[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 92 (Monday, May 13, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 20891-20893]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-09756]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Administration for Children and Families


Proposed Information Collection Activity; Procedural Justice-
Informed Alternatives to Contempt Demonstration Project Data Collection 
(OMB #0970-0505)

AGENCY: Office of Child Support Enforcement; Administration for 
Children and Families; HHS.

ACTION: Request for public comment.

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SUMMARY: The Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE), Administration 
for Children and Families (ACF), U.S. Department of Health and Human 
Services (HHS), is proposing to collect data as part of the rigorous 
evaluation of the Procedural Justice-Informed Alternatives to Contempt 
(PJAC) demonstration.

DATES: Comments due by July 12, 2019. 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.

ADDRESSES: Copies of the proposed collection of information can be 
obtained and comments may be forwarded by emailing 
[email protected]. Alternatively, copies can also be obtained 
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. All requests, emailed or 
written, should be identified by the title of the information 
collection.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 
    Description: The Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE) within 
the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) is proposing a data 
collection activity as part of the Procedural Justice-Informed 
Alternatives to Contempt (PJAC)

[[Page 20892]]

Demonstration. In September 2016, OCSE issued grants to five state 
child support agencies to provide alternative approaches to the 
contempt process with the goal of increasing noncustodial parents' 
compliance with child support orders by building trust and confidence 
in the child support agency and its processes. OCSE also awarded a 
grant to support a rigorous evaluation of PJAC. The PJAC Demonstration 
is a five-year project that allows grantees and OCSE to learn whether 
incorporating principles of procedural justice into child support 
business practices increases reliable child support payments, reduces 
arrears, minimizes the need for continued enforcement actions and 
sanctions, and reduces the use of contempt proceedings.
    The PJAC demonstration will yield information about the efficacy of 
applying procedural justice principles via a set of alternative 
services to the current use of a civil contempt process to address 
nonpayment of child support. It will generate knowledge regarding how 
the PJAC intervention operates, the effects the alternative services 
have, and whether the benefits of this approach exceed the costs. The 
information gathered will help inform future policy decisions related 
to the contempt process within the field of child support enforcement.
    PJAC demonstration will include three interconnected evaluation 
components:
    1. Implementation Study. The implementation study will provide a 
detailed description of the PJAC intervention--how it is implemented, 
whether it was implemented as intended, participant characteristics, 
the contexts in which it is operated, how treatment differed from the 
status quo, and the implications of PJAC practices. The study will 
identify the intervention features and conditions necessary for 
effective replication or improvement of the intervention. Key elements 
of the implementation study include: A Management Information System 
(MIS) for random assignment and data collection on participant 
engagement in PJAC activities; semi-structured interviews with staff 
from child support agencies and selected partner organizations; 
separate semi-structured interviews with study participants and the 
custodial parents connected to their child support case to learn about 
their experiences with and perceptions of the child support program; 
and a staff questionnaire to gather quantitative information on the 
implementation of PJAC services and staff experiences.
    2. Impact Study. The impact study will provide rigorous estimates 
of the effectiveness of the PJAC intervention using an experimental 
research design. Noncustodial parents whose cases are being referred to 
the contempt process will be randomly assigned to either a program 
group that is offered PJAC services or to a control group that is 
offered business-as-usual services. Random assignment will require 
child support program staff to complete a brief data entry protocol. 
The impact study will rely on administrative data from state and county 
child support programs, court records, criminal justice records, and 
data from the National Directory of New Hires. Administrative records 
data will be used to estimate impacts on child support payments, 
enforcement actions, contempt proceedings, and jail stays.
    3. Benefit-Cost Study. The benefit-cost study will estimate the 
costs and benefits associated with the implementation and impact of the 
PJAC interventions. The study will examine the costs and benefits from 
the perspective of the government, noncustodial parents, custodial 
parents, and society. Pertinent benefits and costs will be added 
together to determine the net value of the program for each 
perspective. Key outcomes to be assessed include the cost of PJAC 
interventions, costs for contempt actions, child support payments from 
noncustodial parents (program and control), court costs, and jail time, 
among others. The benefit-cost study will rely on the results of the 
impact study, analysis of participation data from the MIS, and results 
of a staff time study to quantify various PJAC-related costs and 
benefits.
    This notice is specific to the following data collection 
activities: The noncustodial parent participant interviews (these 
interview topic guides were approved under a previous submission and 
require content modification which also significantly lowers the 
collective public burden hours); the staff survey; the staff time 
study; and the custodial parent interviews. Data collection activities 
that were previously approved by OMB, following public comment, are the 
staff data entry on participant baseline information, study MIS to 
track receipt of services, staff and community partner interview topic 
guide, the participant interview topic guide, and the participant 
survey tracking letter. A participant survey has been eliminated from 
the data collections plans, so the OMB-approved participant survey 
tracking letter will no longer be used.
    Respondents: Respondents include study participants, child support 
program staff at the six PJAC demonstration sites, custodial parents 
associated with study participants, and the federal Office of Child 
Support Enforcement.

                                             Annual Burden Estimates
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                                                                   Total number   Average burden
                   Instrument                      Total number    of responses      hours per     Total burden
                                                  of respondents  per respondent     response          hours
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Noncustodial parent participant interview.......              60               1               1              60
Staff Survey....................................              20               1              .5              10
Staff time study................................              30               1             1.5              45
Custodial parent interview......................              60               1               1              60
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    Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 175
    Comments: 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.


[[Page 20893]]


    Authority: 42 U.S.C. 1315.

Mary B. Jones,
ACF/OPRE Certifying Officer.
[FR Doc. 2019-09756 Filed 5-10-19; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4184-41-P