Attachment A - Public Comment and ORR Responses

Release of Unaccompanied Alien Children

from ORR Custody

OMB Information Collection Request

0970 - 0552

Attachment A - Summary of Public Comments and ORR Responses

December 2020

Submitted By:

Office of Refugee Resettlement

Administration for Children and Families

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

The below responses reference ORR’s new case management system, UAC Path. ORR is in the process of developing the UAC Path system, which will be launched mid-2021. All of the instruments in this collection will be incorporated into UAC Path. Updated UAC Path versions of the instruments will be submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and approval with any substantive changes to include a period for public comment.

Discharge Notification

1. One commenter recommends that the instrument include an option to document when a UAC is being released to the Unaccompanied Refugee Minor program.

ORR Response: ORR concurs with the commenter’s recommendation. An option to indicate when a UAC is being released to the Unaccompanied Refugee Minor program will be added to the Discharge Notification in the new UAC Path database.

2. One commenter expresses concern that the instrument did not specify why a section titled “Local Law Enforcement” is needed or how the collection information would be used. More specifically, the commenter is concerned that the section indicates information sharing with local law enforcement that could potentially lead to enhanced monitoring of a child and family with no prior criminal history or the detention of a child by local law enforcement or Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The commenter recommends that ORR either eliminate this section from the instrument or that the instrument explain where and with whom the information is shared.

ORR Response: As written in the ORR Policy Guide, Section 2.8.3, the Discharge Notification is used to notify the Department of Homeland Security ICE (Field Office Juvenile Coordinator and Office of Chief Counsel) and other stakeholders (e.g., Executive Office for Immigration Review Immigration Court Administrator, UAC’s attorney of record or legal service provider, UAC’s child advocate) of the UAC’s release from ORR custody. In some cases local law enforcement arrest UAC in ORR custody due to discovery of an outstanding warrant, to secure their appearance before a state court, or due to crimes committed while in ORR custody (such as assaulting staff or other children). Although these situations are infrequent ;ORR added the “Local Law Enforcement” field in this instrument to document to which local law enforcement agency the UAC was “released.” This field will be renamed “Name of Government Agency” in ORR’s new database, UAC Path. ORR does not make policy, including information sharing policy, via data collection instruments.

Safety and Well-Being Follow-Up Call Report

1. One commenter, an ORR-funded care provider grantee, notes that the template for this instrument frequently changes and it is difficult for care provider grantees to ensure that they are using the most recent template. The commenter recommends that ORR make the instrument template available in the ORR database.

ORR Response: ORR concurs with the commenter’s recommendation. The current version of the Safety and Well-Being Follow-Up Call Report is an Excel spreadsheet for which dropdown options must be updated every time a new ORR care provider grantee is brought on board. This instrument will be incorporated into the new UAC Path database.