[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 230 (Tuesday, December 1, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 75117-75119]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-30337]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Administration for Children and Families


Proposed Information Collection Activity; Comment Request

    Title: Building Bridges and Bonds (B3) Study: Data Collection.
    OMB No.: New Collection.
    Description: The Administration for Children and Families (ACF), 
Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation (OPRE) proposes to collect 
information as part of the Building Bridges and Bonds (B3) study. B3 
will inform policymakers, program operators, and stakeholders about 
effective ways for fatherhood programs to support fathers in their 
parenting and employment. In particular, partnering with programs that 
serve low-income fathers to promote responsible fatherhood, the B3 
study will examine the effectiveness of strategies used to (1) engage 
fathers in program activities, (2) develop and support parenting and 
co-parenting skills, and (3) advance the employment of disadvantaged 
fathers. B3 will test innovative, evidence-informed approaches that 
will be added to the core components of fatherhood programs and will 
reflect the most recent developments in behavioral science, adult 
skill-building, child development, and other relevant disciplines. The 
study will include up to six sites and specific interventions will vary 
by site.
    B3 includes an impact evaluation and a process study. The impact 
evaluation will involve randomly assigning individuals to a treatment 
or comparison condition and comparing key outcomes. In addition, the 
study will collect information on employment, criminal justice and 
child support outcomes from administrative records. These data will be 
used to estimate the effects of the parenting or employment 
intervention on a range of outcomes including employment; earnings; 
child support; father/child contact, shared activities, and 
relationship quality; father's commitment to his child, parenting 
skills, and parenting efficacy; co-parenting relationship quality; and 
criminal justice outcomes.
    The process study will describe and document each newly established 
intervention and how it operated to provide insight into the treatment 
differentials and the context for interpreting findings of the impact 
study. The process study will also highlight lessons to the field 
including what it takes to engage participants, the challenges sites 
face when implementing the parenting or employment intervention, and 
the participants' perspectives on whether the program components 
offered met their needs.
    Data collection instruments for the B3 study include the following: 
(1) Screening for program eligibility to help ensure that only eligible 
fathers enroll in the study.
    (2) nFORM management information system (MIS) to record study and 
participation information. Note: Only B3-specific burden is included 
with this request. All Responsible Fatherhood Grantees (funded by the 
ACF Office of Family Assistance) are required to use nFORM. nFORM is 
being developed by the Fatherhood and Marriage Local Evaluation and 
Cross-site (FaMLE Cross-site) Project and burden for these sites are 
captured under OMB #0970-0460. (3) Applicant characteristics and 
program operations data for one non-grantee site. We expect most of the 
B3 sites will be federally funded Responsible Fatherhood grantees, but 
it is possible that one site will not and therefore, this request 
includes burden for one site to use nFORM. (4) Baseline and follow-up 
surveys for the impact study. There will be two versions of each 
survey, specific to the intervention tested. (5) Baseline and follow-up 
questionnaires, interviews, focus groups, and surveys to inform the 
process study; these will also be specific to the intervention tested.
    The sites that are part of the B3 study will use a slightly 
modified version of nFORM that includes B-3 specific information, such 
as: (1) B3-specific enrollment data (2) B3-specific information about 
focal child and co-parent in in sites testing a parenting intervention, 
and (3) B3 tracking of child and co-parent attendance in services with 
the father for program group members in sites testing a parenting 
intervention.
    RESPONDENTS: Fathers seeking services from one of the six 
Responsible Fatherhood Programs in the B3 study and staff members 
working at the B3 sites.

