[Federal Register: January 13, 2005 (Volume 70, Number 9)]
[Notices]
[Page 2410-2411]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr13ja05-72]
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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Administration for Children and Families
Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request
Title: Fourth National Incidence Study of Child Abuse and Neglect.
OMB No.: 0970-0276.
Description: The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)
intends to issue letters to recruit agencies for participation in the
next National Incidence Study of Child Abuse and Neglect (NIS). This
will be the fourth cycle of this periodic study. NIS-1, mandated under
Public Law (Pub. L.) 93-247 (1974), was conducted in 1979 and 1980 and
reported in 1981. NIS-2 was mandated under Pub. L. 98-457 (1984),
conducted in 1986 and 1987 and reported in 1988. NIS-3 was mandated
under both the Child Abuse Prevention, Adoption, and Family Services
Act of 1988 (Pub. L. 100-294) and the Child Abuse, Domestic Violence,
Adoption and Family Services Act of 1992 (Pub. L. 102-295), was
conducted between 1993 and 1995 and published in 1996. NIS-4, mandated
by the Keeping Children and Families Safe Act of 2003 (Pub. L. 108-36),
will be reported in 2006.
NIS is unique in that it goes beyond the abused and neglected
children who come to the attention of the Child Protective Services
(CPS) system. In contrast to the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data
Systems (NCANDS), which rely solely on reported cases, the NIS design
assumes that reported children represent only a portion of the children
who actually are maltreated. Following the implications of its
assumptions, NIS estimates the scope of the maltreated child population
by combining information about reported cases with data on maltreated
children identified by professionals (called ``sentinels'') who
encounter them during the normal course of their work in a wide range
of agencies in representative communities. Sentinels are asked to
remain on the lookout for children they believe are maltreated during
the study reference period and to provide information about those
children. Children identified by sentinels and those whose alleged
maltreatment is investigated by CPS during the same period are
evaluated against standardized definitions, and only children who meet
the study standards are used to develop the study estimates. The study
estimates are couched in terms of numbers of maltreated children, with
data unduplicated so a given child is counted only once.
Confidentiality of all participants is carefully protected.
A nationally representative sample of 120 counties will be selected
and all local CPS agencies serving the selected counties will be
identified. Plans will be developed to obtain data on cases
investigated during the study reference period, September 4 to December
3, 2005. Sentinels in the selected counties will be identified through
samples of agencies in 11 categories: county juvenile probation
departments, sheriff (and/or state police) departments, public health
departments, public housing departments, municipal police departments,
hospitals, schools, day care centers, social service agencies, mental
health agencies, and shelters for battered women or runaway/homeless
youth. A total of approximately 1,600 sentinel agencies will be
sampled. Plans will be developed to identify staff in these agencies
who have direct contact with children to serve as sentinels during the
study by submitting data on maltreated children they encounter during
the study reference period. In preparation for the study, letters will
be sent to the directors of the selected agencies asking them to permit
their agencies to participate in NIS-4, and describing the general
nature of the data collection effort. HHS will issue a subsequent
notice of proposed data collection for this study after data collection
plans are developed.
Respondents: National CPS Agencies and National Sentinel Agencies.
[[Page 2411]]
Annual Burden Estimates
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Number of Average
Instrument Number of responses per burden hours Total burden
respondents respondent per response hours
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Letter to CPS Agencies.......................... 120 1 .20 24
Letter to Sentinel Agencies..................... 1,600 1 .20 320
12,000 1 .20 2,400
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Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 2,744.
Additional Information: Copies of the proposed collection may be
obtained 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. All requests should be identified by the title of the
information collection. E-mail address: grjohnson@acf.hhs.gov.
OMB Comment: OMB is required to make a decision concerning the
collection of information between 30 and 60 days after publication of
this document in the Federal Register. Therefore, a comment is best
assured of having its full effect if OMB receives it within 30 days of
publication. Written comments and recommendations for the proposed
information collection should be sent directly to the following: Office
of Management and Budget, Paperwork Reduction Project, Attn: Desk
Officer for ACF, E-mail address: Katherine_T._Astrich@omb.eop.gov.
Dated: January 6, 2005.
Robert Sargis,
Reports Clearance Officer.
[FR Doc. 05-678 Filed 1-12-05; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4184-01-M