[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 197 (Friday, October 13, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 70992-70993]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-22676]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Administration for Children and Families


Submission for Office of Management and Budget Review; 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, 
United States 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 30 days of publication. Office of Management 
and Budget (OMB) must make a decision about the collection of 
information between 30 and 60 days after publication of this document 
in the Federal Register. Therefore, a comment is best assured of having 
its full effect if OMB receives it within 30 days of publication.

ADDRESSES: Written comments and recommendations for the proposed 
information collection should be sent within 30 days of publication of 
this notice to http://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain. Find this 
particular information collection by selecting ``Currently under 30-day 
Review-Open for Public Comments'' or by using the search function. You 
can also obtain copies of the proposed collection of information by 
emailing [email protected]. Identify all emailed requests by 
the title of the information collection.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 
    Description: Materials to begin this proposed information 
collection effort were initially approved in April 2023. The study is 
gathering data from end users of a toolkit of resources sponsored by 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 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 5 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 6-9 months.
    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 the 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 number   Average burden
                   Instrument                      Total number    of responses      hours per     Annual burden
                                                  of respondents  per respondent     response          hours
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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                    32               1             .09               3
 competency.....................................
Module-specific transfer potential and perceived              32               5             .03               5
 competency items...............................
Focus group protocol on implementation..........              28               1             1.5              42
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    Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 89.
    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

[[Page 70993]]

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. 2023-22676 Filed 10-12-23; 8:45 am]
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