[Federal Register: February 13, 2006 (Volume 71, Number 29)]
[Notices]               
[Page 7555-7556]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr13fe06-72]                         

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Administration for Children and Families

 
Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request

    Title: DHHS/ACF/ASPE/DOL Enhanced Services for the Hard-to-Employ 
Demonstration and Evaluation: Rhode Island 15-Month Survey Amendment.
    OMB No.: 0970-0276.
    Description: The Enhanced Services for the Hard-to-Employ 
Demonstration and Evaluation Project (HtE) is the most ambitious, 
comprehensive effort to learn what works in this area to date and is 
explicitly designed to build on previous and ongoing research by 
rigorously testing a wide variety of approaches to promote employment 
and improve family functioning and child well-being. The HtE project 
will ``conduct a multi-site evaluation that studies the implementation 
issues, program design, net impact and benefit-costs of selected 
programs'' \1\ designed to help Temporary Assistance for Needy Families 
(TANF) recipients, former TANF recipients, or low income parents who 
are hard-to-employ. The project is sponsored by the Office of Planning, 
Research and Evaluation (OPRE) of the Administration for Children and 
Families (ACF), the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and 
Evaluation (ASPE) in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services 
(HHS), and the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \1\ From the Department of Health and Human Services RFP No.: 
233-01-0012.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The evaluation involves an experimental, random assignment design 
in four sites, testing a diverse set of strategies to promote 
employment for low-income parents who face serious obstacles to 
employment. The four include: (1) Intensive care management to 
facilitate the use of evidence-based treatment for major depression 
among parents receiving Medicaid in Rhode Island; (2) job readiness 
training, worksite placements, job coaching, job development and other 
training opportunities for recent parolees in New York City; (3) pre-
employment services and transitional employment for long-term TANF 
participants in Philadelphia; and (4) home- and center-based care, 
enhanced with self-sufficiency services, for low-income families who 
have young children or are expecting in Kansas and Missouri.
    Materials for follow-up surveys for each of these sites were 
previously submitted to OMB and were approved on April 29, 2005. The 
purpose of this submission is to introduce an addition to the OMB-
approved follow-up survey effort in the Rhode Island site that will be 
used to collect follow-up data on children's development.
    The additional content we propose for the follow-up survey effort 
will be used to address two questions: (1) What are the effects of a 
telephonic care management intervention for parents' depression on 
parents' parenting and on children's health, behavior, and development; 
and (2) To what extent can intervention effects on children's 
development be attributed to changes in maternal depressive 
symptomatology that result from the intervention?
    Two follow-up surveys are included in this submission:
    1. A 15-month follow-up parent survey that will supplement other 
information already collected from parents by addressing questions 
about parenting and children's well-being.
    2. 15-month follow-up youth survey will be administered to up to 
two of the older focal children of these parents.
    3. Additionally, a 15-month follow-up direct child assessment for 
up to two younger children will be conducted. This assessment will 
consist of cognitive and behavioral assessments conducted directly with 
the children. These procedures are described in the OMB Supporting 
Statement.
    Respondents: The respondents to these follow-up surveys will be 
low-income parents and their children from the Rhode Island site 
currently participating in the HtE Project. As described in the prior 
OMB submission, these parents are Medicaid recipients between the ages 
of 18 and 45 receiving Medicaid through the managed care provider 
United Behavioral Health (UBH) in Rhode Island who meet study criteria 
with regard to their risk for depression. Children are the biological, 
adopted, and step-children of these parents, between the ages of 1 and 
17 years of age.
    Prior to this follow-up survey, all parents will have completed a 
more detailed baseline survey, which is required to establish baseline 
measures of depression and related conditions, in addition to providing 
critical demographic data. The baseline survey was previously approved 
by OMB.
    The annual burden estimates are detailed below.

[[Page 7556]]



                                             Annual Burden Estimates
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                          Number of
              Instrument                  Number of     responses per   Average burden hours per    Total burde
                                         respondents     respondent             response               hours
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
RI 15-month, parent child add-on                  400               1  45 minutes or .75 hrs....             300
 survey.
RI 15-month, youth survey............             298               1  45 minutes or .75 hrs....           223.5
RI 15-month, direct child assessment.             164               1  45 minutes or .75 hrs....             123
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 646.5.

Additional Information

    Copies of the proposed collection may be obtained by writing to The 
Administration for Children and Families, Office of Information 
Services, 370 L'Enfant Promenade, SW., Washington, DC 20447, Attn: ACF 
Reports Clearance Officer. E-mail: infocollection@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: Katherine_T._Astrich@omb.eop.gov.

    Dated: February 7, 2006.
Robert Sargis,
Reports Clearance Officer.
[FR Doc. 06-1294 Filed 2-10-06; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4184-01-M