[Federal Register: November 9, 1999 (Volume 64, Number 216)]
[Notices]               
[Page 61114-61115]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr09no99-79]                         

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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Administration for Children and Families

 
Proposed Information Collection Activity; Comment Request

    Title: Child Welfare Demonstration Project Information Collection.
    OMB No.: New.
    Description: Under section 1130 of the Social Security Act, the 
Department of Health and Human Services is given authority to approve 
up to ten States for Child Welfare demonstrations in each of the five 
fiscal years 1998-2002. These demonstration projects involve the waiver 
of certain requirements of titles IV-B and IV-E, the sections of the 
Act that govern foster care, adoption assistance, independent living, 
child welfare services, promoting safe and stable families, family 
preservation and support, and related expenses for program 
administration, training, and automated systems. Child Welfare 
demonstration projects operating this waiver authority are required to 
be consistent with the purposes of existing law, cost-neutral to the 
Federal government, and independently evaluated. This authority 
provides an Opportunity for States to design and test a wide range of 
approaches to improve and reform child welfare. Such demonstrations 
should provide valuable knowledge that will lead to improvements in the 
delivery, effectiveness and efficiency of services.
    The information collection consists of seven components, which are 
outlined in the Information Memorandum: (1) Application; (2) Initial 
Design and Implementation Report; (3) Evaluation Plan; (4) Quarterly 
Reports (Pre-Implementation); (5) Semi-Annual Reports (Post-
Implementation); (6) Interim Evaluation Report; and (7) Final Report. 
The primary purpose of the demonstrations is to produce information on 
the outcomes for children and their families. These collections lay the 
information infrastructure to facilitate the dissemination of this 
information. If data collection is not conducted for the child welfare 
demonstrations, the Department relinquishes all pertinent information 
required to test the impact of the intervention employed in the 
waivers, specifically the effect of allowing the flexible use of IV-E 
dollars in the delivery of child welfare services. Furthermore, 
ensuring the safety and welfare of children is of utmost importance to 
CB, and if data is conducted less frequently than required by the 
project, interim results that could affect the well-being of children 
can be overlooked.
    Respondents: State, Local or Tribal Governments.

                                             Annual Burden Estimates
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                                                                          Number of
                                                            Number of     responses      Average    Total burden
                       Instrument                          respondents       per      burden hours      hours
                                                                         respondent   per response
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Application.............................................            10             1           120         1,200
Initial Design..........................................            55             1            40         2,200
Evaluation Plan.........................................            55             1            40         2,200
Quarterly Report........................................            55             1            24         1,320
Simi-Annual Reports.....................................            55             1            80         4,400
Interim Evaluation Report...............................            55             1           120         6,600
Final Report............................................            55             1           160         8,800
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 26,720.

    In Compliance with the requirements of section 3506(c)(2)(A) of the 
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the Administration for Children and 
Families is soliciting public comment on the specific aspects of the 
information collection described above.
    Copies of the proposed collection of information can be obtained 
and comments may be forwarded by writing to the Administration for 
Children and Families, Office of Information Services, 370 L'Enfant 
Promenade, SW., Washington, DC 20447, Attn: ACF Reports Clearance 
Officer. All requests should be identified by the title of the 
information collection.

[[Page 61115]]

    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.

    Dated November 3, 1999.
Bob Sargis,
Acting Reports Clearance Officer.
[FR Doc. 99-29240 Filed 11-8-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4184-01-M