Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System, 11449-11450 [2018-05042]
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Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 51 / Thursday, March 15, 2018 / Proposed Rules
EPA has created for this rulemaking.
The docket for this petition is available
at https://www.regulations.gov.
As specified in FFDCA section
408(d)(3), 21 U.S.C. 346a(d)(3), EPA is
publishing notice of the petition so that
the public has an opportunity to
comment on this request for the
establishment or modification of
regulations for residues of pesticides in
or on food commodities. Further
information on the petition may be
obtained through the petition summary
referenced in this unit.
PP 6F8521. (EPA–HQ–OPP–2015–
0787). K–I Chemical USA, Inc., 11
Martine Ave., Suite 970, White Plains,
NY 10606, requests to establish
tolerances in 40 CFR 180.659 for
residues of the herbicide, pyroxasulfone
(3-[(5-(difluoromethoxy)-1-methyl-3(trifluoromethyl) pyrazole-4ylmethylsulfonyl]-4,5-dihydro-5,5dimethyl-1,2-oxazole), and its
metabolites in or on Crop Subgroup 1C,
tuberous and corm vegetables (except
granular/flakes and chips) at 0.05 part
per million (ppm); Crop Subgroup 3–07,
bulb vegetables at 0.15 ppm; potatoes,
granular/flakes at 0.3 ppm and potato
chips at 0.06 ppm. The high
performance liquid chromatography/
triple quadrupole mass spectrometry
(LC/MS/MS) methods has been
proposed to enforce the tolerance
expression for pyroxasulfone. Contact:
RD.
45 CFR Part 1355
ACF is seeking public
suggestions, in particular from state and
tribal title IV–E agencies and Indian
tribes and tribal consortiums and other
stakeholders, for streamlining the
Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and
Reporting System (AFCARS) data
elements and removing any undue
burden related to reporting AFCARS.
DATES: Comments on this advance
notice of proposed rulemaking must be
received by June 13, 2018.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments,
identified by [docket number and/or
RIN number], by one of the following
methods:
• Federal eRulemaking Portal:
https://www.regulations.gov. Follow the
instructions for submitting comments.
• Email: CBComments@acf.hhs.gov.
Include [docket number and/or RIN
number] in subject line of the message.
• Mail: Written comments may be
submitted to Kathleen McHugh, United
States Department of Health and Human
Services, Administration for Children
and Families, Director, Policy Division,
330 C Street SW, Washington, DC
20024. Please be aware that mail sent in
response to this ANPRM may take an
additional 3 to 4 days to process due to
security screening of mail.
Instructions: When commenting,
please identify the topic, data element,
or issue to which your comment
pertains. All submissions received must
include the agency name and docket
number or Regulatory Information
Number for this rulemaking. All
comments received will be posted
without change to https://
www.regulations.gov, including any
personal information provided.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Kathleen McHugh, Division of Policy,
Children’s Bureau at (202) 401–5789.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This
advance notice of proposed rulemaking
(ANPRM) has two sections: Background
that describes the authority on which
the ANPRM is based and establishes the
rationale for its issuance, and Questions
for Comment wherein we solicit
comment on the AFCARS regulations.
RIN 0970–AC72
I. Background
Authority: 21 U.S.C. 346a.
Dated: February 28, 2018.
Michael L. Goodis,
Director, Registration Division, Office of
Pesticide Programs.
[FR Doc. 2018–05291 Filed 3–14–18; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560–50–P
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND
HUMAN SERVICES
Administration for Children and
Families
sradovich on DSK3GMQ082PROD with PROPOSALS
Adoption and Foster Care Analysis
and Reporting System
Children’s Bureau (CB),
Administration on Children Youth and
Families (ACYF), Administration for
Children and Families (ACF),
Department of Health and Human
Services (HHS).
ACTION: Advance notice of proposed
rulemaking.
