Change Request - Sponsor Forms

To: Jordan Cohen

Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA)

Office of Management and Budget (OMB)

From: Shannon Herboldsheimer

Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR)

Administration for Children and Families (ACF)

Date: April 21, 2022

Subject: Non-Substantive Change Request – Services Provided to Unaccompanied Children (OMB #0970-0553)

This memo requests approval of a non-substantive change to the approved information collection, Services Provided to Unaccompanied Children (OMB #0970-0553).

Background

The Services Provided to Unaccompanied Children information collection contains 22 instruments that allow ORR to collect information necessary to provide services to Unaccompanied Children (UC) as required by the Homeland Security Act (6 U.S.C. 279), the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008 (8 U.S.C. 1232), and the Flores Settlement Agreement (No. CV85-4544-RJK (C.D. Cal. 1996)). The collection was last approved by OMB on April 21, 2022.

Overview of Requested Changes

ORR is proposing revisions to the following four instruments contained in this information collection:

• Sponsor Assessment (Form S-5) – This is a Word form used to conduct an in-depth suitability assessment of a potential sponsor to ensure a safe release for the UC.

• New Sponsor (Form S-7) – This form is located within UC Portal (ORR’s case management system) and is used to link a potential sponsor to a UC and enter basic information about the potential sponsor and their household.

• UC Assessment (Form S-11) – This UC Portal form is used to conduct an in-depth assessment that is used to inform provision of services, screen for trafficking or other safety concerns, and identify special needs. This form also contains a section that documents information about the potential sponsor.

• UC Case Review (Form S-12) – This UC Portal form is used to document new information obtained after completion of the UC Assessment. The form also contains a section that documents information about the potential sponsor.

All four of these forms contain information about the potential sponsor. ORR proposes consolidating all sponsor-related fields into one location in UC Portal. The New Sponsor form and Sponsor Assessment will be merged into one Sponsor Assessment form in UC Portal. In addition, sponsor-related fields in the UC Assessment and UC Case Review will be moved into the new UC Portal Sponsor Assessment.

ORR also made the following revisions to the new UC Portal Sponsor Assessment:

• Identified and removed redundant and repetitive questions. 

• Re-ordered and grouped fields logically, according to user feedback, to make it easier for users to quickly navigate the form.

• Converted wording into plain language.

• Rephrased all questions so they are in the third person.

• Updated terminology for consistency across the form (e.g., using "child" instead of "minor", "UC" instead of "UAC").

• Added progressive disclosure logic (e.g., fields about previous sponsorship will remain hidden if user selects “no” in field asking if the individual previously sponsored a child)

• Added a system-generated field to capture the date the case manager initiated the Sponsor Assessment for monitoring purposes. No other new fields were added.

2