[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 109 (Wednesday, June 7, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Page 32966]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 06-5174]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Administration for Children and Families


Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request

    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 Monitoring 
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 answers 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 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 respondents   responses per    Average burden hours     Total burden
                                                           respondent         per  response           hours
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Relationship Quality            215 MCP grantees                     1   116 (average caseload          24,940.
 Instrument for Mentoring        serving a total of                       for MCP grantee).
 Children of Prisoners Program.  approximately 25,000
                                 children in the
                                 active annual
                                 caseload.
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    Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 24,940.
    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: June 1, 2006.
Robert Sargis,
Reports Clearance Officer.
[FR Doc. 06-5174 Filed 6-6-06; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4184-01-M