[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 154 (Friday, August 9, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 65360-65361]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-17723]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Administration for Children and Families


Submission for OMB Review; Child Abuse and Neglect Background 
Checks for Child Care and Early Education Project (New Collection)

AGENCY: Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation, Administration 
for Children and Families, Department of Health and Human Services.

ACTION: Request for public comments.

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SUMMARY: The Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation (OPRE), 
Administration for Children and Families (ACF) is proposing an 
information collection activity for the Child Abuse and Neglect 
Background Checks for Child Care and Early Education (CAN Checks for 
CCEE) Project. The goal of the project is to better understand how 
states and territories use findings from CAN registry background 
checks, as required by the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act 
of 2014 (CCDBG), to make child care employment eligibility 
determinations. The study will also be used to understand state and 
territory variation, facilitators, and challenges in implementing CAN 
registry background checks; and explore any resulting within- or 
across-state/territory equity implications.

DATES: Comments due within 30 days of publication. The 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 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]. All emailed requests should be 
identified by the title of the information collection.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 
    Description: The proposed information collections for the CAN 
Checks for CCEE Project is designed to explore how states and 
territories implement CAN registry background checks for child care 
employment eligibility decisions. While the CCDBG Act of 2014 clearly 
describes procedures and exclusionary criteria pertaining to the use of 
criminal and sexual offender registry background checks to inform child 
care employment eligibility decisions, requirements for the use of CAN 
registry background checks are less clear. The findings will be of 
interest to ACF, and, in particular, to OPRE and the Office of Child 
Care, who are interested in the effective and equitable implementation 
of CAN registry background checks for prospective and current child 
care staff. Findings will also be of interest to Child Care and 
Development Fund (CCDF) state/territory lead agencies that oversee the 
CCDF program in their states/territories and the state/territory 
offices that oversee early care and education. The results of this 
study also have implications for child care programs and staff. 
Further, given the U.S. Congress' interest in prior exploratory work on 
this topic, it may also be informative to federal lawmakers.
    CCDF lead agency staff that participate in this information 
collection will be asked to complete a voluntary, one-time web-based 
survey. The survey will focus on the practices and policies related 
both to in-state/territory and interstate CAN registry checks, 
including what data they request and receive, as well as how they use 
it in making child care employment eligibility decisions.
    Respondents: Each state, territory, and the District of Columbia 
will be invited to complete one web-based survey. Given that each 
agency may have multiple staff members with relevant knowledge of 
different survey topics and no one staff member may possess all of the 
knowledge to complete the survey, CCDF Lead Agencies may have multiple 
staff members work together to complete the survey. For burden 
estimates, we are assuming up to 3 respondents may work on the survey

[[Page 65361]]

per state/territory (up to 168 total individuals). Only one survey will 
be submitted for each state/territory.

                                             Annual Burden Estimates
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                                                                  Number of
                                                 Number of      responses per
                                                respondents       respondent    Avg. burden per    Total/annual
                 Instrument                     (total over      (total over      response (in      burden (in
                                                  request          request           hours)           hours)
                                                  period)          period)
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Instrument 1: CCDF Lead Agency Survey.......             168                1           * 0.75              126
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* Note that this is the estimated time to complete the full survey, which could be completed by one individual
  or multiple individuals. Surveys completed by multiple individuals will take less time for each individual to
  provide a response.

    Authority: Research funding set-aside authorized by the CCDBG Act 
of 2014 and funded by CCDF. Section 658O(a)(5) of CCDBG (as codified at 
42 U.S.C. 9857 et seq) grants the Secretary of HHS the authority to 
reserve up to \1/2\ percent of the total Discretionary and Mandatory 
CCDF funding ``to conduct research and demonstration activities, as 
well as periodic external, independent evaluations of the impact of the 
program described by this subchapter on increasing access to child care 
services and improving the safety and quality of child care services, 
using scientifically valid research methodologies, and to disseminate 
the key findings of those evaluations widely and on a timely basis.''

Mary C. Jones,
ACF/OPRE Certifying Officer.
[FR Doc. 2024-17723 Filed 8-8-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4184-23-P