[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 53 (Friday, March 18, 2011)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 14841-14855]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-6326]
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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Administration for Children and Families
45 CFR Part 1305
RIN 0970-AC46
Head Start Program
AGENCY: Office of Head Start (OHS), Administration for Children and
Families (ACF), Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
ACTION: Notice of proposed rulemaking.
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SUMMARY: This proposed rule would amend Head Start program regulations
to codify statutory eligibility requirements for Head Start and Early
Head Start program enrollment and strengthen procedures to determine,
verify, certify, and maintain records regarding eligibility for Head
Start and Early Head Start program enrollment. It also proposes to
create new requirements for the person seeking services to certify in a
signed and dated statement that the documents and information that the
person provided concerning eligibility are accurate to the best of the
person's knowledge, as well as new requirements for program staff who
make the eligibility determination to certify in a signed and dated
statement that the information on eligibility in the file is accurate
to the
[[Page 14842]]
best of the person's knowledge, and based on that information, the
person has determined the pregnant woman or child to be eligible for
services. In addition, it proposes to create a new requirement for
agencies to establish policies and procedures describing the actions
that will be taken against staff who violate eligibility determination
requirements and requires agencies to provide training related to
eligibility requirements and the legal consequences of committing
fraud. The intent of this rule is to reduce substantially the risk that
children or pregnant women who are ineligible for participation in Head
Start or Early Head Start programs are enrolled in these programs.
DATES: In order to be considered, comments on this proposed rule must
be received on or before April 18, 2011.
ADDRESSES: Interested persons are invited to submit comments to the
Office of Head Start, 1250 Maryland Avenue, SW., Washington, DC 20024,
Attention: Colleen Rathgeb, Office of Head Start, or electronically via
the Internet at http://www.regulations.gov. If you submit a comment,
please include your name and address, identify the docket number for
this rulemaking (ACF-2010-XXXXX), indicate the specific section of this
document to which each comment applies, and give the reason for each
comment. You may submit your comments and material by electronic means,
mail, or delivery to the address above, but please submit your comments
and material by only one means. A copy of this Notice of Proposed
Rulemaking may be downloaded from http://www.regulations.gov.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Colleen Rathgeb, Office of Head Start,
202-205-7378 (not a toll-free call). Deaf and hearing impaired
individuals may call the Federal Dual Party Relay Service at 1-800-877-
8339 between 8 a.m. and 7 p.m. Eastern Time.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Statutory Authority
This Notice of Proposed Rulemaking is published under the authority
granted to the Secretary of Health and Human Services by section 644(c)
of the Head Start Act, as amended by the Improving Head Start for
School Readiness Act of 2007, as well as sections 645(a)(1)(A) and
645A(c) of the Act.
II. Comment Procedures
The Head Start Act provides for a period of at least 30 days for
public comment. In making any modifications to this Notice of Proposed
Rulemaking, we will not consider comments received beyond the 30-day
comment period. To make sure your comments are fully addressed, we
suggest the following:
Be specific rather than general;
Address only issues raised by the proposed rule;
Explain reasons for any objections or recommended changes;
Propose specific alternative language, as appropriate; and
Reference the specific section of the proposed rule being
addressed.
III. Background
The Head Start program is a national program that promotes school
readiness of low-income children by enhancing their cognitive, social,
and emotional development through the provision of health, educational,
nutritional, social, and other services that are determined, based on
family needs assessments, to be necessary.
The Head Start program provides grants to local public and private
non-profit and for-profit agencies to provide comprehensive child
development services to economically disadvantaged children and
families, with a special focus on helping preschoolers develop the
skills they need to be successful in school. In FY 1995, the Early Head
Start program was established to serve families of economically
disadvantaged children from birth to three years of age and pregnant
women from such families in recognition of the mounting evidence that
the earliest years matter a great deal to children's growth and
development.
On December 12, 2007, the President signed the Improving Head Start
for School Readiness Act of 2007, Public Law 110-134. The law
reauthorized the Head Start program through September 30, 2012, and
built on the program's many successes. The reauthorization addressed
the needs of children and families by focusing efforts on building
increased systems of accountability, improving quality, and expanding
program access. The 2007 reauthorization also made several changes to
the eligibility criteria and related policies for participation in Head
Start and Early Head Start programs described in Section 645 and 645A
of the Act. The Act included homeless children as a category of
individuals who are deemed to be from low-income families and therefore
categorically eligible for enrollment in Head Start and Early Head
Start, but who were not included explicitly in the previous version of
the Act. Homeless children are among the most disadvantaged children in
the country. Since the reauthorization, grantees have been informed of
these changes through a Program Instruction and various policy
clarifications related to categories of individuals that are
categorically eligible and the definition of homeless child to be used
to determine eligibility. However, the current regulations do not
specify how agencies are required to verify or certify that a child is
homeless.
