[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 51 (Thursday, March 15, 2018)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 11449-11450]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-05042]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Administration for Children and Families

45 CFR Part 1355

RIN 0970-AC72


Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System

AGENCY: Children's Bureau (CB), Administration on Children Youth and 
Families (ACYF), Administration for Children and Families (ACF), 
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

ACTION: Advance notice of proposed rulemaking.

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SUMMARY: ACF is seeking public suggestions, in particular from state 
and tribal title IV-E agencies and Indian tribes and tribal consortiums 
and other stakeholders, for streamlining the Adoption and Foster Care 
Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS) data elements and removing any 
undue burden related to reporting AFCARS.

DATES: Comments on this advance notice of proposed rulemaking must be 
received by June 13, 2018.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by [docket number and/or 
RIN number], by one of the following methods:
     Federal eRulemaking Portal: https://www.regulations.gov. 
Follow the instructions for submitting comments.
     Email: [email protected]. Include [docket number and/
or RIN number] in subject line of the message.
     Mail: Written comments may be submitted to Kathleen 
McHugh, United States Department of Health and Human Services, 
Administration for Children and Families, Director, Policy Division, 
330 C Street SW, Washington, DC 20024. Please be aware that mail sent 
in response to this ANPRM may take an additional 3 to 4 days to process 
due to security screening of mail.
    Instructions: When commenting, please identify the topic, data 
element, or issue to which your comment pertains. All submissions 
received must include the agency name and docket number or Regulatory 
Information Number for this rulemaking. All comments received will be 
posted without change to https://www.regulations.gov, including any 
personal information provided.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kathleen McHugh, Division of Policy, 
Children's Bureau at (202) 401-5789.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This advance notice of proposed rulemaking 
(ANPRM) has two sections: Background that describes the authority on 
which the ANPRM is based and establishes the rationale for its 
issuance, and Questions for Comment wherein we solicit comment on the 
AFCARS regulations.

I. Background

    Section 479 of the Social Security Act (the Act) requires HHS to 
regulate a data collection system for national adoption and foster care 
data that provides comprehensive national information on the following:
     Demographic characteristics of adopted and foster children 
and their biological and adoptive or foster parents;
     Status and characteristics of the foster care population;
     Number and characteristics of children entering and 
exiting foster care, children adopted or for whom adoptions have been 
terminated, and children placed in foster care outside of the state 
which has placement and care responsibility for them;
     Extent and nature of assistance provided by government 
programs for foster care and adoption and the characteristics of the 
children that receive the assistance; and
     Number of foster children identified as sex trafficking 
victims before entering and while in foster care.
    Section 474(f) of the Act requires HHS to impose penalties for non-
compliant AFCARS data. Section 1102 of the Act instructs the Secretary 
to promulgate regulations necessary for the effective administration of 
the functions for which HHS is responsible under the Act.
    We published a final rule to revise the AFCARS regulations on 
December 14, 2016 (81 FR 90524) and required title IV-E agencies to 
continue to report AFCARS data in accordance with Sec.  1355.40 and the 
appendix to part 1355 until September 30, 2019 and provided two fiscal 
years for title IV-E agencies to comply with Sec. Sec.  1355.41 through 
1355.47 of the final rule. In a notice of proposed rulemaking published 
elsewhere in this issue of the Federal Register, we propose to delay 
the compliance dates in regulations and the effective date of revisions 
to the AFCARS regulations made in the final rule from October 1, 2019, 
to October 1, 2021.
    The final rule was a culmination of two notices of proposed 
rulemaking (issued January 11, 2008 (73 FR 2082) and February 9, 2015 
(80 FR 7132)) and a supplemental notice of proposed rulemaking (issued 
April 7, 2016 (81 FR 20283)). The final rule updated the AFCARS 
regulations to include child welfare legislative changes that occurred 
since 1993, included data elements related to the Indian Child Welfare 
Act of 1978 (ICWA), and implemented fiscal penalties for noncompliant 
AFCARS data.
    On February 24, 2017, the President issued Executive Order 13777 on 
Enforcing the Regulatory Reform Agenda to lower regulatory burdens on 
the American people. In response to the President's direction that 
federal agencies establish a Regulatory Reform Task Force to review 
existing regulations and make recommendations regarding their repeal, 
replacement, or modification, we have identified the AFCARS regulation 
as one in which the reporting burden may impose costs that exceed 
benefits. We are specifically

