[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 235 (Friday, December 5, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Pages 74175-74176]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-28736]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Administration for Children and Families

 [OMB No.: 0970-0353]


Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request

    Title: Regional Partnership Grant (RPG) Program Data Collection.
    Description: On September 30, 2007, the Administration for Children 
and Families (ACF), Children's Bureau, awarded multi-year grants to 53 
regional partnership grantees (RPGs) to improve the safety, permanency 
and well-being of children affected by methamphetamine or other 
substance abuse who have been removed or are at risk of removal from 
their homes. The Child and Family Services Improvement Act of 2006, the 
authorizing legislation for the RPG program, required that a set of 
performance indicators be established to periodically assess the 
grantees' progress on achieving outcomes. The legislation mandated that 
these performance indicators be developed through a consultative 
process involving ACF, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services 
Administration (SAMHSA), and representatives of the State or Tribal 
agencies who are members of the regional partnerships.
    The final set of RPG performance indicators was approved by ACF and 
disseminated to the funded grantees in January 2008. It includes a 
total of 23 indicators across four outcome domains: child/youth (9 
indicators), adult (7 indicators), family/relationship (5 indicators), 
and regional partnership/service capacity (2 indicators). It also 
includes a core set of child and adult demographic elements that will 
provide important context needed to properly analyze, explain and 
understand the outcomes. No other national data collection measures 
these critical child, adult, family, and RPG outcomes specifically for 
these children and families. The data also will have significant 
implications for policy and program development for child well-being 
programs nationwide.
    To minimize reporting burden, many of the data elements are already 
being collected by counties and States in order to report Federally 
mandated data for the Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting 
System (AFCARS), the Treatment Episode Data Set (TEDS) and the National 
Outcome Measures (NOMs); in addition, all States voluntarily submit 
data for the Federal National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System 
(NCANDS). Therefore, most

[[Page 74176]]

child welfare data elements included in the RPG performance measures 
can be found in a State's automated case management system, which is 
often a Federally funded Statewide Automated Child Welfare Information 
System (SACWIS). If the State elects to implement a SACWIS, the system 
is expected to be a comprehensive automated case management tool that 
meets the needs of all staff involved in foster care and adoption case 
management. A SACWIS is required to support reporting of data to AFCARS 
semi-annually, and annually to NCANDS. AFCARS reports information on 
all children in foster care, while NCANDS reports information on State 
child maltreatment reports. TEDS admission and discharge data are 
collected by State substance abuse agencies according to their own 
information systems for monitoring substance abuse treatment admissions 
and transmitted monthly or quarterly to the SAMHSA contractor.
    As a result of prior Federal government reporting requirements, 
States are already collecting several data elements needed by the RPGs. 
The RPGs can download information from these existing systems to obtain 
data to monitor their program outcomes, thereby reducing the amount of 
primary data collection needed.
    Beginning in year two, grantees will submit a data file with their 
required indicator data, according to their final set of indicators, 
every six months.
    Respondents: RPG Grantees.

                                             Annual Burden Estimates
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                     Number of    Average burden
                   Instrument                        Number of     responses per     hours per     Total burden
                                                    respondents     respondent       response          hours
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
State, local, or Tribal Government..............              31               2          175.50          10,881
Private Sector..................................              22               2          175.50           7,722
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 18,603.
    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, Fax: 202-395-
6974, Attn: Desk Officer for the Administration for Children and 
Families.

     Dated: December 1, 2008.
Janean Chambers,
Reports Clearance Officer.
 [FR Doc. E8-28736 Filed 12-4-08; 8:45 am]
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