Application

[Federal Register: April 13, 2006 (Volume 71, Number 71)]

[Notices]

[Page 19189]

From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

[DOCID:fr13ap06-83]

[[Page 19189]]

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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Administration for Children and Families

Proposed Information Collection Activity; Comment Request

Proposed Projects

Title: Court Improvement Program New Grants.

OMB No.: New Collection.

Description: The President signed the Deficit Reduction act of

2005, Public Law 109-171, into law on February 8, 2006. The law

authorizes and appropriates funds for two new grants under the Court

Improvement Program in title IV-B, section 438 of the Social Security

Act. The highest State court in a State with an approved title IV-E

plan is eligible to apply for either or both of the new grants. The new

grants are for the purposes of: (1) Ensuring that the needs of children

are met in a timely and complete manner through improved case tracking

and analysis of child welfare cases and (2) training judges, attorneys,

and other legal personnel in child welfare cases and conducting cross-

training with child welfare agency staff and contractors.

The statute requires separate applications for these two new

grants. The annual burden estimates below describe the estimated burden

for each one of the new grants. ACF proposes to collect information

from the States about their work under these grants (applications,

program reports) by way of a Program Instruction, which will be issued

by June 1, 2006. This Program Instruction will describe the

programmatic and fiscal provisions and reporting requirements for each

of the grants, specify the application submittal and approval

procedures for the grants for fiscal years 2006 through 2010, and

identify technical resources for use by State courts during the course

of the grants. The agency will use the information received to ensure

compliance with the statute and provide training and technical

assistance to the grantees.

Respondents: State Courts.

Annual Burden Estimates

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Number of Average burden

Instrument Number of responses per hours per Total burden

respondents respondent response hours

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Application..................................... 52 1 40 2,080

Annual Program Report........................... 52 1 36 1,872

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Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours......... .............. .............. .............. 3,952

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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

Administration, Office of Information Services, 370 L'Enfant Promenade,

SW., Washington, DC 20447, Attn: ACF Reports Clearance Officer. E-mail

address: infocollection@acf.hhs.gov. All requests should be identified

by the title of the information collection.

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: April 6, 2006.

Robert Sargis,

Reports Clearance Officer.

[FR Doc. 06-3521 Filed 4-12-06; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4184-01-M