The proposed revisions to 45 CFR 1305.2 and 1305.4 directly respond
to the findings of a recent investigation by the Government
Accountability Office (GAO) that the Head Start program is at risk of
having over-income children enrolled while legitimate under-income and
categorically eligible children are put on wait lists. GAO presented
its preliminary results about its ongoing investigation in testimony
entitled, ``Head Start: Undercover Testing Finds Fraud and Abuse at
Selected Head Start Centers'' before the House Education and Labor
Committee on May 18, 2010, which is available at: http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d10733t.pdf. GAO published its final report on September 28,
2010, which reiterated many of the findings disclosed in the May
testimony and discussed new findings related to specific fraud
allegations at two Head Start grantees. This report is available at:
;http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-10-1049.
Specifically, in its investigation, GAO followed up on received
allegations of fraud and abuse involving two Head Start grantees,
including that Head Start centers allegedly manipulated recorded income
to make over-income applicants appear under-income; encouraged families
to report that they were homeless when they were not; enrolled more
than 10 percent of over-income children allowed by the Head Start Act;
and counted children as enrolled in more than one center at a time. In
its final report, GAO states that it was able to substantiate that
``children were enrolled in both the grantee and delegate sites,''
indicating that the grantee did not comply with the Head Start
requirement to report an unduplicated count of its funded enrollment
numbers. After further investigation of the programs alleged to have
enrolled ineligible children by designating them as ``homeless,'' GAO
was unable to substantiate the fraud claim because not all of the
records reviewed contained sufficient information to determine whether
a given family was homeless. However, GAO noted that the lack of
requirements related to verifying and documenting a child's homeless
status raised concerns about the risk of fraud in the Head Start
program.
In order to ascertain if this type of fraud was occurring at other
Head Start
[[Page 14843]]
centers, GAO attempted to register fictitious children as part of 15
undercover test scenarios at centers in six States and the District of
Columbia. GAO found that in eight instances, staff at the Head Start
centers fraudulently misrepresented information, including disregarding
part of the families' income to register over-income children into
under-income slots. The undercover tests revealed that seven Head Start
employees lied about applicants' employment status or misrepresented
their earnings. GAO concluded that ``this leaves Head Start at risk
that over-income children may be enrolled while legitimate under-income
children are put on wait lists.'' GAO also noted that ``at no point
during our registrations was information submitted by GAO's fictitious
parents verified, leaving the program at risk that dishonest persons
could falsify earnings statements and other documents in order to
qualify.''
Upon learning of GAO's investigation, we immediately took numerous
actions within our statutory and regulatory authority to respond to
GAO's findings and to bolster program integrity efforts across the Head
Start and Early Head Start programs; prevent future fraud and
mismanagement; and ensure that every slot is reserved for an eligible
child. For example, ACF issued a Program Instruction on May 10, 2010,
entitled, ``Income Eligibility for Enrollment'' (ACF-PI-HS-10-01),
which reminds grantees of their legal obligations to verify the
eligibility of each child served and determine eligibility in
accordance with the Head Start statute and regulations, as well as the
serious consequences for falsifying eligibility determinations. The
Program Instruction is available at: http://eclkc.ohs.acf.hhs.gov/hslc/Program%20Design%20and%20Management/Head%20Start%20Requirements/PIs/2010/resour_pri_002_051010.html. On May 17, 2010, the Secretary of
HHS, Kathleen Sebelius, sent a letter to every Head Start and Early
Head Start grantee in the country to underscore the serious nature of
GAO's allegations and notify them that HHS is intensifying its
oversight and enforcement actions. This letter is available at: http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2010pres/05/head_start_letter.html. We also
have begun to conduct more unannounced monitoring visits to Head Start
grantees; have created a Web-based ``hotline'' that will allow those
with information of impropriety of any kind to report directly to the
Secretary of HHS; have begun to increase oversight and reviews of
programs with identified risk factors; and will continue to use our
authority to suspend or terminate grantees where pervasive fraud or
misuse of funds is found.