AGENCY:
VerDate Sep<11>2014
16:41 Mar 14, 2018
Jkt 244001
SUMMARY:
Section 479 of the Social Security Act
(the Act) requires HHS to regulate a data
collection system for national adoption
and foster care data that provides
comprehensive national information on
the following:
• Demographic characteristics of
adopted and foster children and their
biological and adoptive or foster
parents;
• Status and characteristics of the
foster care population;
PO 00000
Frm 00019
Fmt 4702
Sfmt 4702
11449
• Number and characteristics of
children entering and exiting foster care,
children adopted or for whom adoptions
have been terminated, and children
placed in foster care outside of the state
which has placement and care
responsibility for them;
• Extent and nature of assistance
provided by government programs for
foster care and adoption and the
characteristics of the children that
receive the assistance; and
• Number of foster children identified
as sex trafficking victims before entering
and while in foster care.
Section 474(f) of the Act requires HHS
to impose penalties for non-compliant
AFCARS data. Section 1102 of the Act
instructs the Secretary to promulgate
regulations necessary for the effective
administration of the functions for
which HHS is responsible under the
Act.
We published a final rule to revise the
AFCARS regulations on December 14,
2016 (81 FR 90524) and required title
IV–E agencies to continue to report
AFCARS data in accordance with
§ 1355.40 and the appendix to part 1355
until September 30, 2019 and provided
two fiscal years for title IV–E agencies
to comply with §§ 1355.41 through
1355.47 of the final rule. In a notice of
proposed rulemaking published
elsewhere in this issue of the Federal
Register, we propose to delay the
compliance dates in regulations and the
effective date of revisions to the
AFCARS regulations made in the final
rule from October 1, 2019, to October 1,
2021.
The final rule was a culmination of
two notices of proposed rulemaking
(issued January 11, 2008 (73 FR 2082)
and February 9, 2015 (80 FR 7132)) and
a supplemental notice of proposed
rulemaking (issued April 7, 2016 (81 FR
20283)). The final rule updated the
AFCARS regulations to include child
welfare legislative changes that occurred
since 1993, included data elements
related to the Indian Child Welfare Act
of 1978 (ICWA), and implemented fiscal
penalties for noncompliant AFCARS
data.
On February 24, 2017, the President
issued Executive Order 13777 on
Enforcing the Regulatory Reform
Agenda to lower regulatory burdens on
the American people. In response to the
President’s direction that federal
agencies establish a Regulatory Reform
Task Force to review existing
regulations and make recommendations
regarding their repeal, replacement, or
modification, we have identified the
AFCARS regulation as one in which the
reporting burden may impose costs that
exceed benefits. We are specifically
E:\FR\FM\15MRP1.SGM
15MRP1
11450
Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 51 / Thursday, March 15, 2018 / Proposed Rules
sradovich on DSK3GMQ082PROD with PROPOSALS
soliciting comments on the data
elements and their associated burden
through this ANPRM.
Public comments to this ANPRM will
allow us to assess whether and how we
can potentially reduce burden on title
IV–E agencies to report AFCARS data
while still adhering to the requirements
of section 479 of the Act and collecting
useful data that will inform efforts to
improve the child welfare system. We
encourage state and tribal title IV–E
agencies that did not previously
comment to do so now. Some state title
IV–E agencies provided in their
previous comments specific information
on compliance cost and burden
estimates; however, we received too few
estimates to reference for calculating the
cost and burden associated with this
final rule. We encourage agencies to be
as specific as possible when
commenting on this ANPRM. We will
take comments and estimates into
consideration in revising the regulation.
For a full picture of the AFCARS
regulation, we invite commenters to
review the AFCARS regulation and
accompanying information that CB
issued on our website, which can be
found here: https://www.acf.hhs.gov/cb/
laws-policies/whats-new.
II. Questions for Comment
1. Identify the data elements, nonICWA-related, that are overly
burdensome for state and tribal title IV–
E agencies and explain why. Please be
specific in identifying the data elements
and provide a rationale for why
collecting and reporting this
information is overly burdensome. If
possible, provide specific cost and
burden estimates related to the
following areas:
a. Recordkeeping hours spent
annually:
i. Searching data sources, gathering
information, and entering the
information into the electronic case
management system,
ii. Developing or modifying
procedures and systems to collect,
validate, and verify the information and
adjusting existing procedures to comply
with AFCARS requirements, and
iii. Training and administrative tasks
associated with training personnel on
the AFCARS requirements (e.g.,
reviewing instructions, developing the
training and manuals).
b. Reporting hours spent annually
extracting the information for AFCARS
reporting and transmitting the
information to ACF.
