[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 223 (Friday, November 18, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 71574-71575]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-29811]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Administration for Children and Families


Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request

    Title: Regional Partnership Grant (RPG) Program Data Collection.
    OMB No.: 0970-0353.

Description

    On September 30, 2007, the Administration for Children and Families 
(ACF), Children's Bureau awarded multi-year grants to 53 regional 
partnerships 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 home. 
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' 
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 legislation also requires the Secretary of 
the Department of Health and Human services to submit annually to 
Congress a report that includes the performance indicators established 
under this grant program.
    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.
    The purpose of this request is to obtain OMB approval for an 
extension of the original three year request which was approved on 
March 31, 2009. Forty-three of the original 53 grantees were awarded 
for a five-year grant period, thus necessitating an extension of the 
original request in order to continue data collection for the remainder 
of the grant period. The first submission of RPG grantee data to the 
RPG data collection system occurred in December, 2008, and every six 
months thereafter. Data collection will be conducted for the fifth year 
of the grant period, ending September 30, 2012, with data submission by 
January 2013. Data collection may be extended for one year until 
January 2014 should grantees request and be granted no-cost extensions.
    To minimize grantee data collection and reporting burden, many of 
the data elements are already being collected by counties and States in 
order to report Federally-mandated data to 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 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). 
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 lead agency or their 
state or local partners are able to download information from these 
existing State child welfare and substance abuse treatment data systems 
to obtain data to monitor their RPG program outcomes, thereby reducing 
the amount of primary data collection needed.

Respondents

                                             Annual Burden Estimates
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                Number of      Average  burden
               Instrument                     Number of       responses per       hours per       Total burden
                                             respondents       respondent         response            hours
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Private Sector..........................                17                 2             175.5             5,967
State, Local, or Tribal Government......                26                 2             175.5             9,126
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


[[Page 71575]]

    Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 15,093.

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. Email 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-
7285. Email: [email protected]. Attn: Desk Officer for the 
Administration for Children and Families.

Robert Sargis,
Reports Clearance Officer.
[FR Doc. 2011-29811 Filed 11-17-11; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4184-01-P