[[Page 75118]]



                                             Annual Burden Estimates
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                     Number of    Average burden
           Instrument              Total number    Annual number   responses per     hours per     Annual burden
                                  of respondents  of respondents    respondent       response          hours
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                    Instruments for Recruitment and Screening
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Screening questions for                    4,000           1,333               1            0.03              44
 parenting intervention
 (applicant burden).............
Screening questions for                       48              16              83            0.03              44
 parenting intervention (staff
 burden)........................
Screening questions for                    2,000             667               1            0.17             111
 employment intervention
 (applicant burden).............
Screening questions for                       24               8              83            0.17             111
 employment intervention (staff
 burden)........................
Consent/Assent Materials for               2,500             833               1            0.17             139
 Fathers (applicant burden).....
Consent/Assent Materials for                  72              24              35            0.17             139
 Fathers (staff burden).........
Consent Materials for Parents of             833             278               1            0.17              46
 Fathers under 18 (applicant
 burden)........................
Consent Materials for Parents of              72              24              12            0.17              46
 Fathers under 18 (staff burden)
Recruitment script for parenting           1,500             500               1            0.08              42
 intervention (applicant burden)
Recruitment script for parenting              48              16              31            0.08              42
 intervention (staff burden)....
Recruitment script for                     1,000             333               1            0.08              28
 employment intervention
 (applicant burden).............
Recruitment script for                        24               8              42            0.08              28
 employment intervention (staff
 burden)........................
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                          Instruments for Impact Study
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
B3-specific enrollment data                2,500             833               1            0.12              97
 collected in the nFORM MIS from
 all sample members (applicant
 burden)........................
B3-specific enrollment data                   72              24              35            0.12              97
 collected in the nFORM MIS from
 all sample members (staff
 burden)........................
B3-specific information                      750             250               1            0.17              42
 collected about focal child and
 co-parent in the nFORM MIS from
 program group members in sites
 testing parenting intervention
 (applicant burden).............
B3-specific information                       48              16              16            0.17              42
 collected about focal child and
 co-parent in the nFORM MIS from
 program group members in sites
 testing parenting intervention
 (staff burden).................
B3 tracking of child and co-                  48              16             156            0.01              21
 parent attendance in services
 with the father for program
 group members in sites testing
 parenting intervention (staff
 burden)........................
Additional nFORM burden for non-             600             200               1            0.25              50
 Grantee site (applicant burden)
Additional nFORM burden for non-              12               4           2,625            0.03             363
 Grantee site (staff burden)....
Baseline survey for sites                  1,500             500               1            0.67             333
 testing parenting intervention.
Baseline survey for sites                  1,000             333               1            0.67             222
 testing employment intervention
6 month follow-up survey for               1,200             400               1            0.67             267
 sites testing parenting
 intervention...................
6 month follow-up survey for                 800             267               1            0.67             178
 sites testing employment
 intervention...................
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                          Instruments for Process Study
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In-program participant                     1,500             500               1             0.5             250
 questionnaire for program and
 control group members in sites
 testing parenting intervention.
In-program participant                     1,000             333               1             0.5             167
 questionnaire for program and
 control group members in sites
 testing employment intervention
Staff baseline questionnaire for             208              69               1             0.5              35
 sites testing parenting
 intervention...................
Staff baseline questionnaire for             104              35               1             0.5              17
 sites testing employment
 intervention...................
Staff and management semi-                   160              53               2             1.5             160
 structured interviews for sites
 testing parenting intervention.
Staff and management semi-                    80              27               2             1.5              80
 structured interviews for sites
 testing employment intervention
Staff follow-up questionnaire                160              53               1             1.0              53
 for sites testing parenting
 intervention...................

[[Page 75119]]

 
Staff follow-up questionnaire                 80              27               1             1.0              27
 for sites testing employment
 intervention...................
Participant focus groups........              96              32               1             1.5              48
Mother focus groups in sites                  80              27               1             1.0              27
 testing parenting intervention.
Mobile device process survey....           2,000             667               5            0.08             278
Mobile device employment survey.             400             133               5            0.08              56
Mobile device parenting and co-              600             200               5            0.08              83
 parenting survey...............
Post-workshop questionnaires for             750             250               5            0.05              63
 sites testing parenting
 intervention...................
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 3,876.
    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 
Planning, Research and Evaluation, 330 C Street SW., Washington, DC 
20201, Attn: OPRE Reports Clearance Officer. Email 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.

Robert Sargis,
ACF Reports Clearance Officer.
[FR Doc. 2015-30337 Filed 11-30-15; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4184-73-P