However, we believe GAO's findings necessitate the implementation
of new enrollment procedures, as proposed by this regulation, in order
to reiterate and strengthen the requirements. Therefore, we are
proposing new requirements for Head Start and Early Head Start agency
staff regarding verification, documentation, and certification of the
information submitted by the applicants prior to determining if a
pregnant woman or child is eligible for participation in a Head Start
or Early Head Start program. This proposed regulation will ensure that
taxpayer dollars are spent in conformance with the purpose and
requirements of the Head Start Act and that the neediest children and
families in our country benefit from the program's services. The
purpose of the program, as stated in section 636 of the Head Start Act,
is to ``promote the school readiness of low-income children'' and
provide ``low-income children and their families of health,
educational, nutritional, social, and other services that are
determined, based on family needs assessments, to be necessary.'' As
stated in sections 645 and 645A of the Head Start Act and Part 1305 of
the current Head Start regulations, the eligibility requirements of the
program require that, with limited exceptions, participants must be
either ``income eligible,'' meaning the pregnant woman or family's
income is equal to, or less than, the income guidelines (the ``official
poverty line'') or ``categorically eligible,'' meaning that the
individuals are eligible for participation in a Head Start or Early
Head Start program even if the income of the pregnant woman or family
exceeds the income guidelines due to being a member of one of the
specific categories of individuals authorized under the Act and current
regulations--being eligible for public assistance; being a homeless
child; or being a child in foster care. While the Head Start Act
provides authority for grantees to enroll a certain portion of pregnant
women and children who are not income or categorically eligible, the
statute nonetheless makes clear that the primary target populations for
the Head Start and Early Head Start programs are low-income and
categorically eligible children and their families, and, in the case of
Early Head Start, low-income pregnant women. Therefore, most of the
enrollment slots are reserved for pregnant women and children who are
income or categorically eligible.
In particular, we believe GAO's findings regarding the apparent
fraudulent enrollment of ineligible children in Head Start slots that
are reserved for children who are income and categorically eligible
necessitate the implementation of new enrollment procedures to ensure
eligible children receive Head Start services in a timely fashion and
to prevent harm resulting from being denied access to these services.
In the case of Head Start, if an eligible child misses all or a part of
the year of Head Start services because an ineligible child is enrolled
in a slot intended for the eligible child, the eligible child suffers
real harm by being deprived of an essential educational experience
needed to prepare him or her for success in elementary school. In the
case of Early Head Start, if an eligible infant or toddler misses all
or a part of the year of Early Head Start services, the child suffers
harm by being denied participation in a program that has been shown by
research to help children perform significantly better on a range of
measures of cognitive, language, and social-emotional development than
those in a randomly assigned control group and potentially to reduce
the risk of poor cognitive, language, and school outcomes later on in
life.
GAO identified the lack of verification requirements as a concern
related to enrollment fraud as they found evidence that ``Head Start
staff encouraged parents to report that they were homeless when they
were not in order to qualify them for the program.'' Therefore, we
believe it is essential to issue this proposed rule to prevent cases of
fraud in which staff intentionally enroll children based on being
homeless, despite knowing they are ineligible. Specifically, this
proposed regulation reflects the status of homeless children as
categorically eligible for participation in Head Start and Early Head
Start in order to conform to the Head Start Act and specifies how
agency staff must verify, certify, and document in a child's record how
they explored a claim by a child's parent, guardian, or other person(s)
seeking services for the child who has knowledge of the family's
situation that the child is homeless.
We note that since GAO's findings were released, we have kept the
Head Start grantee community, Congress, and the general public apprised
of our increased focus on program integrity and our planned changes in
operating procedures. In addition, these proposed requirements would
place a minimal burden on grantees. For example, this proposed
regulation would add a requirement for grantees to maintain source
documents in each child and pregnant woman's record; grantees
[[Page 14844]]
already are required to review these source documents for the purposes
of income eligibility determination, so the proposed new requirement
would be to review source documents for categorical eligibility, as
well as maintain copies of all source documents used to determine
eligibility in each pregnant woman and child's eligibility
determination record.
IV. Discussion of Regulatory Provisions
As discussed, the findings of a recent investigation by GAO
identified weaknesses in existing eligibility verification and
documentation requirements that allegedly resulted in the enrollment of
ineligible children. The proposed revisions to Sec. 1305.2 and Sec.
1305.4 are intended to reiterate and strengthen Head Start and Early
Head Start agency procedures for determining eligibility for program
enrollment, including procedures to verify, certify, and document such
eligibility, and eliminate such weaknesses. In addition, the regulation
proposes to create a new requirement for pregnant women and parents,
guardians, or other person(s) seeking services for the child who have
knowledge of the family's situation to certify that they have submitted
factual and accurate documents to be used to verify their eligibility.
The regulation proposes to create new requirements for program staff
who make the eligibility determination to certify that the information
relied on in making the decision is accurate to the best of his or her
knowledge. The regulation proposes to initiate new requirements for
agencies to establish policies describing the actions that will be
taken against agency staff who intentionally violate Federal and agency
eligibility determination regulations, policies, and procedures. The
regulation also proposes new requirements for agencies to provide
training related to eligibility requirements and the legal consequences
of committing fraud. The proposed revisions also change the definitions
of ``Head Start eligible,'' ``income guidelines,'' and ``low-income
family'' and add a definition of ``homeless children'' to conform to
statutory requirements and provisions.
Note that we use the term ``we'' throughout the regulatory text and
preamble. The term ``we'' means the Secretary of the Department of
Health and Human Services in consultation with the Assistant Secretary
for Children and Families and other officials within the Department.
Likewise, the term ``Act'' refers to the Head Start Act, as amended.
