[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 142 (Monday, July 25, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Page 48425]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-17403]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Administration for Children and Families


Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request

    Title: State Court Improvement Program.
    OMB No.: 0970-0307.
    Description: The Court Improvement Program (CIP) is a mandatory 
formula grant funded under section 438 of the Social Security Act, and 
most recently reauthorized under the Child and Family Services 
Improvement and Innovation Act of 2012 (Pub. L. 112-34). The purpose of 
the CIP is to facilitate the handling of child welfare cases in the 
courts. All 50 states, Puerto Rico, and the District of Columbia 
receive grants under the program. The program requires two submissions 
annually from grantees that constitute information collections under 
the Paperwork Reduction Act.
    The purpose of this notice is to request an extension of the Office 
of Management and Budget Control Number 0907-0307 permitting continued 
use of the information collections required by ACF-CB-PI-12-02. The 
burden estimates are provided below. The Administration on Children, 
Youth, and Families anticipates issuing a new Program Instruction for 
federal fiscal year 2017.
    Following the publication of the first Federal Register notice, the 
Children's Bureau engaged in a number of outreach activities to seek 
additional input from grantees and experts in the field on how best to 
reduce grantee burden, ensure that the reporting process was useful to 
grantees, and maximize the ability to evaluate the program overall. 
These efforts have resulted in the decision to require one annual 
submission, as opposed to two submissions.
    The annual submission will include: (1) A self-assessment, and (2) 
a strategic plan. The self-assessment requires the grantees to identify 
the topical work areas of the last year, identify strengths, challenges 
and need for technical assistance. The self-assessment has been 
designed with user/grantee input with the intention of minimizing 
burden and maximizing usefulness of the process and product to the 
grantee. The strategic plan identifies projects and activities and 
intended results for the coming year. The strategic plan was also 
developed with grantee input.
    A full application will be due once every five years. The full 
application will require a five year strategic plan, letters of 
commitment from the highest court of appeal and state title IV-E/IV-B 
agency, a budget narrative, and a list of all statewide task force 
members.
    Taken together, the changes reduce the overall burden hours from 
years past and those anticipated in the previous Federal Register 
notice by approximately 50%.
    Respondents: Highest State Court.

                                             Annual Burden Estimates
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                                                                     Number of    Average burden
                   Instrument                        Number of     responses per     hours per     Total burden
                                                    respondents     respondent       response          hours
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Full Application................................              52               1              40           2,080
Updated Strategic Plan..........................              52               1              12             624
Self-Assessment.................................              52               1              36           1,772
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    Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 4,476.

Additional Information

    Copies of the proposed collection may be obtained by writing to the 
Administration for Children and Families, Office of Planning, Research 
and Evaluation, 330 C Street SW., Washington, DC 20201. Attention 
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, Email: 
[email protected], Attn: Desk Officer for the Administration 
for Children and Families.

Robert Sargis,
Reports Clearance Officer.
[FR Doc. 2016-17403 Filed 7-22-16; 8:45 am]
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