[[Page 11450]]

soliciting comments on the data elements and their associated burden 
through this ANPRM.
    Public comments to this ANPRM will allow us to assess whether and 
how we can potentially reduce burden on title IV-E agencies to report 
AFCARS data while still adhering to the requirements of section 479 of 
the Act and collecting useful data that will inform efforts to improve 
the child welfare system. We encourage state and tribal title IV-E 
agencies that did not previously comment to do so now. Some state title 
IV-E agencies provided in their previous comments specific information 
on compliance cost and burden estimates; however, we received too few 
estimates to reference for calculating the cost and burden associated 
with this final rule. We encourage agencies to be as specific as 
possible when commenting on this ANPRM. We will take comments and 
estimates into consideration in revising the regulation.
    For a full picture of the AFCARS regulation, we invite commenters 
to review the AFCARS regulation and accompanying information that CB 
issued on our website, which can be found here: https://www.acf.hhs.gov/cb/laws-policies/whats-new.

II. Questions for Comment

    1. Identify the data elements, non-ICWA-related, that are overly 
burdensome for state and tribal title IV-E agencies and explain why. 
Please be specific in identifying the data elements and provide a 
rationale for why collecting and reporting this information is overly 
burdensome. If possible, provide specific cost and burden estimates 
related to the following areas:
    a. Recordkeeping hours spent annually:
    i. Searching data sources, gathering information, and entering the 
information into the electronic case management system,
    ii. Developing or modifying procedures and systems to collect, 
validate, and verify the information and adjusting existing procedures 
to comply with AFCARS requirements, and
    iii. Training and administrative tasks associated with training 
personnel on the AFCARS requirements (e.g., reviewing instructions, 
developing the training and manuals).
    b. Reporting hours spent annually extracting the information for 
AFCARS reporting and transmitting the information to ACF.
    2. Previously, we received comments regarding burden and the system 
changes needed to report the ICWA-related data elements of the 2016 
SNPRM. We would like to receive more detailed comments on the specific 
limitations we should be aware of that states will encounter in 
reporting the ICWA-related data elements in the final rule. Please be 
specific in identifying the data elements and provide a rationale for 
why this information is overly burdensome. If possible, provide 
specific cost and burden estimates related to the following areas:
    a. The number of children in foster care who are considered Indian 
children as defined in ICWA.
    b. Recordkeeping hours spent annually:
    i. Searching data sources, gathering information, and entering the 
information into the electronic case management system,
    ii. Developing or modifying procedures and systems to collect, 
validate, and verify the information and adjusting existing ways to 
comply with AFCARS requirements, and
    iii. Training and administrative tasks associated with training 
personnel on the AFCARS requirements (e.g., reviewing instructions, 
developing the training and manuals).
    c. Reporting hours spent annually extracting the information for 
AFCARS reporting and transmitting the information to ACF.
    3. Previously, we received comments that particular data elements 
did not lend themselves to national statistics and were best assessed 
with qualitative methods such as case review. Please provide specific 
recommendations on which data elements in the regulation to retain that 
are important to understanding and assessing the foster care population 
at the national level. Also, provide a rationale for your suggestion 
that may include its relevance to monitor compliance with the title IV-
B and IV-E programs or another strong justification for using the data 
at the national level.
    4. Previously we received comments noting concerns with variability 
in some of the data elements across states and within jurisdictions. 
Please provide specific suggestions to simplify data elements to 
facilitate the consistent collection and reporting of AFCARS data. 
Also, provide a rationale for each suggestion and how the 
simplification would still yield pertinent data.
    5. Previously we received comments questioning the utility, 
reliability, and purpose of certain data elements at the national 
level. Provide specific recommendations on which data elements in the 
regulation to remove because they would not yield reliable national 
information about children involved with the child welfare system or 
are not needed for monitoring the title IV-B and IV-E programs. Please 
be specific in identifying the data elements and provide a rationale 
for why this information would not be reliable or is not necessary.

    Dated: February 27, 2018.
Steven Wagner,
Acting Assistant Secretary for Children and Families.
    Approved: March 8, 2018.
Alex M. Azar II,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2018-05042 Filed 3-13-18; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4184-25-P