2. Previously, we received comments
regarding burden and the system
changes needed to report the ICWArelated data elements of the 2016
VerDate Sep<11>2014
16:41 Mar 14, 2018
Jkt 244001
SNPRM. We would like to receive more
detailed comments on the specific
limitations we should be aware of that
states will encounter in reporting the
ICWA-related data elements in the final
rule. Please be specific in identifying
the data elements and provide a
rationale for why this information is
overly burdensome. If possible, provide
specific cost and burden estimates
related to the following areas:
a. The number of children in foster
care who are considered Indian children
as defined in ICWA.
b. Recordkeeping hours spent
annually:
i. Searching data sources, gathering
information, and entering the
information into the electronic case
management system,
ii. Developing or modifying
procedures and systems to collect,
validate, and verify the information and
adjusting existing ways to comply with
AFCARS requirements, and
iii. Training and administrative tasks
associated with training personnel on
the AFCARS requirements (e.g.,
reviewing instructions, developing the
training and manuals).
c. Reporting hours spent annually
extracting the information for AFCARS
reporting and transmitting the
information to ACF.
3. Previously, we received comments
that particular data elements did not
lend themselves to national statistics
and were best assessed with qualitative
methods such as case review. Please
provide specific recommendations on
which data elements in the regulation to
retain that are important to
understanding and assessing the foster
care population at the national level.
Also, provide a rationale for your
suggestion that may include its
relevance to monitor compliance with
the title IV–B and IV–E programs or
another strong justification for using the
data at the national level.
4. Previously we received comments
noting concerns with variability in some
of the data elements across states and
within jurisdictions. Please provide
specific suggestions to simplify data
elements to facilitate the consistent
collection and reporting of AFCARS
data. Also, provide a rationale for each
suggestion and how the simplification
would still yield pertinent data.
5. Previously we received comments
questioning the utility, reliability, and
purpose of certain data elements at the
national level. Provide specific
recommendations on which data
elements in the regulation to remove
because they would not yield reliable
national information about children
involved with the child welfare system
PO 00000
Frm 00020
Fmt 4702
Sfmt 4702
or are not needed for monitoring the
title IV–B and IV–E programs. Please be
specific in identifying the data elements
and provide a rationale for why this
information would not be reliable or is
not necessary.
Dated: February 27, 2018.
Steven Wagner,
Acting Assistant Secretary for Children and
Families.
Approved: March 8, 2018.
Alex M. Azar II,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2018–05042 Filed 3–13–18; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4184–25–P
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND
HUMAN SERVICES
Administration for Children and
Families
45 CFR Part 1355
RIN 0970–AC47
Adoption and Foster Care Analysis
and Reporting System
Children’s Bureau (CB);
Administration on Children, Youth and
Families (ACYF); Administration for
Children and Families (ACF);
Department of Health and Human
Services (HHS).
ACTION: Notice of Proposed Rulemaking;
delay of compliance and effective dates.
AGENCY:
The Children’s Bureau
proposes to delay the compliance and
effective dates in the Adoption and
Foster Care Analysis and Reporting
System (AFCARS) 2016 final rule for
title IV–E agencies to comply with
agency rules for an additional two fiscal
years. We propose to delay the
compliance and effective dates at the
same time we seek public comment
through an Advance Notice of Proposed
Rulemaking (ANPRM), published
elsewhere in this issue of the Federal
Register, on suggestions to streamline
the AFCARS data elements and remove
any undue burden related to reporting
AFCARS.
DATES: In order to be considered, we
must receive written comments on this
NPRM on or before April 16, 2018.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments,
identified by [docket number and/or
RIN number], by one of the following
methods:
• Federal eRulemaking Portal: https://
www.regulations.gov. Follow the
instructions for submitting comments.
• Email: CBComments@acf.hhs.gov.
Include [docket number and/or RIN
number] in subject line of the message.
