Children and Families Administration – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

These proposed regulations would revise Federal requirements for establishing and enforcing intergovernmental support obligations in Child Support Enforcement (IV-D) program cases receiving services under title IV-D of the Social Security Act (the Act). The proposed changes would: Revise current interstate requirements to apply to case processing in all intergovernmental cases; require the responding State IV-D agency to pay the cost of genetic testing; clarify responsibility for determining in which State tribunal a controlling order determination is made where multiple support orders exist; recognize and incorporate electronic communication advancements; and make conforming changes to the Federal substantial-compliance audit and State self-assessment requirements.

As required by section 423(c) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 623(c)), the Department is publishing the allotment percentage for each State under the Title IV-B Subpart 1, Child Welfare Services State Grants Program. Under section 423(a), the allotment percentages are one of the factors used in the computation of the Federal grants awarded under the Program.

The Administration on Children, Youth and Families, Family and Youth Services Bureau (FYSB), herein announces the awarding of 27 program expansion supplemental awards in the amount of $2,462,128 in Fiscal Year (FY) 2008 funds to grantees under the Mentoring of Children of Prisoners (MCP) program. The additional funding will supplement awards to grantees that have demonstrated the capacity to make quality matches and currently are making significant process in reaching their match goal. The 27 supplemental awards will enable MCP grantees to reach more children of incarcerated parents who are in need of mentoring. The following grantees are receiving program expansion supplemental funds for a 12-month project period of September 30, 2008-September 29, 2009:

This notice announces that the Administration on Children, Youth and Families, Family and Youth Services Bureau (FYSB), will award a program expansion supplement to the National Latino Alliance for the Elimination of Domestic Violence (NLAEDV), in New York, NY. The additional funds will enable the grantee to continue the provision of technical support through the Family Violence Prevention and Services Discretionary Grant Program. The NLAEDV has provided national-level training and has developed guidelines and training tools that are culturally proficient for services to Latino victims and survivors of domestic violence and their families. The supplemental award will support the dissemination of products and curriculum developed by NLAEDV through training for State Domestic Violence Coalitions and their member programs, presentations at national conferences, targeted education and outreach efforts, and technical assistance.

This notice announces that the Administration on Children, Youth and Families, Family and Youth Services Bureau (FYSB), will award a program expansion supplement award to the Family Violence Prevention Fund (FVPF) in San Francisco, CA to continue the provision of technical support through the Family Violence Prevention and Services (FVPSA) Discretionary Grant Program. FVPF is a leading provider of training and technical assistance for service providers who seek to improve collaboration between domestic violence and child welfare programs. The supplemental award will enable FVPF to plan and implement State-level strategies to educate policy makers and to ensure that State Domestic Violence Coalitions are key stakeholders in the Child and Family Service Review process.

A sole-source discretionary grant is being awarded to the Office of the Attorney General, Texas, to provide marriage and relationship education, parenting skills training, case management and home-visiting activities to unwed, new or expectant parents in Tom Green and Harris counties, Texas. The project will examine child support outcomes of families in the treatment and control groups from this project and from a previous project. This grant will also enable collection of data on child well-being outcomes, such as number of well-baby health visits, immunizations, home-safety (using a standardized checklist completed by a home visitor), child development (using the Ages and Stages Questionnaire, a standardized tool), and quality of the home environment.

Pursuant to Public Law 92-463, the Federal Advisory Committee Act, as amended (5 U.S.C. Appendix 2), notice is hereby given of the First Meeting of the National Commission on Children and Disasters, Department of Health and Human Services. The meeting will be held from approximately 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Tuesday, October 14, 2008, at the Administration for Children and Families, 370 L'Enfant Promenade, SW., Washington, DC. The meeting will be open to the public; however, seating is limited and pre-registration is encouraged (see below).

The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA) created and expanded State and Federal title IV-D child support enforcement databases and significantly enhanced access to information for title IV-D child support purposes. States are moving toward integrated service delivery and developing enterprise architecture initiatives to link their program databases. This final rule prescribes requirements for: State Parent Locator Service responses to authorized location requests; and State IV-D program safeguarding of confidential information and authorized disclosures of this information. This rule restricts the use of confidential data and information to child support purposes, with exceptions for certain disclosures permitted by statute.

The following Notice of Public Comment is in response to section 649(k) Sub-Section (3) of the 2007 Head Start School Readiness Act that requires the Secretary no later than 9 months after the effective date of this Sub-Section, publish in the Federal Register a plan of how the Secretary will carry out section 649 Sub-Section (k) Sub-Paragraph (1) and shall provide a period for public comment.

This notice announces the establishment of the National Commission on Children and Disasters, a Secretary's Advisory Committee. The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2008 (Pub. L. 110-161), Division G, Title VI, directs the establishment of the National Commission on Children and Disasters. The Commission shall conduct a comprehensive study to examine and assess the needs of children as they relate to preparation for, response to, and recovery from all hazards, building upon the evaluation of other entities and avoiding unnecessary duplication by reviewing the findings, conclusions, and recommendations of these entities, and shall then submit a report to the President and Congress on the Commission's specific findings, conclusions, and recommendations to address the needs of children as they relate to major disasters and emergencies.