Section 1305.2--Definitions
This regulation proposes to modify the definitions of ``Head Start
eligible,'' ``income guidelines,'' and ``low-income family'' to comply
with statutory requirements and provisions. The current definitions
contain outdated information regarding eligibility guidelines and/or
incorrect statutory citations that we believe must be updated in order
to ensure all grantees have correct and clear information related to
participant eligibility and enrollment. Otherwise, the Head Start
program will be vulnerable to incorrect eligibility and enrollment
determinations. To provide clarification for grantees, we also propose
to add the definition of ``homeless children'' as paragraph (i) from
section 725(2) of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act (42 U.S.C.
11434a(2)), which was added as a definition in section 637(11) of the
Head Start Act in the 2007 reauthorization, and to redesignate the
subsequent definitions accordingly.
The current definition of ``Head Start eligible'' states that: ``A
child that meets the requirements for age and family income as
established in this regulation or, if applicable, as established by
grantees that meet the requirements of section 645(a)(2) of the Head
Start Act. Up to 10 percent of the children enrolled may be from
families that exceed the low-income guidelines. Indian Tribes meeting
the conditions specified in 45 CFR 1305.4(b)(3) are excepted from this
limitation.'' This definition does not reflect current statutory
eligibility requirements. For example, the rule that ``up to 10 percent
of the children enrolled may be from families that exceed the low-
income guidelines'' was changed when the 2007 reauthorization created
several other eligibility provisions. In addition, the definition does
not include ``Early Head Start'' in the lead-in language. Therefore,
the new definition of ``Head Start and Early Head Start eligible'' at
Sec. 1305.2(g) is proposed to read as follows: ``Head Start or Early
Head Start eligible means a pregnant woman or child who meets the
requirements for age and family income or categorical eligibility or,
if applicable, the requirements established by a grantee under section
645(a)(2) of the Head Start Act or by a Head Start program operated by
an Indian Tribe under 45 CFR Sec. 1305.4(d).''
As indicated, we propose to add a definition in Sec. 1305.2 of
``homeless children.'' The 2007 reauthorization expanded eligibility to
include homeless children as categorically eligible for participation
in Head Start. The definition of ``homeless children'' also was added
to section 637(11) of the Head Start Act, which states that ``[t]he
term ``homeless children'' has the meaning given the term ``homeless
children and youth'' in section 725(2) of the McKinney-Vento Homeless
Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 11434a(2)).'' To improve clarity for grantees
and enable them to have the necessary references related to eligibility
determination in one regulation, we propose to include a definition of
``homeless children'' based on the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance
Act as Sec. 1305.2(i) to mean individuals who lack a fixed, regular,
and adequate nighttime residence (within the meaning of 42 U.S.C.
11302(a)(1)); and include (i) children and youths who are sharing the
housing of other persons due to loss of housing, economic hardship, or
a similar reason; are living in motels, hotels, trailer parks, or
camping grounds due to the lack of alternative adequate accommodations;
are living in emergency or transitional shelters; are abandoned in
hospitals; or are awaiting foster care placement; (ii) children and
youths who have a primary nighttime residence that is a public or
private place not designed for or ordinarily used as a regular sleeping
accommodation for human beings (within the meaning of 42 U.S.C.
11302(a)(2)(C)); (iii) children and youths who are living in cars,
parks, public spaces, abandoned buildings, substandard housing, bus or
train stations, or similar settings; and (iv) migratory children (as
such term is defined in 20 U.S.C. 6399) who qualify as homeless for the
purposes of this part because the children are living in circumstances
described in paragraphs (i) through (iii).
The current definition of ``income guidelines'' at Sec. 1305.2(j)
references an outdated section of the Head Start Act. The current
definition defines ``income guidelines'' as ``the official poverty line
specified in section 652 of the Head Start Act.'' However, the official
poverty line in the Act now is referenced in the definitions section
(section 637(19)) of the Head Start Act. Therefore, we propose to
update Sec. 1305.2(j) to reference the correct Head Start Act citation
and to redesignate it as paragraph (k). The proposed new definition of
income guidelines at Sec. 1305.2(k) means the official poverty line
specified in section 637(19) of the Head Start Act. The U.S. Department
of Health and Human Services publishes the income guidelines each year
in the Federal Register; they also are available at http://aspe.hhs.gov/poverty/.
The current definition of ``low-income family'' at Sec. 1305.2(l)
states that low-
[[Page 14845]]
income family means a family whose total annual income before taxes is
equal to, or less than, the income guidelines. The definition also
states that, for the purpose of eligibility, a child from a family that
is eligible for public assistance or a child in foster care is eligible
even if the family income exceeds the income guidelines. Public
assistance and foster care, as well as being a homeless child, are
classified as the three types of ``categorical eligibility'' that are
authorized by current statute and regulations and further specified in
this regulation. We propose to remove the public assistance and foster
care categories of recipients currently included in the definition of
``low-income family'' to prevent confusion and mistakes because
agencies are not required to verify family income in these cases. We
also propose to redesignate paragraph (l) as paragraph (m). The
proposed definition of ``low-income family'' at Sec. 1305.2(m) only
refers to eligibility based on the income guidelines and reads as
follows: ``Low-income family means a family whose total income before
taxes is equal to, or less than, the income guidelines.''