SUMMARY:
E:\FR\FM\15MRP1.SGM
15MRP1
]]>Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 51 (Thursday, March 15, 2018)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 11449-11450]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-05042]
=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Administration for Children and Families
45 CFR Part 1355
RIN 0970-AC72
Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System
AGENCY: Children's Bureau (CB), Administration on Children Youth and
Families (ACYF), Administration for Children and Families (ACF),
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
ACTION: Advance notice of proposed rulemaking.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: ACF is seeking public suggestions, in particular from state
and tribal title IV-E agencies and Indian tribes and tribal consortiums
and other stakeholders, for streamlining the Adoption and Foster Care
Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS) data elements and removing any
undue burden related to reporting AFCARS.
DATES: Comments on this advance notice of proposed rulemaking must be
received by June 13, 2018.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by [docket number and/or
RIN number], by one of the following methods:
Federal eRulemaking Portal: https://www.regulations.gov.
Follow the instructions for submitting comments.
Email: [email protected]. Include [docket number and/
or RIN number] in subject line of the message.
Mail: Written comments may be submitted to Kathleen
McHugh, United States Department of Health and Human Services,
Administration for Children and Families, Director, Policy Division,
330 C Street SW, Washington, DC 20024. Please be aware that mail sent
in response to this ANPRM may take an additional 3 to 4 days to process
due to security screening of mail.
Instructions: When commenting, please identify the topic, data
element, or issue to which your comment pertains. All submissions
received must include the agency name and docket number or Regulatory
Information Number for this rulemaking. All comments received will be
posted without change to https://www.regulations.gov, including any
personal information provided.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kathleen McHugh, Division of Policy,
Children's Bureau at (202) 401-5789.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This advance notice of proposed rulemaking
(ANPRM) has two sections: Background that describes the authority on
which the ANPRM is based and establishes the rationale for its
issuance, and Questions for Comment wherein we solicit comment on the
AFCARS regulations.
I. Background
Section 479 of the Social Security Act (the Act) requires HHS to
regulate a data collection system for national adoption and foster care
data that provides comprehensive national information on the following:
Demographic characteristics of adopted and foster children
and their biological and adoptive or foster parents;
Status and characteristics of the foster care population;
Number and characteristics of children entering and
exiting foster care, children adopted or for whom adoptions have been
terminated, and children placed in foster care outside of the state
which has placement and care responsibility for them;
Extent and nature of assistance provided by government
programs for foster care and adoption and the characteristics of the
children that receive the assistance; and
Number of foster children identified as sex trafficking
victims before entering and while in foster care.
Section 474(f) of the Act requires HHS to impose penalties for non-
compliant AFCARS data. Section 1102 of the Act instructs the Secretary
to promulgate regulations necessary for the effective administration of
the functions for which HHS is responsible under the Act.
We published a final rule to revise the AFCARS regulations on
December 14, 2016 (81 FR 90524) and required title IV-E agencies to
continue to report AFCARS data in accordance with Sec. 1355.40 and the
appendix to part 1355 until September 30, 2019 and provided two fiscal
years for title IV-E agencies to comply with Sec. Sec. 1355.41 through
1355.47 of the final rule. In a notice of proposed rulemaking published
elsewhere in this issue of the Federal Register, we propose to delay
the compliance dates in regulations and the effective date of revisions
to the AFCARS regulations made in the final rule from October 1, 2019,
to October 1, 2021.
The final rule was a culmination of two notices of proposed
rulemaking (issued January 11, 2008 (73 FR 2082) and February 9, 2015
(80 FR 7132)) and a supplemental notice of proposed rulemaking (issued
April 7, 2016 (81 FR 20283)). The final rule updated the AFCARS
regulations to include child welfare legislative changes that occurred
since 1993, included data elements related to the Indian Child Welfare
Act of 1978 (ICWA), and implemented fiscal penalties for noncompliant
AFCARS data.
On February 24, 2017, the President issued Executive Order 13777 on
Enforcing the Regulatory Reform Agenda to lower regulatory burdens on
the American people. In response to the President's direction that
federal agencies establish a Regulatory Reform Task Force to review
existing regulations and make recommendations regarding their repeal,
replacement, or modification, we have identified the AFCARS regulation
as one in which the reporting burden may impose costs that exceed
benefits. We are specifically
[[Page 11450]]
soliciting comments on the data elements and their associated burden
through this ANPRM.
