[Federal Register: August 25, 2008 (Volume 73, Number 165)]
[Notices]               
[Page 50023-50024]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr25au08-55]                         

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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Administration for Children and Families

 
Agency Recordkeeping/Reporting Requirements Under Emergency 
Review by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB)

    Title: Regional Partnership Grant (RPG) Program Data Collection.
    OMB No.: New Collection.
    Description:
    On September 30, 2007, the Administration for Children and Families 
(ACE), Children's Bureau awarded multi-year grants to 53 regional 
partnerships grantees (RPGs) to improve the safety, permanency and 
well-being of children affected by methamphetamine or other substance 
abuse who have been removed or are at-risk of removal from their home. 
The Child and Family Services Improvement Act of 2006, the authorizing 
legislation for the RPG program, required that a set of performance 
indicators be established

[[Page 50024]]

to periodically assess the grantees' progress on achieving certain 
outcomes. The legislation mandated that these performance indicators be 
developed through a consultative process involving ACE, the Substance 
Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), and 
representatives of the State or Tribal agencies who are members of the 
regional partnerships.
    The final set of RPG performance indicators was approved by ACF and 
disseminated to the funded grantees in January 2008. It includes a 
total of 23 indicators across four outcome domains: child/youth (9 
indicators), adult (7 indicators), family/relationship (5 indicators), 
and regional partnership/service capacity (2 indicators). It also 
includes a core set of child and adult demographic elements that will 
provide important context needed to properly analyze, explain and 
understand the outcomes. No other national data collection measures 
these critical child, adult, family, and RPG outcomes specifically for 
these children and families. The data also will have significant 
implications for policy and program development for child well-being 
programs nationwide.
    The purpose of this request is to obtain OMB approval to collect 
this legislatively required performance and outcome data from the RPGs.
    To minimize grantee data collection and reporting burden, many of 
the data elements are already being collected by counties and States in 
order to report Federally-mandated data for the Adoption and Foster 
Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS), the Treatment Episode Data 
Set (TEDS) and the National Outcome Measures (NOMs); in addition, all 
States voluntarily submit data for the Federal National Child Abuse and 
Neglect Data System (NCANDS). Therefore, most child welfare data 
elements included in the RPG performance measures can be found in a 
State's automated case management system, which is often a Federally-
funded Statewide Automated Child Welfare Information System (SACWIS) 
TEDS admission and discharge data are collected by State substance 
abuse agencies according to their own information systems for 
monitoring substance abuse treatment admissions and transmitted monthly 
or quarterly to the SAMHSA contractor.
    In short, as a result of prior Federal government reporting 
requirements, States are already collecting several data elements 
needed by the RPGs. The RPGs can download information from these 
existing State child welfare and substance abuse treatment data systems 
to obtain data to monitor their RPG program outcomes, thereby reducing 
the amount of primary data collection needed.
    Beginning in year two, grantees will submit a data file with their 
required indicator data, according to their final set of indicators, 
every six months.
    Respondents: RPG Grantees.

                                             Annual Burden Estimates
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                     Number of        Average
             Information collection                  Number of     responses per   burden hours    Total burden
                                                    respondents     respondent     per response        hours
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Private Sector..................................              22               2           175.5           7,722
State, Local, or Tribal Governments.............              31               2           175.5          10,881
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 18,603
    Additional Information: ACE is requesting that OMB grant a 90 day 
approval for this information collection under procedures for emergency 
processing by September 30, 2008. A copy of this information 
collection, with applicable supporting documentation, may be obtained 
by calling the Administration for Children and Families, Reports 
Clearance Officer, Robert Sargis at (202) 690-7275.
    Comments and questions about the information collection described 
above should be directed to the Office of Information and Regulatory 
Affairs, Attn: OMB Desk Officer for ACE, Office of Management and 
Budget, Paperwork Reduction Project, 725 17th Street, NW., Washington, 
DC 20503, (202) 395-7316.

    Dated: August 18, 2008.
Robert Sargis,
Reports Clearance Officer.
[FR Doc. E8-19443 Filed 8-22-08; 8:45 am]

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