Section 1305.4--Determining, Verifying, and Documenting Eligibility
In order to update and strengthen the content of Sec. 1305.4
related to determining, verifying, and documenting Head Start and Early
Head Start program eligibility consistent with the changes made through
the 2007 reauthorization of the Head Start Act, we propose to revise
the heading of Sec. 1305.4, ``Age of child and family income
eligibility'' to read ``Determining, verifying, and documenting
eligibility.''
Because the current regulations regarding eligibility were updated
last on March 16, 1998, prior to the 2007 reauthorization of the Head
Start Act, these proposed revisions represent the full scope of actions
Head Start and Early Head Start agencies are required now by statute to
undertake related to determining participant eligibility. We propose to
revise Sec. 1305.4 to incorporate the new income eligibility criteria
added in the 2007 reauthorization. These proposed determination
requirements are described in paragraphs (a) through (d). We believe
that the lack of updated and accurate descriptions of eligibility
criteria in the current regulations otherwise would contribute to
confusion and enrollment determination errors by Head Start and Early
Head Start programs.
The current regulations require programs to verify family income
(Sec. 1305.4(c)); identify which documents should be reviewed (Sec.
1305.4(d)); and establish rules under which an agency must maintain a
signed statement by an employee that identifies which documents were
examined and stating the child is eligible (Sec. 1305.4(e)). The
current regulations only specify that income eligibility based on
having income below the Federal poverty line, has to be verified and do
not require that copies of documentation be maintained in the agency
records. We believe that the lack of clear up-to-date rules governing
eligibility determination, verification, certification, and
documentation requirements in the current regulations exposes the Head
Start and Early Head Start programs to an unacceptable risk of fraud,
as revealed by GAO's investigation.
Therefore, as detailed later in this preamble, in paragraphs (e) to
(g), we describe proposed requirements for agency staff to verify
income and categorical eligibility and propose specific instructions
about the required certification and documentation steps program staff
must take. In paragraph (g), the regulation proposes new requirements
for pregnant women and person(s) seeking services for individual
children to certify that the documents and information that they
provided concerning eligibility are accurate to the best of their
knowledge, as well as a new requirement for the program staff persons
who made the eligibility determination also to certify that the
information on eligibility in the file is accurate to the best of their
knowledge. Paragraph (g) also proposes to add new requirements related
to documentation to ensure that agency staff maintains eligibility
determination records for each pregnant woman or child, including
copies of all documents submitted by a pregnant woman or persons
seeking services on behalf of a child to the program relating to the
pregnant woman's or child's eligibility for services and any staff
member's notes recording any other information related to eligibility
received from any source; documentation establishing that an agency
staff member verified the accuracy of the information on eligibility; a
record of the category under which the pregnant woman or child was
determined eligible; and the required beneficiary and staff
certifications. Additionally, paragraph (g) explains the retention and
access requirements related to eligibility determination records.
In paragraph (h) we propose a new requirement that all Head Start
and Early Head Start agencies must establish policies and procedures
describing the actions that will be taken against agency staff who
commit intentional violations of Federal and agency eligibility
determination requirements, including enrolling pregnant women and
children who staff have not documented as eligible to participate in
the program.
In paragraph (i), we propose to extend current regulatory training
requirements at Sec. 1304.52(l) to specify that such training for all
governing body, policy council, management and those staff members who
have the responsibility to make eligibility determinations must include
an explanation of the legal consequences of committing fraud and
information on methods for obtaining facts necessary for complete and
accurate eligibility determinations.
Specifically, proposed paragraph (a) reflects the statutory
requirements at section 638 of the Act regarding age eligibility for
participation in the Head Start program. Following the statute, we
begin paragraph (a) by noting the exception stated in section 645(a)(2)
of the Head Start Act, which authorizes qualifying communities to
develop their own eligibility criteria within statutory limits. Section
645(a)(2) applies to a Head Start program that is operated in a
community with a population of 1,000 or less individuals and the
following conditions apply: There is no other preschool program in the
community; the community is located in a medically underserved area, as
designated by the Secretary pursuant to section 330(b)(3) of the Public
Health Service Act [42 U.S.C. 254c(b)(3)], and is located in a health
professional shortage area, as designated by the Secretary pursuant to
section 332(a)(1) of such Act [42 U.S.C. 254e(a)(1)]; the community is
in a location which, by reason of remoteness, does not permit
reasonable access to preschool and medical services; and not less than
50 percent of the families to be served in the community are eligible
under the eligibility criteria established by the Secretary under
paragraph in section 645(a)(1) of the Act. A Head Start program in such
a locality is required to establish the eligibility criteria to be
used, except that no child residing in such community whose family is
eligible under such eligibility criteria shall, by virtue of regular
eligibility criteria, be denied an opportunity to participate in such
program.
