time | Travel to visits that do not happen; documentation after the fact. | Standard: 95% of required monthly visits. Visits attempted versus completed, and minutes per record: state-held |
| Audit findings and corrective action | Disallowed federal dollars, improvement plans, consultants. | Review reports are public by state; corrective-action budgets are not. state-held |
| Litigation and monitors | Class actions, court monitors, settlements. | Texas reported $57.3 million in court-monitor fees plus $146.3 million in other agency costs for its foster-care class action, September 2019 to November 2023. sourced |
Paid, recurring, documented
A verification failure with a dollar figure
What the record already shows
None of these is a projection. Each is a cost a state has paid, in a document a state can read.
Paid, recurring, attributable
Five costs a state has paid, in documents a state can read.
- 01A Title IV-E disallowance$786,971West Virginia’s 2024 primary review · ACFsourced
- 02Withheld after a failed plan$3,815,286from Illinois after a failed CFSR improvement plan, for 2008–2013 · HHS Departmental Appeals Board No. 2734sourced
- 03One year of litigation defense$5.23 millionmore than this, paid to one firm defending Texas foster-care litigation, October 2023 to October 2024 · reporting by Bloomberg Lawsourced
- 04Administration per child$2,576a month, average in-placement administration, FY2023, with a state range of $263 to $10,041; average monthly administrative cost per child rose 40% from FY2019 to FY2023 while the number of children fell · HHS/ASPE, Feb. 2026sourced
- 05Each caseworker who leaves$54,000Texas DFPS’s estimate of each departure’s cost; 1,346 caseworkers left in fiscal 2013, a $72.7 million impact · Texas Sunset Advisory Commission, May 2014sourced
Avoided costNo validated dollar figure exists yet: GAO found the FY2010 foster-care improper-payment estimate not statistically valid, and OIG reports that the latest estimates do not yet cover all states (six in FY2024, 26 in FY2025). A pilot with agreed baselines produces the number.
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Detail: The foster care compliance gap.
The five figures as first written, with their sources
- $786,971 West Virginia’s 2024 Title IV-E primary review disallowance · ACF
- $3,815,286 withheld from Illinois after a failed CFSR improvement plan, for 2008–2013 · HHS Departmental Appeals Board No. 2734
- More than $5.23 million paid to one firm for Texas foster-care litigation defense in one year, October 2023 to October 2024 · reporting by Bloomberg Law
- $2,576 a month per child average in-placement administration, FY2023, with a state range of $263 to $10,041; average monthly administrative cost per child rose 40% from FY2019 to FY2023 while the number of children fell · HHS/ASPE, Feb. 2026
- $54,000 per caseworker who leaves Texas DFPS’s estimate of each departure’s cost; 1,346 caseworkers left in fiscal 2013, a $72.7 million impact · Texas Sunset Advisory Commission, May 2014
No validated dollar figure for avoided cost exists yet, because GAO found the FY2010 foster-care improper-payment estimate not statistically valid, and OIG reports that the latest estimates do not yet cover all states (six in FY2024, 26 in FY2025). A pilot with agreed baselines produces the number. Detail: The foster care compliance gap.
Seven places a verified record changes what a state spends. The seventh is a public benefit, counted as value rather than savings.
What we claim, and what we do not
Four rules govern every number on this page. The first is that the size of the problem is never quoted as the size of the return.
- “Billions” describes the size of the problem, with its source. It is not used for the size of the return until one is measured.
- Returns are published as ranges from pilot-measured changes, attributed by an independent evaluator, net of the state’s own costs.
- Fiscal savings and social value are reported separately.
- Every figure carries its source or its tag.
Every input tagged public, state-held or assumption. A second film walks the arithmetic line by line, and how the federal share works.
Walk me through it · about three minutes
A ledger any state can fill in. Every input tagged: public, state-held, or assumption.
One state, one year
Every input tagged: public, state-held, or an assumption.
Assumptions are replaced by pilot measurements before anything is published.
- Ppublic figure
- Sstate-held figure
- Aassumption, replaced by a pilot measurement
- 01Screeningchecks per yearS×duplication shareSA×(feeP+admin hours × wageP)−cost of the credential
- 02ReportingReported as a range, kept apart from any harm-avoided estimateepisodesPS×reduction in the unreported and late share, measured in pilot×cost per episodeSA
- 03Paymentsabsent child-days detected×daily rateP+avoided disallowancesS
- 04Caseworker timevisitsP×failed-visit shareS×time lost×wageP+visits×documentation minutes saved×wage
- 05Audit and litigationhistorical annual costS×a conservative attribution shareA
- 06CostsFComply’s fees (no price for states is published)+integration+training+change management+agency review time−federal share where Title IV-E or CCWIS rules allow
NetSum of savings minus costs, with the federal and state split shown, a sensitivity table on the three assumptions, and no total published until a pilot supplies measured values.
The ledger as a table
| Line | Formula |
|---|---|
| Screening | checks per year S × duplication share S/A × (fee P + admin hours × wage P) − cost of the credential |
| Reporting | episodes P/S × reduction in the unreported and late share (measured in pilot) × cost per episode S/A — reported as a range, kept apart from any harm-avoided estimate |
| Payments | absent child-days detected × daily rate P + avoided disallowances S |
| Caseworker time | visits P × failed-visit share S × time lost × wage P + visits × documentation minutes saved × wage |
| Audit and litigation | historical annual cost S × a conservative attribution share A |
| Costs | FComply’s fees (no price for states is published), integration, training, change management, agency review time, less the federal share where Title IV-E or CCWIS rules allow |
| Net | sum of savings minus costs, with the federal and state split shown, a sensitivity table on the three assumptions, and no total published until a pilot supplies measured values |
Six lines, one afternoon
Baseline first, then the claim
How the federal share works (Title IV-E’s 50% and 75% rates, the CCWIS rules and why effective rates run lower) is in the ledger film above from 2:11. Read next: How it would roll out, or the problem in two pages.
Sources for this section
Sources: HHS-OIG A-07-21-06102, A-07-21-06104 and A-07-20-06095; Texas DFPS and Pennsylvania DHS fee schedules; Little League background-check requirements; ACF Title IV-E review reports; GAO-12-312 and HHS-OIG payment-integrity reviews; Texas DFPS court-monitor fee report (FY2024 Q1); Child Trends child-welfare financing survey (SFY2022); Congressional Research Service IF10590; 45 CFR 1356.60, 45 CFR 1355.57 and 45 CFR 95.611. Prepared September 2026. The documents behind the figures on this page are listed in Supporting material.
Frequently asked questions
Does FComply claim to save billions?
No. “Billions” describes the size of the problem — state child-welfare agencies spent more than $34 billion in their 2022 fiscal year and federal child-welfare funding is $11.7 billion in 2026 — not the size of a return we have measured. The lines a compliance system touches are subsets of that spending, built up line by line.
Why is there no total on this page?
Because a total that is not measured is a slogan. The ledger above shows the formula for each line and tags every input as public, state-held or an assumption. Totals appear when a pilot supplies measured values and an independent evaluator attributes them.
What is the difference between savings and value?
A saving is a budget line that falls: a duplicate screening not paid for, a payment not made for a child who was not there, a caseworker hour returned. Value is a child found sooner or a harm avoided. Both are real. Only the first is called savings here.
What does a state pay?
FComply has not published a price for states. Its offer for people and organizations that pay their own way is Complied ID at $49 to enroll, government fees included, then $10 a year to renew. A state’s price would be quoted after scoping, alongside a funding memo that shows which costs Title IV-E reimburses and at what rate, and what remains general fund.
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