This notice announces that the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), Office of Refugee Resettlement intends to award ten unaccompanied alien shelter care providers in the amount of $2,521,320. This funding will support services through September 30, 2008.

In accordance with the requirements of the Privacy Act of 1974 (5 U.S.C. 552a), the Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE) is publishing notice of amendment of its system of records, entitled ``Federal Case Registry of Child Support Orders'' (FCR), 09-80-0202, last published at 69 FR 46550 on August 3, 2004. The amendment adds four routine uses; new categories of records; and clarifying information and technical amendments.

This notice is to inform the public that the Administration for Native Americans (ANA) intends to announce six (6) urgent grant awards. The urgent grant awards will fund projects that are designed to mitigate the impact of the devastation created by the Southern California Wildfires of October 2007. As a result of the devastating wildfires that destroyed approximately 1,500 homes and 500,000 acres of land, ANA is providing urgent financial assistance to five Tribes and one Tribal Association to address a variety of restoration activities that include reforestation and revegetation, debris removal, erosion control and restoration, emergency planning and preparedness. Contained herein is a description of the projects to be funded: Rincon Band of Luiseno Indians ($114,977 for 6 months) This project will assist in the restoration of 4,250 acres of tribal lands with the planting of 6,750 cottonwood, sycamore, and oak seedlings to provide erosion control. Santa Ysabel Band of Diegueno Indians ($155,230 for 6 months) This project will protect existing properties, protect the health and safety of community members, and make 300 acres of the reservation less vulnerable to wildfires. La Jolla Band of Luiseno Indians ($150,353 for 6 months ) The goal of the project is to protect tribal residents from injury, death or displacement and reduce the possibility of damage or losses to existing assets, particularly critical facilities/infrastructures owned by the tribe. The project will clear four drainage channels of debris that currently present a fire/flooding threat. Mesa Grande Band of Mission Indians ($72,772 for 6 months) This project will insure the safety of tribal members and protect tribal assets through the thinning and clearing of fire prone debris on 280 acres of tribal land. Pauma Band of Mission Indians ($29,949 for 3 months) This project will stabilize the banks of Pauma Creek to protect lives and property on the Pauma Reservation by placing cut rock along the Pauma Creek banks to prevent flooding. Southern California Tribal Chairman's Association ($126,123 for 6 months) This project will restore connectivity to the rural Tribes in Southern California by reestablishing access of high speed internet services with the reconstruction of one tower, repair of a second tower, and the repair and replacement of power sources and radio equipment for three towers. It will also develop, print, and disseminate disaster prevention brochures to all tribal members of the Southern California Tribes to provide information and inform them of the real-time access to information through the Internet.

The Administration for Native Americans (ANA) herein describes its issuance of final interpretive rules, general statements of policy and rules of agency procedure or practice relating to the Social and Economic Development Strategies (hereinafter referred to as SEDS), Native Language Preservation and Maintenance (hereinafter referred to as Native Language), Environmental Regulatory Enhancement (hereinafter referred to as Environmental) programs, Environmental Mitigation (hereinafter referred to as Mitigation), and Native American Healthy Marriage Initiative (hereinafter referred to as NAHMI).

This final rule adopts uniform standards for medication history, formulary and benefits, and fill status notification (RxFill) for the Medicare Part D electronic prescribing (e-prescribing) drug program as required by section 1860D-4(e)(4)(D) of the Social Security Act (the Act). In addition, we are adopting the National Provider Identifier (NPI) as a standard for identifying health care providers in e-prescribing transactions. It also finalizes the June 23, 2006 interim final rule with comment period that identified the National Council for Prescription Drug Programs (NCPDP) Prescriber/Pharmacist Interface SCRIPT standard, Implementation Guide, Version 8.1 (``NCPDP SCRIPT 8.1'') as a backward compatible update of the NCPDP SCRIPT 5.0 (``NCPDP SCRIPT 5.0''), until April 1, 2009. This final rule also retires NCPDP SCRIPT 5.0 and adopts the newer version, NCPDP SCRIPT 8.1, as the adopted standard. Finally, except as otherwise set forth herein, we are implementing our compliance date of 1 year after the publication of these final uniform standards. This is the second set in a continuing process of issuing e-prescribing final standards for the Medicare Part D program,

This notice announces the estimated median income for four- person families in each State and the District of Columbia for FFY 2009 (October 1, 2008 to September 30, 2009). LIHEAP grantees may adopt the State median income estimates beginning with the date of publication in the Federal Register or at a later date as discussed below. This enables LIHEAP grantees to choose to implement this notice during the period between the heating and cooling seasons. However, by October 1, 2008, or the beginning of a grantee's fiscal year, whichever is later, LIHEAP grantees using State median income estimates must adjust their income eligibility criteria to be in accord with the FFY 2009 State median income estimates. This listing of estimated State median incomes provides one of the maximum income criteria that LIHEAP grantees may use in determining a household's income eligibility for LIHEAP.