Section 645A(c) of the Act provides that to be eligible for
participation in Early Head Start programs, an individual must be a
pregnant woman or a child under the age of three. Section 645(a)(5)(A)
of the Act provides that children who are at least three years old
through the age of compulsory school attendance are age eligible for
[[Page 14846]]
participation in Head Start programs. The current regulations at Sec.
1305.4(a) describe age eligibility requirements as follows: ``To be
eligible for Head Start services, a child must be at least three years
old by the date used to determine eligibility for public school in the
community in which the Head Start program is located, except in cases
where the Head Start program's approved grant provides specific
authority to serve younger children. Examples of such exceptions are
programs serving children of migrant families and Early Head Start
programs.'' However, the paragraph is outdated and needs to be changed
in order to reflect current statutory provisions. We believe the lack
of thorough and clear descriptions of age eligibility criteria could
contribute to confusion and enrollment mistakes by Head Start and Early
Head Start programs as they respond to the new verification procedures
proposed through this regulation. In addition, in order to clarify
which age eligibility requirements apply to Early Head Start
participation versus those that apply to Head Start participation, we
propose to create two paragraphs to distinguish the different age
eligibility requirements for each program.
Since the current paragraph (a) does not refer to the specific age
eligibility requirements for Early Head Start programs, we propose in
paragraph (a)(1)(i) that to be eligible for Early Head Start services,
``a child must be an infant or toddler between the ages of zero and
three years old.'' Current paragraph (a) also does not refer to the age
eligibility of pregnant women. Therefore, we propose to add a provision
in (a)(1)(ii) to specify that a pregnant woman may be any age in order
to be eligible for enrollment in an Early Head Start program.
In proposed paragraph (a)(2), we primarily state the same
eligibility requirements currently found in paragraph (a).
Specifically, proposed (a)(2) states that ``To be age eligible for Head
Start services, a child must be at least three years old by the date
used to determine eligibility for public school in the community in
which the Head Start program is located and not older than the age of
required school attendance, except in cases where the Head Start
program's approved grant provides specific authority to serve younger
children. Examples of such exceptions are programs serving children of
migrant and seasonal farmworker families.'' The date to be used for age
determination remains the same as the current regulation. We propose to
remove the current exception of Early Head Start programs since we now
explain the Early Head Start requirements separately in proposed
paragraph (a)(1). We also propose to add reference to ``seasonal
farmworker families'' to reflect statutory terminology.
Under proposed paragraph (b)(1), we describe the statutory income
eligibility requirements found in section 645(a)(1) of the Act. As
described above with regard to paragraph (a), we begin proposed
paragraph (b) with the exception stated in section 645(a)(2) of the
Head Start Act, which authorizes qualifying communities to develop
their own eligibility criteria. Proposed paragraph (b)(1) reflects the
requirements for Head Start and Early Head Start eligibility that
pregnant women and age eligible children from low-income families shall
be eligible for participation in Head Start and Early Head Start
programs.
Proposed paragraph (b)(2) reflects the new statutory authority at
section 645(a)(1)(B)(iii)(I) established by the 2007 reauthorization of
the Head Start Act. This paragraph explains that to a reasonable
extent, but not to exceed 10 percent of participants, participants may
include age eligible children and pregnant women in the area served who
would benefit from Head Start or Early Head Start programs, but who are
not eligible under paragraphs (b)(1) or (c) [income or categorically
eligible]. In order to conform to the new statutory authority that was
provided in section 645(a)(1)(B)(iii)(I) through the 2007
reauthorization, we reiterate in proposed paragraph (b) that programs
may enroll pregnant women or children from over-income families ``in
the area served who would benefit from such programs.''
Proposed paragraph (b)(3) reflects the new statutory authority at
section 645(a)(1)(B)(iii)(II) established by the 2007 reauthorization
of the Head Start Act. This paragraph explains that from the area
served, programs may enroll an additional 35 percent of participants
beyond the 10 percent eligible under proposed paragraph (b)(2) that are
pregnant women and age eligible children whose families have incomes
over 100 percent but below 130 percent of the income guidelines, who do
not satisfy the eligibility requirements described under paragraphs
(b)(1) or (c) [income or categorically eligible]. We are reiterating
the provision in this proposed rule to conform to the new statutory
authority that was provided through the 2007 reauthorization.
Proposed paragraph (b)(3)(i) specifies that agencies that choose to
serve individuals eligible under this paragraph must establish and
implement outreach, prioritization, and enrollment policies and
procedures that ensure they are meeting the needs of children and
pregnant women eligible based on being a member of a low-income family,
as defined in this proposed rule, and enrolling at least 10 percent of
children with disabilities who are eligible under proposed paragraph
(b)(2), prior to serving the pregnant women and children from families
with incomes over 100 percent to 130 percent of the income guidelines.