Public comments to this ANPRM will allow us to assess whether and
how we can potentially reduce burden on title IV-E agencies to report
AFCARS data while still adhering to the requirements of section 479 of
the Act and collecting useful data that will inform efforts to improve
the child welfare system. We encourage state and tribal title IV-E
agencies that did not previously comment to do so now. Some state title
IV-E agencies provided in their previous comments specific information
on compliance cost and burden estimates; however, we received too few
estimates to reference for calculating the cost and burden associated
with this final rule. We encourage agencies to be as specific as
possible when commenting on this ANPRM. We will take comments and
estimates into consideration in revising the regulation.
For a full picture of the AFCARS regulation, we invite commenters
to review the AFCARS regulation and accompanying information that CB
issued on our website, which can be found here: https://www.acf.hhs.gov/cb/laws-policies/whats-new.
II. Questions for Comment
1. Identify the data elements, non-ICWA-related, that are overly
burdensome for state and tribal title IV-E agencies and explain why.
Please be specific in identifying the data elements and provide a
rationale for why collecting and reporting this information is overly
burdensome. If possible, provide specific cost and burden estimates
related to the following areas:
a. Recordkeeping hours spent annually:
i. Searching data sources, gathering information, and entering the
information into the electronic case management system,
ii. Developing or modifying procedures and systems to collect,
validate, and verify the information and adjusting existing procedures
to comply with AFCARS requirements, and
iii. Training and administrative tasks associated with training
personnel on the AFCARS requirements (e.g., reviewing instructions,
developing the training and manuals).
b. Reporting hours spent annually extracting the information for
AFCARS reporting and transmitting the information to ACF.
2. Previously, we received comments regarding burden and the system
changes needed to report the ICWA-related data elements of the 2016
SNPRM. We would like to receive more detailed comments on the specific
limitations we should be aware of that states will encounter in
reporting the ICWA-related data elements in the final rule. Please be
specific in identifying the data elements and provide a rationale for
why this information is overly burdensome. If possible, provide
specific cost and burden estimates related to the following areas:
a. The number of children in foster care who are considered Indian
children as defined in ICWA.
b. Recordkeeping hours spent annually:
i. Searching data sources, gathering information, and entering the
information into the electronic case management system,
ii. Developing or modifying procedures and systems to collect,
validate, and verify the information and adjusting existing ways to
comply with AFCARS requirements, and
iii. Training and administrative tasks associated with training
personnel on the AFCARS requirements (e.g., reviewing instructions,
developing the training and manuals).
c. Reporting hours spent annually extracting the information for
AFCARS reporting and transmitting the information to ACF.
3. Previously, we received comments that particular data elements
did not lend themselves to national statistics and were best assessed
with qualitative methods such as case review. Please provide specific
recommendations on which data elements in the regulation to retain that
are important to understanding and assessing the foster care population
at the national level. Also, provide a rationale for your suggestion
that may include its relevance to monitor compliance with the title IV-
B and IV-E programs or another strong justification for using the data
at the national level.
4. Previously we received comments noting concerns with variability
in some of the data elements across states and within jurisdictions.
Please provide specific suggestions to simplify data elements to
facilitate the consistent collection and reporting of AFCARS data.
Also, provide a rationale for each suggestion and how the
simplification would still yield pertinent data.
5. Previously we received comments questioning the utility,
reliability, and purpose of certain data elements at the national
level. Provide specific recommendations on which data elements in the
regulation to remove because they would not yield reliable national
information about children involved with the child welfare system or
are not needed for monitoring the title IV-B and IV-E programs. Please
be specific in identifying the data elements and provide a rationale
for why this information would not be reliable or is not necessary.
Dated: February 27, 2018.
Steven Wagner,
Acting Assistant Secretary for Children and Families.
Approved: March 8, 2018.
Alex M. Azar II,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2018-05042 Filed 3-13-18; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4184-25-P
