[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 224 (Wednesday, November 20, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 64079-64080]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-25157]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Administration for Children and Families


Request for Information; Innovative Approaches and Knowledge Gaps 
Related To Enhancing Nonresident Parents' Ability To Support Their 
Children Economically and Emotionally

AGENCY: Administration for Children and Families; HHS.

ACTION: Request for public comment.

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SUMMARY: Through this Request for Information (RFI), the Administration 
for Children and Families (ACF), in the U.S. Department of Health and 
Human Services (HHS), seeks to further the development of employment 
programs for nonresident parents by soliciting information and 
recommendations from a broad array of stakeholders in the public and 
private sectors, including state, regional, tribal, and local areas. 
The Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act of 2018 (Evidence 
Act) requires federal agencies to develop evidence-building plans to 
identify and address policy questions relevant to programs, policies, 
and regulations of the agency. In this vein, ACF will analyze 
information collected from this RFI to continue developing a learning 
and action agenda to better understand the effectiveness of employment 
programs for nonresident parents.

DATES: Send comments on or before March 6, 2020.

ADDRESSES: Submit questions, comments, and supplementary documents to 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 
    Invitation to Comment: HHS invites comments regarding the questions 
included in this notice. To ensure that your comments are clearly 
stated, please identify the specific question, or other section of this 
notice, that your comments address.

1.0 Background

    A key responsibility of all parents is to economically support 
their children, whether or not they live with them. Parents are better 
able to fulfill this responsibility when they are working regularly. 
While the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program has 
encouraged parents receiving government assistance (who are typically 
custodial mothers) to pursue employment, increasing work among 
nonresident parents (who are typically fathers and not receiving 
assistance) remains a challenge. An analysis by the federal Office of 
Child Support Enforcement (OCSE) estimates that in 2015, 13% of 
noncustodial parents had been out of work for at least a year.
    ACF recently issued three Information Memorandums to encourage 
states to provide employment services to noncustodial parents. TANF-
ACF-IM-18-01 reminded states that they may use federal TANF funds and 
state maintenance-of-effort funds to provide employment services to 
noncustodial parents (please see https://www.acf.hhs.gov/ofa/resource/tanf-acf-im-2018-01the-use-of-tanf-funds-to-promote-employment-programs-for-noncustodial-parents). OCSE-ACF-IM-18-02 encouraged states 
to use IV-D incentive funds to promote noncustodial parent work 
activities (please see https://www.acf.hhs.gov/css/resource/use-of-iv-d-incentive-funds-for-ncp-work-activities). OCSE-ACF-IM-19-04 conveys 
that HHS is prepared to review requests for demonstration waivers that 
would allow states and tribes to fund employment programs for 
noncustodial parents, under section 1115 of the Social Security Act 
(please see https://www.acf.hhs.gov/css/resource/availability-of-section-1115-waivers-to-fund-ncp-work-activities).
    Child support programs typically refer to parents in the program 
who live apart from their children and are expected to pay child 
support as ``noncustodial parents.'' We use a broader term--nonresident 
parents--to reflect ACF's interest in soliciting information about and 
recommendations of employment programs that target all parents who live 
apart from one or more of their children, regardless of their 
participation in the child support program.
    Prior research has found that employment programs for nonresident 
parents can be successful at improving employment opportunities for 
parents. OCSE sponsored the Child Support Noncustodial Parent 
Employment Demonstration, which tested the effectiveness of child 
support-led employment programs. The evaluation found that this program 
increased the employment and earnings of

[[Page 64080]]

noncustodial parents, satisfaction with the child support program, and 
parent-child contact. Other recent evidence is from the Parents and 
Children Together Evaluation, which examined the effectiveness of four 
Responsible Fatherhood programs funded by ACF's Office of Family 
Assistance. The evaluation found that the programs improved aspects of 
fathers' parenting behavior, employment, and knowledge of the child 
support program. Two additional demonstrations, the Enhanced 
Transitional Jobs Demonstration and the Subsidized and Transitional 
Employment Demonstration, examined the effectiveness of subsidized 
employment. Four sites in the demonstrations focused on serving 
noncustodial parents. The evaluation found that subsidized employment 
programs in the study increased the earnings of noncustodial parents 
and increased the consistency of paying formal child support during the 
final year of the 30-month follow-up period.