In order to align the Head Start regulations with the Act, proposed
paragraph (b)(3)(ii) also references the annual reporting requirements
stated in section 645(a)(1)(B)(iv) of the Act for agencies that choose
to serve additional children and pregnant women per the authority
granted at section 645(a)(1)(B)(iii)(II) of the Act. The 2007
reauthorization added the reporting requirement under section
645(a)(1)(B)(iv) for all Head Start and Early Head Start agencies that
serve additional pregnant women and children under section
645(a)(1)(B)(iii)(II) to document how the grantees enrolling additional
over-income children are meeting the needs of children from low-income
families, homeless children, children in foster care, and pregnant
women and children from families eligible for public assistance, as
well as to document that they have implemented outreach and enrollment
policies and procedures that ensure the agency is enrolling at least 10
percent of children with disabilities prior to serving children from
families with incomes over 100 percent and under 130 percent of the
income guidelines.
Proposed paragraph (c) describes the three types of categorical
eligibility for Head Start and Early Head Start based on section
645(a)(1)(B)(i) and (ii) of the Act and 45 CFR 1305.4(l).
The first proposed type of categorical eligibility reiterates the
eligibility condition stated in section 645(a)(1)(B)(i) of the Act that
a child is eligible if the child's family is ``eligible or, in the
absence of child care, would potentially be eligible for public
assistance.'' In addition, children and pregnant women are eligible
under the proposed regulation for Early Head Start based on section
645A(c) of the Head Start Act, which makes the eligibility criteria in
section 645(a)(1) of the Act applicable to the enrollment of children
and pregnant women in Early Head Start programs. As provided in policy
guidance, TANF and SSI are the only two programs that are considered as
[[Page 14847]]
public assistance for determining Head Start Eligibility.
The second proposed type of categorical eligibility specifies that
a homeless child is eligible for participation, as stated in section
645(a)(1)(B)(ii) of the Act. Section 645A(c) of the Head Start Act
makes the eligibility criteria in section 645(a)(1) of the Act
applicable to the enrollment of children and pregnant women in Early
Head Start programs. As described earlier, the 2007 reauthorization
added the provision stating that homeless children are categorically
eligible for participation in Head Start. The definition of ``homeless
children'' also was added to section 637(11) of the Head Start Act,
which states that ``[t]he term ``homeless children'' has the meaning
given the term ``homeless children and youth'' in section 725(2) of the
McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 11434a(2)).'' As
stated previously, we propose to add this definition of ``homeless
children'' to Sec. 1305.2(i) to improve clarity for grantees.
The third type of categorical eligibility proposes that children in
foster care are eligible for participation, which already is specified
in the current definition of ``low-income family'' in Sec. 1305.2(l)
(proposed to be redesignated as Sec. 1305.2(m)). It has been
longstanding Head Start policy for foster children to be eligible for
participation in Head Start, without regard to their foster family's
income. We propose in paragraph (c) to add a reference to the
regulatory definition of foster care used for Federal child welfare
programs to this Head Start rule to enable grantees to conduct the
eligibility determination process accurately and consistently. We
propose to reference 45 CFR 1355.20(a), which defines foster care to
mean ``24-hour substitute care for children placed away from their
parents or guardians and for whom the State agency has placement and
care responsibility. This includes, but is not limited to, placements
in foster family homes, foster homes of relatives, group homes,
emergency shelters, residential facilities, child care institutions,
and preadoptive homes. A child is in foster care in accordance with
this definition regardless of whether the foster care facility is
licensed and payments are made by the State or local agency for the
care of the child, whether adoption subsidy payments are being made
prior to the finalization of an adoption, or whether there is Federal
matching of any payments that are made.''
In summary, proposed paragraph (c) provides that pregnant women and
age eligible children are categorically eligible for enrollment in Head
Start and Early Head Start if: (1) The pregnant woman or the child's
family is eligible or, in the absence of child care, would potentially
be eligible for public assistance; (2) the child is homeless, as
defined in Sec. 1305.2(i); or (3) the child is in foster care.
In proposed paragraph (d), we move the requirements and procedures
related to the special income eligibility rules governing Indian Tribes
that are reflected currently in Sec. 1305.4(b)(3) and (4) to proposed
paragraph (d)(1) through (5). The current paragraph only includes
references to income eligibility based on the low-income guidelines,
but does not include references to categorical eligibility. Therefore,
we also propose to update this paragraph to conform to the statutory
authority.
