[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 9 (Thursday, January 13, 2005)]
[Notices]
[Pages 2410-2411]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 05-678]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Administration for Children and Families


Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request

    Title: Fourth National Incidence Study of Child Abuse and Neglect.
    OMB No.: 0970-0276.
    Description: The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) 
intends to issue letters to recruit agencies for participation in the 
next National Incidence Study of Child Abuse and Neglect (NIS). This 
will be the fourth cycle of this periodic study. NIS-1, mandated under 
Public Law (Pub. L.) 93-247 (1974), was conducted in 1979 and 1980 and 
reported in 1981. NIS-2 was mandated under Pub. L. 98-457 (1984), 
conducted in 1986 and 1987 and reported in 1988. NIS-3 was mandated 
under both the Child Abuse Prevention, Adoption, and Family Services 
Act of 1988 (Pub. L. 100-294) and the Child Abuse, Domestic Violence, 
Adoption and Family Services Act of 1992 (Pub. L. 102-295), was 
conducted between 1993 and 1995 and published in 1996. NIS-4, mandated 
by the Keeping Children and Families Safe Act of 2003 (Pub. L. 108-36), 
will be reported in 2006.
    NIS is unique in that it goes beyond the abused and neglected 
children who come to the attention of the Child Protective Services 
(CPS) system. In contrast to the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data 
Systems (NCANDS), which rely solely on reported cases, the NIS design 
assumes that reported children represent only a portion of the children 
who actually are maltreated. Following the implications of its 
assumptions, NIS estimates the scope of the maltreated child population 
by combining information about reported cases with data on maltreated 
children identified by professionals (called ``sentinels'') who 
encounter them during the normal course of their work in a wide range 
of agencies in representative communities. Sentinels are asked to 
remain on the lookout for children they believe are maltreated during 
the study reference period and to provide information about those 
children. Children identified by sentinels and those whose alleged 
maltreatment is investigated by CPS during the same period are 
evaluated against standardized definitions, and only children who meet 
the study standards are used to develop the study estimates. The study 
estimates are couched in terms of numbers of maltreated children, with 
data unduplicated so a given child is counted only once. 
Confidentiality of all participants is carefully protected.
    A nationally representative sample of 120 counties will be selected 
and all local CPS agencies serving the selected counties will be 
identified. Plans will be developed to obtain data on cases 
investigated during the study reference period, September 4 to December 
3, 2005. Sentinels in the selected counties will be identified through 
samples of agencies in 11 categories: county juvenile probation 
departments, sheriff (and/or state police) departments, public health 
departments, public housing departments, municipal police departments, 
hospitals, schools, day care centers, social service agencies, mental 
health agencies, and shelters for battered women or runaway/homeless 
youth. A total of approximately 1,600 sentinel agencies will be 
sampled. Plans will be developed to identify staff in these agencies 
who have direct contact with children to serve as sentinels during the 
study by submitting data on maltreated children they encounter during 
the study reference period. In preparation for the study, letters will 
be sent to the directors of the selected agencies asking them to permit 
their agencies to participate in NIS-4, and describing the general 
nature of the data collection effort. HHS will issue a subsequent 
notice of proposed data collection for this study after data collection 
plans are developed.
    Respondents: National CPS Agencies and National Sentinel Agencies.

[[Page 2411]]



                                             Annual Burden Estimates
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                     Number of        Average
                   Instrument                        Number of     responses per   burden hours    Total burden
                                                    respondents     respondent     per response        hours
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Letter to CPS Agencies..........................             120               1             .20              24
Letter to Sentinel Agencies.....................           1,600               1             .20             320
                                                          12,000               1             .20          2,400
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 2,744.

    Additional Information: Copies of the proposed collection may be 
obtained 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. All requests should be identified by the title of the 
information collection. E-mail address: [email protected].
    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, Attn: Desk 
Officer for ACF, E-mail address: [email protected].

    Dated: January 6, 2005.
Robert Sargis,
Reports Clearance Officer.
[FR Doc. 05-678 Filed 1-12-05; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4184-01-M