[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 175 (Monday, September 12, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 55821-55822]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-19555]


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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 (Office of Management 
and Budget #0970-0505)

AGENCY: Office of Child Support Enforcement, Administration for 
Children and Families, Department of Health and Human Services.

ACTION: Request for public comments.

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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 add additional data collection 
activities as part of the rigorous evaluation of the Procedural 
Justice-Informed Alternatives to Contempt (PJAC) Demonstration. The 
proposed revision to conduct additional data collection is part of a 
research supplement that builds on the PJAC study to understand the 
role of bias in child support program enforcement actions.

DATES: Comments due within 60 days of publication. In compliance with 
the requirements of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, ACF is 
soliciting public comment on the specific aspects of the information 
collection described above.

ADDRESSES: You can obtain copies of the proposed collection of 
information and submit comments by emailing [email protected]. 
Identify all

[[Page 55822]]

requests by the title of the information collection.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 
    Description: OCSE is proposing to conduct additional data 
collection activities as part of the PJAC 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 designed to help 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. As a part of the evaluation, PJAC will 
build evidence about disparity and bias in the child support system, 
with a focus on the use of enforcement actions used to coerce child 
support payments. The research will measure the extent to which bias is 
embedded within child support policies and practices. The information 
gathered may help inform future policy decisions to better understand 
and reduce disparities within the child support program.
    The research will document disparities and differences in treatment 
by race and ethnicity, gender, and income within the child support 
system in up to three states participating in the PJAC demonstration. 
Key elements of the study include a quantitative analysis of 
disparities in the initiation of a child support case, setting of order 
amounts, order modifications, and use of punitive enforcement actions, 
including civil contempt; semi-structured interviews with staff from 
child support agencies and selected partner organizations; and separate 
semi-structured interviews with study participants to learn about their 
experiences with and perceptions of bias in the child support process, 
specifically in the use of enforcement actions.
    OCSE is proposing a to conduct additional data collection 
activities as part of the PJAC Demonstration, which include the 
following: a topic guide for interviews about experiences of bias with 
noncustodial parents and a topic guide for interviews about experiences 
of bias with child support staff and partners.
    Data collection activities that were previously approved by OMB, 
following public comment, are the staff data entry on participant 
baseline information, study Management Information Systems (MIS) to 
track receipt of services, staff and community partner interview topic 
guide, the noncustodial parent participant interview protocol, the 
staff survey, the staff time study, and the custodial parent interview 
protocol. These instruments are currently in use and this request will 
extend approval to continue data collection. Supporting materials, 
including burden estimates related to approved instruments, are 
available at https://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAICList?ref_nbr=202202-0970-013. The following burden table includes 
information for the proposed new interviews.
    Respondents: Respondents for the new data collection instruments 
include study participants and child support program staff and partners 
at three of the six PJAC demonstration sites.

                                             Annual Burden Estimates
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                                                   Total number   Average burden
           Instrument              Total number    of responses      hours per     Total burden    Annual burden
                                  of respondents  per respondent     response          hours           hours
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Topic list for bias interviews                90               1             1.5             135              45
 with staff and partners........
Topic guide for bias interviews               90               1               1              90              30
 with noncustodial parents......
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    Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 75.
    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.

(Authority: 42 U.S.C. 1315)

Mary B. Jones,
ACF/OPRE Certifying Officer.
[FR Doc. 2022-19555 Filed 9-9-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4184-41-P