[Federal Register: August 26, 2008 (Volume 73, Number 166)]
[
Notices]               
[Page 50333]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr26au08-72]                         

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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES



Administration for Children and Families



 
Proposed Information Collection Activity; Comment Request 

Proposed Projects



    Title: Regional Partnership Grant (RPG) Program Data Collection.

    OMB No.: New Collection.

    Description: On September 30, 2007, the Administration for Children 

and Families (ACF), Children's Bureau, awarded multi-year grants to 53 

regional partnership grantees (RPG5) 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 homes. 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 to periodically assess the 

grantees' progress on achieving outcomes. The legislation mandated that 

these performance indicators be developed through a consultative 

process involving ACS, 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 ACS 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.

    To minimize 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). If the State 

elects to implement a SACWIS, the system is expected to be a 

comprehensive automated case management tool that meets the needs of 

all staff involved in foster care and adoption case management. A 

SACWIS is required to support reporting of data to AFCARS semi-

annually, and annually to NCANDS. AFCARS reports information on all 

children in foster care, while NCANDS reports information on State 

child maltreatment reports. 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.

    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 systems to obtain 

data to monitor their 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 burden

                   Instrument                        Number of     responses per     hours per     Total burden

                                                    respondents     respondent       response          hours

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

State, local, or Tribal Government..............              31               2          175.50          10,881

Private Sector..................................              22               2          175.50           7,722

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



    Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 18,603.

    In compliance with the requirements of Section 506(c)(2)(A) of the 

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the Administration for Children and 

Families is soliciting public comment on the specific aspects of the 

information collection described above. Copies of the proposed 

collection of information can be obtained and comments may be forwarded 

by writing to the Administration for Children and Families, Office of 

Administration, Office of Information Services, 370 L'Enfant Promenade, 

SW., Washington, DC 20447, Attn: ACF Reports Clearance Officer. E-mail 

address: infocollection@acf.hhs.gov. All requests should be identified 

by the title of the information collection.

    The Department specifically requests comments on: (a) Whether the 

proposed collection of information is necessary for the proper 

performance of the functions of the agency, including whether the 

information shall have practical utility; (b) the accuracy of the 

agency's estimate of the burden of the proposed collection of 

information; (c) the quality, utility, and clarity of the information 

to be collected; and (d) ways to minimize the burden of the collection 

of information on respondents, including through the use of automated 

collection techniques or other forms of information technology. 

Consideration will be given to comments and suggestions submitted 

within 60 days of this publication.



    Dated: August 18, 2008.

Janean Chambers,

Reports Clearance, Officer.

 [FR Doc. E8-19562 Filed 8-25-08; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4184-01-P