[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 141 (Tuesday, July 25, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 47883-47884]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-15730]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Administration for Children and Families


Proposed Information Collection Activity; Evaluation of Resources 
To Support the Identification and Care of Children With Prenatal 
Substance or Alcohol Exposure in the Child Welfare System (Office of 
Management and Budget #0970-0608)

AGENCY: Children's Bureau, Administration for Children and Families, 
Department of Health and Human Services.

ACTION: Request for public comments.

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SUMMARY: The Children's Bureau (CB), Administration for Children and 
Families (ACF), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, is 
proposing to collect data for an evaluation of a set of resources that 
are being developed to support the identification and care of children 
with prenatal substance or alcohol exposure in the child welfare 
system.

DATES: Comments due within 60 days of publication. In compliance with 
the requirements of Section 3506(c)(2)(A) 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 requests by the title of the information collection.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 
    Description: Materials to begin this information collection effort 
were initially approved in April 2023. The study is gathering data from 
end users of a toolkit of resources sponsored by the CB in 
collaboration with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention under 
an interagency agreement. The toolkit is intended to support child 
welfare agency staff in the identification and support of children 
living with prenatal exposure to alcohol and other substances. The data 
collected will be used in a formative evaluation of the toolkit, which 
will be guided by 3 research questions: (1) To what degree do agency 
staff find toolkit resource to be relevant and applicable to their 
work?; (2) To what degree do toolkit resources change agency staff 
attitudes and increase staff knowledge?; (3) What implementation 
approaches and organizational supports facilitate toolkit use by child 
welfare agencies? Data sources for this effort include 5 surveys that 
have been approved for use: (1) a survey to measure users' reactions to 
the toolkit; (2) a survey of users' attitudes toward prenatal alcohol 
exposure (PAE)-related issues; (3) a survey of users' knowledge about 
PAE-related issues; and (4 and 5) two versions of a survey of transfer 
potential and perceived competence, which measures users' sense of 
competence in PAE-related knowledge and skills and the extent to

[[Page 47884]]

which users believe they will transfer knowledge/skills to their work. 
One version of this instrument contains the full survey and will be 
administered after users have been exposed to the full toolkit and its 
resources. The second version contains a smaller selection of key items 
from the survey, tailored to collect information from users after their 
exposure to each of five key modules of the toolkit. Newly proposed 
data collection will include (6) one focus group to assess user 
perspectives on changes to practice as a result of implementation and 
fit of the toolkit with the agency's diversity, equity, and inclusion 
efforts. All data will be collected in 2024 over the course of a 6 to 
9-month period.
    Respondents: Child welfare professionals, including state and/or 
county-level directors of child welfare agencies; supervisors; program 
staff (e.g., investigation/intake, case management, foster care/
adoption/permanency, etc.); staff working in specialist roles that 
align with toolkit resources (e.g., data/quality improvement 
specialists); local or state agency managers involved in determining 
agency strategic plans and practice guidance (e.g., substance-exposed 
newborn program manager); training system lead staff.

Annual Burden Estimates

    There are no updates to burden estimates for previously approved 
instruments. This request adds the burden for the one new focus group 
protocol on implementation.

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                                                                              Total
                                                                 Total      number of     Average       Annual
                         Instrument                            number of    responses      burden       burden
                                                              respondents      per       hours per      hours
                                                                            respondent    response
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Survey of reactions to the toolkit..........................           32            1          .05            2
Survey of attitudes.........................................           32            2          .17           11
Survey of PAE-related knowledge.............................           32            3          .27           26
Survey of transfer potential and perceived competency.......           32            1          .09            3
Module-specific transfer potential and perceived competency            32            5          .03            5
 items......................................................
Focus group protocol on implementation......................           28            1          1.5           42
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    Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 89.
    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: This information collection is related to and funded by 
CB, is authorized by the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act 
Reauthorization Act, 42 U.S.C. 5105, (2010), and is being conducted by 
CB. This information collection complies with the statutory requirement 
to carry out research designed to provide information needed to improve 
the well-being of victims of child abuse or neglect. Specifically, this 
information collection complies with the requirement for evaluation of 
practices and programs to improve activities such as identification, 
screening, medical diagnosis, forensic diagnosis, health evaluations, 
and services, including activities that promote collaboration between 
(1) the child protective service system; and (2)(i) the medical 
community, including providers of mental health and developmental 
disability services; and (ii) providers of early childhood intervention 
services and special education for children who have been victims of 
child abuse or neglect.

Mary B. Jones,
ACF/OPRE Certifying Officer.
[FR Doc. 2023-15730 Filed 7-24-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4184-29-P