[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 39 (Tuesday, February 28, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Pages 10036-10037]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 06-1817]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Administration for Children and Families


Proposed Information Collection Activity; Comment Request

    Proposed Project:
    Title: Relationship Quality Instrument for Mentoring Children of 
Prisoners Program.
    OMB No.: New Collection.
    Description: The Promoting Safe and Stable Families Amendments of 
2001 (Pub. L. 107-133) amended Title IV-B of the Social Security Act 
(42 U.S.C. 629-629e) to provide funding for nonprofit agencies that 
recruit, screen, train, and support mentors for children with an 
incarcerated parent or parents. The Family and Youth Services Bureau 
(FYSB) of the Administration for Children and Families, United States 
Department of Health and Human Services, administers the Mentoring 
Children of Prisoners (MCP) program. The MCP program creates lasting, 
high-quality one-to-one mentoring relationships that provide young 
people with caring adult role models. The quality of these 
relationships is an important indicator of success in mentoring 
programs.
    Previous research has shown an association between high-quality 
mentoring relationships and positive changes in youth behavior 
associated with positive youth benefits, such as improved school 
attendance, reductions in risk behavior, and other benefits.
    The Relationship Quality Instrument consists of 15 rigorously 
field-tested questions \1\ about the relationship, plus several 
questions that establish context (age, gender, duration of relationship 
and frequency of contacts, etc.). The answer to the questions help 
assess how satisfied the youth (mentee) is with the relationship; 
whether the mentee is happy in the relationship; whether the mentee 
trusts the mentor; and whether the mentor has helped the mentee to cope 
with problems. Researchers in the field of mentoring have tested and 
validated the questions.
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    \1\ Rhodes J., Reddy, R., Roffman, J., and Grossman J.B. (March, 
2005). Promoting Successful Youth Mentoring Relationships: A 
Preliminary Screening Questionnaire. The Journal of Primary 
Prevention, 26:2, 147-167.
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    FYSB requires grantees receiving funding to provide information 
that can be used to evaluate outcomes for participating children. FYSB 
will use the information provided by the instrument to assure effective 
service delivery and program management and

[[Page 10037]]

to guide the development of national monitoring and technical 
assistance systems. Finally, FYSB will use data from this collection 
for reporting program outcomes to Congress in the FY 2006 Performance 
Report during the budget process and as the basis for outcome 
evaluation of the program over the long term.
    Respondents: Public, community- and faith-based organizations 
receiving funding to implement the MCP program.

                                             Annual Burden Estimates
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                                                              Number of
            Instrument                    Number of         responses per   Average burden hours   Total burden
                                         respondents         respondent        per  response           hours
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Relationship Quality Instrument     215 MCP grantees                    1  16 (average caseload           24,940
 for Mentoring Children of           serving a total of                     per MCP grantee).
 Prisoners Program.                  approximately 25,000
                                     children in the
                                     active annual
                                     caseload.
Estimated Total Annual Burden                                                                             24,940
 Hours
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    In compliance with the requirements of section 3506(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: [email protected]. 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 buden 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: February 22, 2006.
Robert Sargis,
Reports Clearance Officer.
[FR Doc. 06-1817 Filed 2-27-06; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4184-01-M