[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 239 (Wednesday, December 13, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Pages 74923-74924]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 06-9666]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Administration for Children and Families


Proposed Information Collection Activity: Comment Request

Proposed Projects

    Title: Evaluation of the Mentoring Children of Prisoners (MCP) 
Program.
    OMB No. New Collection.
    Description: The Promoting Safe and Stable Families Amendments, as 
reauthorized (2006), amended Title IV-B of the Social Security Act (42 
U.S.C. 629-629e) providing 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 provides children of prisoners 
with caring adult mentors, supporting one-to-one mentoring 
relationships. Research in other populations has shown that such 
relationships can lead to reductions in risk behaviors and improvements 
in academic, behavioral and psychological outcomes in children and 
youth. Although the MCP program was developed based on research 
documenting the efficacy of mentoring as a general intervention 
strategy, it is not yet known whether or not this particular 
intervention yields positive outcomes for the children of prisoners 
population. Little is known about how mentoring relationships work for 
these youth, and how effective mentoring relationships for children of 
prisoners differ from effective mentoring relationships for other 
youth. In addition, little is known about children of prisoners in 
general and thus a survey of MCP program youth has the potential to 
provide important data about this relatively unstudied population.
    The evaluation and data collection proposed in this notice are to 
fulfill the statutory requirement under Section 8, subsection h(1) of 
the Child and Family Services Improvement Act of 2006, as amended, that 
the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services evaluate 
outcomes of the MCP program and report to Congress on the findings. The 
proposed data collections will support a study of the MCP program that 
measures the program's child outcomes and compares these outcomes in 
similar programs. The data collection also will provide general

[[Page 74924]]

information about youth in the program. Finally, the study will include 
an administrative survey of grantees participating in the study. The 
proposed study will include baseline and follow-up surveys (to be 
administered approximately 12 months apart) of youth ages 9-16 in the 
MCP program and will compare changes in key behaviors for program youth 
against changes in behaviors of similar youth not enrolled in mentoring 
programs. By comparing changes for youth in the MCP program against 
changes for youth not in the program, we will be able to determine if 
MCP youths' behaviors are closer to the norm for their age group at 
follow-up than at program intake. If MCP youths' behaviors and outcomes 
are shown to improve relative to other groups, the MCP program has 
demonstrated the potential for positive impacts. The survey also will 
include some general informational questions about youth in the study 
so that HHS, policy makers, and practitioners can have a greater 
understanding of the life circumstances of these youth and of some of 
the challenges they may face.
    The youth surveys will focus on measuring both attitudinal and 
behavioral changes in areas targeted by the MCP program including 
attitudes towards and performance in school; relationships with 
parents, peers and teachers; self-esteem; and engagement in a variety 
of risk behaviors, including alcohol and drug use and physical 
violence. They also will include questions about the living situations 
of youth in the study, their relationships with both incarcerated and 
non-incarcerated caregivers, and their relationships with other 
supportive adults in their communities.
    The administrative survey of grantees will include questions about 
the programmatic structure of each grantee. It will provide information 
about variations in program administration, mentor activities, and 
youth served.
    Respondents: The proposed study sample consists of a cohort of 625 
youth ages 9-16 in MCP programs operated at 10 or more different 
program sites. Survey data will also be collected from approximately 72 
grantees.

                                             Annual Burden Estimates
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                                                                   Number of     Average burden
                  Instrument                       Number of     responses per     hours per       Total burden
                                                  respondents     respondent        response          hours
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Student Baseline Survey.......................             625               1               .5            312.5
Student follow-up Survey......................             500               1               .5            250
Grantee Survey................................              72               1              1               72
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 634.5
    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 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: November 8, 2006.
Robert Sargis,
Reports Clearance Officer.
[FR Doc. 06-9666 Filed 12-12-06; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4184-01-M