[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 67 (Thursday, April 6, 2000)]
[Notices]
[Page 18109]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-8482]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Administration for Children and Families


Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request

    Title: Child Welfare Demonstration Project Information Collection.
    OMB No.: New Collection.
    Description: Under section 1130 of the Social Security Act, the 
Department of Health and Human Services is given authority to approve 
up to ten States for Child Welfare demonstrations in each of the five 
fiscal years 1998-2002. These demonstration projects involve the waiver 
of certain requirements of titles IV-B and IV-E, the sections of the 
Act that govern foster care, adoption assistance, independent living, 
child welfare services, promoting safe and stable families, family 
preservation and support, and related expenses for program 
administration, training, and automated systems. Child Welfare 
demonstration projects operating under this waiver authority are 
required to be consistent with the purposes of existing law, cost-
neutral to the Federal government, and independently evaluated. This 
authority provides an opportunity for States to design and test a wide 
range of approaches to improve and reform child welfare. Such 
demonstrations should provide valuable knowledge that will lead to 
improvements in the delivery, effectiveness and efficiency of services.
    The information collection consists of seven components, which are 
outlined in the Information Memorandum: (1) Application; (2) Initial 
Design and Implementation Report; (3) Evaluation Plan; (4) Quarterly 
Reports (Pre-Implementation); (5) Semi-Annual Reports (Post-
Implementation); (6) Interim Evaluation Report; and (7) Final Report. 
The primary purpose of the demonstrations is to produce information on 
the outcomes for children and their families. These collections lay the 
information infrastructure to facilitate the dissemination of this 
information. If data collection is not conducted for the child welfare 
demonstrations, the Department relinquishes all pertinent information 
required to test the impact of the intervention employed in the 
waivers, specifically the effect of allowing the flexible use of IV-E 
dollars in the delivery of child welfare services. Furthermore, 
ensuring the safety and welfare of children is of utmost importance to 
CB, and if data is conducted less frequently than required by the 
project, interim results that could affect the well-being of children 
can be overlooked.
    Respondents

                                             Annual Burden Estimates
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                                                                            Number of     Average
                                                               Number of    responses      burden       Total
                         Instrument                           respondents      per       hours per      burden
                                                                            respondent    response      hours
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Application.................................................           10            1          120        1,200
Initial design..............................................           55            1           40        2,200
Evaluation plan.............................................           55            1           40        2,200
Quarterly report............................................           55            4           24        1,320
Semi-annual reports.........................................           55            1           80        4,400
Interim evaluation report...................................           55            1          120        6,600
Final report................................................           55            1          160        8,800
                                                             ---------------------------------------------------
    Estimated total annual burden hours.....................  ...........  ...........  ...........       26,720
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    Additional Information: Copies of the proposed collection may be 
obtained by writing to The Administration for Children and Families, 
Office of Information Services, 370 L'Enfant Promenade, S.W., 
Washington, D.C. 20447, Attn: ACF Reports Clearance Officer.
    OMB Comment: OMB is required to make a decision concerning the 
collection of information between 30 and 60 days after publication of 
this document in the Federal Register. Therefore, a comment is best 
assured of having its full effect if OMB receives it within 30 days of 
publication. Written comments and recommendations for the proposed 
information collection should be sent directly to the following: Office 
of Management and Budget, Paperwork Reduction Project, 725 17th Street, 
N.W., Washington, D.C. 20503, Attn: Desk Officer for ACF.

    Dated: March 30, 2000.
Bob Sargis,
Reports Clearance Officer.
[FR Doc. 00-8482 Filed 4-5-00; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4184-01-M