2.0 Request for Information

    Through this RFI, ACF is soliciting ideas and information from a 
broad array of stakeholders on improving nonresident parents' 
employment outcomes, including how to create a comprehensive, multi-
system approach that addresses multiple barriers that nonresident 
parents face when trying to support their children. Although the 
primary aim of this RFI is to understand further how employment 
programs can increase nonresident parents' ability to economically 
support their children, we recognize that nonresident parents are 
parents first and may also face barriers to supporting their children 
emotionally. Consequently, we are not only interested in information 
and recommendations on programs that focus exclusively on employment 
services, but we are also interested in programs that provide 
employment services combined with parenting or other activities aimed 
at promoting father involvement and healthy relationships in children's 
lives.
    The Evidence Act (Pub. L. 115-435) requires federal agencies to 
develop evidence-building plans to identify and address policy 
questions relevant to programs, policies, and regulations of the 
agency. Responses to this RFI will inform ACF's ongoing development of 
a learning and action agenda on employment programs for nonresident 
parents. This RFI is for information and planning purposes only and 
should not be construed as a solicitation or as an obligation on the 
part of ACF or HHS.
    We ask respondents to address the following questions. You do not 
need to address every question, and should focus on those where you 
have relevant expertise or experience. In your response, please provide 
a brief description of yourself or your organization before addressing 
the questions.

3.0 Key Questions

    3.1 In your opinion, what are the core components necessary for an 
employment program to be effective for nonresident parents? Please 
provide evidence that supports your opinion.
    3.2 In your opinion, what factors have either facilitated or 
hindered the implementation of employment programs for nonresident 
parents?
    3.3 Please describe existing, promising employment programs/
services for nonresident parents that may include, but are not limited 
to, work readiness training, occupational/sector-based training, job 
search assistance, subsidized employment, or other employment services. 
When describing the program, please include the following:
    a. Target population,
    b. Structure and organizational context of the program,
    c. Roles and responsibilities of the lead agency and any partner 
agency,
    d. Services provided, and
    e. Any evidence of the program's effectiveness.
    3.4 What role has job training, both in the classroom and on-the-
job, played in effective employment programs for nonresident parents?
    3.5 What role has activities aimed at parenting and promoting 
father involvement and healthy relationships in children's lives played 
in effective employment programs for nonresident parents?
    3.6 To what extent do services need to vary depending on the 
subpopulation of nonresident parents being served? Please explain what 
services you believe are better suited for which subpopulations. 
Subpopulations could include, but are not limited to, noncustodial 
parents, parents with criminal records and/or a history of 
incarceration, young/teen parents, and parents with children by 
multiple partners, etc.
    3.7 What are the key barriers that nonresident parents face when 
trying to secure or maintain employment to support their children 
financially? We are interested in hearing about both individual- and 
system-level barriers that nonresident parents may face to financially 
supporting their children, such as those related to transportation, 
education, housing, employment history, child access, child support 
debt, criminal record, fees/fines/restitution debt, substance use or 
mental health disorders, etc.
    3.7.1 What specific approaches have you seen programs use to 
address these barriers? Please provide any evidence on the 
effectiveness of these approaches in improving parents' financial 
support for their children.
    3.8 In your experience, what types of agencies or organizations 
should be active partners in an employment program for nonresident 
parents? Which type of agency is most successful in the lead role?
    3.9 Please describe ways to create more systematic relationships 
between child support agencies and employment service providers that 
might increase the take-up of employment services among nonresidential 
parents or increase child support compliance among noncustodial parents 
in employment programs, etc.
    3.10 If you are a government official or a practitioner, what 
additional information would you like to have about approaches to 
providing or implementing employment programs for nonresident parents?
    3.11 What aspects of employment programs for nonresident parents 
would benefit from further evaluation?
    3.12 What suggestions do you have for how federal, state, regional, 
tribal, and local governments could support the development of high-
quality employment programs for nonresident parents and/or address gaps 
in current efforts?

    Authority: Social Security Act Sec.  413 (Title IV-A: Block 
Grants to States for the Temporary Assistance of Needy Families) [42 
U.S.C. 613].

Mary B. Jones,
ACF/OPRE Certifying Officer.
[FR Doc. 2019-25157 Filed 11-19-19; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4184-01-P