Administration for Children and Families August 2021 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), Administration for Children and Families (ACF), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), is proposing to continue to collect information that will allow the Unaccompanied Children (UC) Program to provide legal services to UC. These information collections were originally approved under emergency approval for 6 months. This request is to continue data collection. This is a time sensitive request because all of these forms are already in use and must continue to be in use in order for the UC Program to meet its statutory obligations.

The Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation (OPRE), Administration for Children and Families (ACF), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), is proposing to collect data for a new wave of the Head Start Family and Child Experiences Survey (FACES) as well as a follow-up to a special data collection fielded in the fall of 2021.

The Administration for Children and Families (ACF) Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) seeks approval for a revision to an existing information collection, requesting Refugee Support Services (RSS) grantees and RSS Set Aside grantees to provide the agency name, city, state, website, and funding amount for each contracted sub-grantee. Additionally, ORR seeks approval to have the option to make this information public. This would enhance the accessibility of refugee service provider information to eligible clients in support of the service referral responsibilities of the State Refugee Coordinators. Similar information for ORR's discretionary grants is currently made public.

Notice is hereby given, pursuant to the provisions of the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA) and the Preventing Sex Trafficking and Strengthening Families Act, that a meeting of the National Advisory Committee on the Sex Trafficking of Children and Youth in the United States (the Committee) will be held on September 8 and 9, 2021. The purpose of the meeting is for the Committee to begin reviewing responses to the Committee's State Self-Assessment Survey and develop a framework for the Committee's final report. The members of the Committee request comments from the public to inform their ongoing work and final report. Please submit your comments to NAC@nhttac.org with the subject ``NAC Comments'' as soon as possible and before September 6, 2021.

The Administration for Children and Families (ACF) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) seeks approval to conduct semi-structured, qualitative interviews with Head Start staff (grantee administrators, managers/coordinators, center directors, teachers, staff), parents, affiliated community providers, and partner Local Education Agency (LEA) staff (administrators, elementary school principals, staff, and kindergarten teachers) at six sites. A comparative case study design will explore varying strategies and approaches to supporting children's transitions from Head Start to kindergarten.

The Children's Bureau (CB), Administration for Children and Families (ACF), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), is requesting an extension with minor changes to the approved information collection: The Cost Study of Trauma-Specific Evidence-Based Programs used in the Regional Partnership Grants (RPG) Program. This data collection request was previously approved and scheduled for spring 2021 but was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Data collection is now feasible but will extend beyond the current expiration date of November 30, 2021, so an extension is needed. Additionally, since approval, minor changes were made to the instruments to include a question in the time log to ask about virtual service delivery since the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in grantees offering virtual services.

The Office of Head Start, Administration for Children and Families (ACF), is proposing to collect data for a new evaluation of a trauma-informed care program that will include a small randomized controlled trial across 10 sites within Head Start Region V. The goals of the project are to identify the implementation supports and methods needed to enable teachers to effectively implement Trauma-Informed Care in early care and education programs, and to evaluate its outcomes. Information collected will be used to inform ongoing training and technical assistance (TTA) work provided by the Head Start Centers, particularly decisions regarding allocation of TTA resources. More generally, results may inform OHS guidance around social-emotional programming.

The Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), Administration for Children and Families (ACF), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), is proposing to continue use of a coronavirus (COVID- 19) screening tool for unaccompanied children (UC) program staff and visitors at ORR care provider facilities.

Pursuant to section 814 of the Native American Programs Act of 1974 (NAPA), as amended, ANA is required to provide members of the public an opportunity to comment on proposed changes in interpretive rules and general statements of policy and to give notice of the proposed changes no less than 30 days before such changes become effective. On February 19, 2021, ANA published a Notice of Public Comment (NOPC) in the Federal Register regarding its proposed interpretive rules and general statements of policy relative to its six FY 2021 Funding Opportunity Announcements (FOAs): Environmental Regulatory Enhancement (HHS-2021-ACF-ANA-NR-1907); Native American Language Preservation and MaintenanceEsther Martinez Immersion (HHS-2021-ACF-ANA-NB-1958); Native American Language Preservation and Maintenance (HHS-2021-ACF-ANA-NL-1924); Social and Economic Development Strategies (HHS-2021-ACF-ANA-NA-1906); Social and Economic Development StrategiesAlaska (HHS-2021-ACF-ANA-NK-1902); and Social and Economic StrategiesGrowing Organizations (HHS-2021-ACF- ANA-NN-1918). This Notice of Issuance responds to the public comments received from the NOPC.