From fiscal years 2003 through 2011, ORR cared for fewer than 10,000 unaccompanied children per year. Beginning in fiscal year 2012, the number of unaccompanied children apprehended at the southwest border by DHS and transferred to ORR custody rose to unprecedented levels and peaked in fiscal year 2014 at nearly 57,500 (see fig. 1). While the number of children served by ORR in fiscal year 2015 was less than the number served in fiscal year 2014, it was still higher than in previous years. Further, DHS data show that the number of unaccompanied children apprehended at the southwest border in fiscal 2016 through January is more than double the number apprehended during the same time period in fiscal year 2015. In response to the increased number of unaccompanied children in recent years, particularly in fiscal year 2014, ORR increased its shelter capacity (the number of beds it has available). We found that ORR was initially unprepared to care for the rapid increase in children needing services; however, ORR solicited new grantees to provide shelter services in both 2013 and 2014 and awarded additional cooperative agreements. From fiscal year 2011 through June of fiscal year 2015, the number of ORR grantees increased from 27 that operated 59 facilities to 57 that operated 140 facilities, and the number of beds available to serve unaccompanied children increased from almost 1,900 to nearly 7,800. The number of beds ORR needs depends on the number of unaccompanied children in its custody and how long these children stay in grantee facilities before they can be placed with sponsors. To further manage its capacity to care for the increased number of children, ORR updated policies and procedures to reduce the number of days children spend in its custody and expedite their release to sponsors. Specifically, ORR simplified documentation requirements for sponsors by eliminating notarization requirements and allowing photocopies (rather than original copies) of supporting documentation, such as birth certificates. ORR also removed the fingerprinting component of background checks for parents and legal guardians with no criminal or child abuse history, reduced the maximum number of days between approval of a child’s release and actual discharge, and in some cases paid for a child’s travel to the sponsor. According to shelter staff, these changes were feasible, in part, because most children come with contact information for a relative who can serve as a sponsor. Agency officials also noted that they can now more quickly release children to their parents or other relatives. We also found that ORR is taking other actions to ensure it has the capacity to meet demand caused by increases in the number of unaccompanied children and to minimize the risks of not being able to provide care and services to these children. Specifically, ORR developed a framework for fiscal year 2015 that included plans and steps to manage its capacity, based in part on the record levels of children needing care in 2014. This framework outlines its plans to continually monitor data on the referrals of unaccompanied children and other indicators, such as apprehensions and releases, to help it assess its capacity needs. It also includes key information ORR should have and mechanisms that should be in place to meet its needs, such as an inventory of available beds, timelines and decision points for determining if and when bed capacity should be increased, and ways to operationalize these decisions. ORR’s bed capacity framework for fiscal year 2015 was based on the number of children served in fiscal year 2014. The number of children referred to ORR through most of fiscal year 2015, while high by historical standards, was less than expected, and ORR grantees had many unoccupied beds. However, the number of referrals began increasing toward the end of the summer and has remained relatively high through the beginning of fiscal year 2016. While developing the framework was a positive step and ORR officials said they continue to use the capacity framework as a “roadmap,” we found that they have not updated this framework for fiscal year 2016 and have not established a systematic approach to update the framework on an annual basis to account for new information so that it remains current and relevant to changing conditions. According to federal standards for internal control, an agency’s processes for decision making should be relevant to changing conditions and completely and accurately documented. We concluded that not having a documented and continually updated process for capacity planning may hinder ORR’s ability to be prepared for an increase in unaccompanied children while at the same time minimizing excess capacity to conserve federal resources. We recommended in our February 2016 report that the Secretary of HHS direct ORR to develop a process to update this bed capacity framework on an annual basis. HHS concurred with our recommendation. ORR relies on grantees to provide care for unaccompanied children, such as housing and educational, medical, and therapeutic services, and to document in children’s case files the services they provide. However, in our February 2016 report we found that documents were often missing from the 27 randomly selected case files we reviewed. Specifically, 14 case files were missing a legal presentation acknowledgement form, 10 were missing a record of group counseling sessions, and 5 were missing clinical progress notes. Grantees are required to provide these services and document that they did so. In addition, we identified several cases in which forms that were present in the files were not signed or dated. Although ORR uses its web-based data system to track some information about the services children receive, and grantees report on the services they provide in their annual reports, the documents contained in case files are the primary source of information about the services provided to individual children. Without all of the documents included in the case files, it is difficult for ORR to verify that required services were actually provided in accordance with ORR policy and cooperative agreements. ORR’s most comprehensive monitoring of grantees occurs during on-site monitoring visits. However, we found that onsite visits to facilities has been inconsistent. According to ORR documents, during on-site monitoring visits, ORR project officers spend a week at facilities touring, reviewing children’s case files and personnel files, and interviewing children and staff. Prior to fiscal year 2014, project officers were supposed to conduct on-site monitoring of facilities at least once a year. However, our review of agency data found that many facilities went several years without receiving a monitoring visit. For example, ORR did not visit 15 facilities for as many as 7 years. In 2014, ORR revised its on- site monitoring program to ensure better coverage of grantees and implemented a biennial on-site monitoring schedule. Nevertheless, ORR did not meet its goal to visit all of its facilities by the end of fiscal year 2015, citing lack of resources. Monitoring visits are intended to provide an opportunity to identify program deficiencies or areas where programs are failing to comply with ORR policies. According to standards for internal control, management should establish and operate monitoring activities to monitor the internal control system and evaluate the results. Monitoring generally should be designed to assure that it is ongoing and occurs in the course of normal operations, is performed continually, and is ingrained in the agency’s operations. We concluded that without consistently monitoring its grantees, ORR cannot know whether they are complying with their agreements and that children are receiving needed services. We recommended in our February 2016 report that the Secretary of HHS direct ORR to review its monitoring program to ensure that onsite visits are conducted in a timely manner, case files are systematically reviewed as part of or separate from onsite visits, and that grantees properly document the services they provide to children. HHS concurred, and in its response to the report described several of its other monitoring efforts, and stated that it has created a new monitoring initiative workgroup to examine opportunities for further improvement. ORR grantees that provide day-to-day care of unaccompanied children are responsible for identifying and screening sponsors prior to releasing children to them. During children’s initial intake process, case managers ask them about potential sponsors with whom they hope to reunite. Within 24 hours of identifying potential sponsors, case managers are required to send them a Family Reunification Application to complete. The application includes questions about the sponsor and other people living in the sponsor’s home, including whether anyone in the household has a contagious disease or criminal history. Additionally, the application asks for information about who will care for the child if the sponsor is required to leave the United States or becomes unable to provide care. Sponsors are also asked to provide documents to establish their identity and relationship to the child. Grantees conduct background checks on potential sponsors. The types of background checks conducted depend on the sponsor’s relationship to the child (see table 1). In certain circumstances prescribed by the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act or ORR policy, a home study must also be conducted before the child is released to the sponsor. Additionally, in certain situations, such as where there is a documented risk to the safety of the unaccompanied child, the child is especially vulnerable, and/or the case is being referred for a mandatory home study, other household members are also subjected to background checks. In our February 2016 report, we found that between January 7, 2014, and April 17, 2015, nearly 52,000 children from El Salvador, Guatemala, or Honduras were released to sponsors by ORR. Of these children, nearly 60 percent were released to a parent. Fewer than 9 percent of these children were released to a non-familial sponsor, such as a family friend, and less than 1 percent of these children were released to a sponsor to whom their family had no previous connection (see table 2). In the fall of 2014, ORR officials told us that they had not seen evidence that adults are fraudulently sponsoring unaccompanied children.