This final rule adds new regulations to require States to collect and report data to ACF on youth who are receiving independent living services and on the outcomes of certain youth who are in foster care or who age out of foster care. The final rule implements the data collection requirements of the Foster Care Independence Act of 1999 (Pub. L. 106-169) as incorporated into the Social Security Act.

This final rule implements changes to the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program required by the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 (DRA) (Pub. L. 109-171). The DRA reauthorized the TANF program through fiscal year (FY) 2010 with a renewed focus on work, program integrity, and strengthening families through healthy marriage promotion and responsible fatherhood. On June 29, 2006, ACF published an interim final rule implementing the required statutory changes with a 60-day comment period that ended on August 28, 2006. We have considered all comments received during this period and made necessary changes as reflected in this final rule.

This notice is hereby given that an award will be made to an unaccompanied alien shelter care provider, Southwest Regional Youth Village, Vincennes, Indiana, in the amount of $586,719. This funding will support services through September 30, 2008. This funding will support the expansion of secure program bed capacity to meet the number of unaccompanied alien children referrals from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The program is mandated by section 462 of the Homeland Security Act to ensure appropriate placement of all referrals from the DHS. ORR's ability to meet this mandate is often a challenge since the program is completely tied to DHS interior apprehension strategies and the sporadic number of border crossers. The program has very specific requirements for the provision of services. This grantee is one of the only entities with the infrastructure, licensing, experience and appropriate level of trained staff to meet the service requirements for secure capacity. The program's ability to meet the number of secure referrals from DHS can only be accommodated through the expansion of this program through the supplemental award process.

This notice announces the establishment of and invites nominations for members to the Secretary's Advisory Committee on Re- Designation of Head Start Grantees. The Secretary is required by section 641 of Public Law (Pub. L.) 110-134 to convene an expert panel to provide advice and recommendations on the development of a transparent, reliable and valid system for designation renewal of Head Start grantees. The panel is required to be convened by March 12, 2008. Nominations: We will consider nominations if they are received no later than fifteen (15) days from the date of publication of this notice. Submissions will only be taken electronically, although individuals for whom this procedure introduces a barrier may make alternative arrangements through the contact information below. Nominations in the format described below should be submitted to colleen.rathgeb@acf.hhs.gov.

Pursuant to section 814 of the Native American Programs Act of 1974, as amended by 42 U.S.C. 2991b-1, the Administration for Native Americans (ANA) herein describes its proposed interpretive rules, general statements of policy and rules of agency procedure or practice in relation to the Social and Economic Development Strategies (hereinafter referred to as SEDS), Native Language Preservation and Maintenance (hereinafter referred to as Native Language), Environmental Regulatory Enhancement (hereinafter referred to as Environmental) programs, Environmental Mitigation (hereinafter referred to as Mitigation), and Native American Healthy Marriage Initiative (hereinafter referred to as NAHMI). Under the stature, ANA is required to provide members of the public an opportunity to comment on proposed changes in interpretive rules, general statements of policy, and rules of agency procedure or practice and to give notice of the final adoption of such changes at least 30 days before the changes become effective. This notice also provides additional information about ANA's plan for administering the programs.

This final rule implements the addition of family child care as a Head Start and Early Head Start program option. Family child care is care and education provided to children in a private home or other family-like setting. In keeping with the goal of designing programs that meet family and community needs, some Head Start and Early Head Start agencies have identified family child care as an effective Head Start service delivery model.

This announcement governs the proposed award of mandatory grants under the Family Violence Prevention and Services Act (FVPSA) to States (including Territories and Insular Areas). The purpose of these grants is to assist States in establishing, maintaining, and expanding programs and projects to prevent family violence and to provide immediate shelter and related assistance for victims of family violence and their dependents. This announcement sets forth the application requirements, the application process, and other administrative and fiscal requirements for grants in Fiscal Year (FY) 2008.

This notice cancels the FY 2004 Standing Announcement for Services to Recently Arrived Refugees (HHS-2004-ACF-ORR-RE-0004) that was published in the Federal Register on April 23, 2004 (Volume 69, pages 22275-22298). The three priority areas of the FY 2004 Standing Announcement for Services to Recently Arrived Refugees will be published in FY 2008 as three separate Standing Announcements at the Administration for Children and Families' Grant Opportunities Web page at https:// www.acf.hhs.gov/grants/ and at www.grants.gov. The titles of three Standing Announcements will be the Standing Announcement for the Preferred Communities Program; the Standing Announcement for Supplemental Services for Recently Arrived Refugees; and the Standing Announcement for Ethnic Community Self-Help. The new Standing Announcements and application packages will also be available at www.grants.gov. Interested parties should register with www.grants.gov to receive e-mail alerts announcing publication, application due dates, and application requirements.

In accordance with the Privacy Act of 1974, as amended, OCSE is publishing notice of a computer matching program between OCSE and state agencies administering the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program (state TANF agencies).