Under the proposed paragraph, a Head Start or Early Head Start
program operated by an Indian Tribe may enroll more than 10 percent of
its children from families whose incomes exceed the low-income
guidelines or are not categorically eligible when:
All children from Indian and non-Indian families living on
the reservation that meet the low-income guidelines or are
categorically eligible who wish to be enrolled in the program are
served by the program;
All children from income-eligible or categorically-
eligible Indian families native to the reservation living in non-
reservation areas, approved as part of the Tribe's service area, who
wish to be enrolled in the program are served by the program. In those
instances in which the non-reservation area is not served by another
Head Start or Early Head Start program, the Tribe must serve all of the
income-eligible and categorically-eligible Indian and non-Indian
children whose families wish to enroll them in the program prior to
serving over-income children;
The Tribe has the resources within its grant or from other
non-Federal sources to enroll children from families whose incomes
exceed the low-income guidelines or are not categorically eligible
without using additional funds from HHS intended to expand Head Start
or Early Head Start services; and
At least 51 percent of the children to be served by the
program are from families that meet the income-eligibility guidelines
or are categorically eligible.
Proposed paragraph (d)(5) maintains the content from current Sec.
1305.4(b)(4), but updates the reference in this provision from
paragraph (b)(3) to paragraph (d). The paragraph proposes that programs
which meet the conditions of paragraph (d) must annually set criteria
that are approved by the Policy Council and the Tribal Council for
selecting over-income children who would benefit from such a program.
Proposed paragraph (e) would establish requirements for family
income to be verified before a child or pregnant woman is determined to
be eligible for Head Start or Early Head Start participation based on
being a member of a low-income family. We propose adding these income
verification requirements to respond to GAO's findings and concerns
related to the lack of requirements in many programs to verify,
document, and maintain records. This proposed income verification
process would reduce the risk GAO cited whereby ``dishonest persons
could falsify earnings statements and other documents in order to
qualify.'' This responds directly to GAO's recommendation that we
establish ``more stringent income verification requirements,
documentation requirements, or both by Head Start employees responsible
for certifying family eligibility, such as maintaining income
documentation provided by the applicant (e.g., pay stubs or W-2s).''
Moreover, we have communicated to the public and to grantees on several
occasions that we would be addressing GAO's findings by strengthening
our verification requirements. For example, Secretary Sebelius provided
notice to all grantees through her May 17, 2010 letter that we would be
developing new regulations ``that will address verification
requirements.''
Proposed paragraph (e) incorporates the current regulatory
requirement related to income verification in Sec. 1305.4(c), which
requires that family income must be verified by the Head Start or Early
Head Start program before determining that a child is eligible based on
income guidelines. We propose to continue the longstanding requirement
that family income must be verified prior to determining eligibility
for enrollment in a Head Start or Early Head Start program. As defined
in proposed Sec. 1305.2(b), the term ``enrollment'' means ``the
official acceptance of a family by a Head Start program and the
completion of all procedures necessary for a child and family to begin
receiving services.''
Paragraph (e) proposes a new requirement related to a pregnant
woman's or family's declaration that the pregnant woman or family has
no income. Currently, there are no regulations that specify what
actions agencies should take when a pregnant woman or a child's parent,
guardian, or other person(s) seeking services for the
[[Page 14848]]
child who has knowledge of the family's finances states that the
pregnant woman or family has no income to report. We recognize the
difficulty Head Start and Early Head Start agencies face in obtaining
documentation supporting a declaration that an individual has no
income. Therefore, in such cases when a pregnant woman or family
reports having no income and submits no documentation proving that the
pregnant woman or family has no income, proposed paragraph (e) would
require agency staff to document that they explored a pregnant woman or
family's declaration that they have no income. For example, programs
should gather as much relevant information as possible about the
pregnant woman or family; i.e., the location, living arrangements,
employment situation, etc. of the pregnant woman or family to make as
informed a judgment as possible about the pregnant woman or family's
eligibility status. Agencies may examine and maintain documentation
representing relevant evidence of a pregnant woman or family's low-
income status, such as receipt of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance
Program (SNAP) or Medicaid benefits, or any other evidence of public or
private assistance by which a family with children is meeting its
ongoing needs for food, housing, and health care.
Accordingly, under proposed paragraph (e), before a child or
pregnant woman is determined to be eligible on the basis of family
income, the pregnant woman or the child's parent, guardian, or other
person(s) seeking services for the child who has knowledge of the
family's finances must submit information to the program concerning the
family's income. Under the proposed rule, verification must include
examination of documents, such as individual income tax forms, W-2
forms, pay stubs, pay envelopes, or written statements from employers
(if individual income tax forms, W-2 forms, pay stubs, or pay envelopes
are not available). Income would be required to be compared to the
poverty guidelines for the appropriate size of family, and program
staff would need to document whether a pregnant woman or child's family
qualifies as a low-income family under the income guidelines for the
appropriate size of family. Under the proposed rule, when appropriate,
in cases in which no documentation regarding the income eligibility of
the pregnant woman or child has been received by the agency, or when it
is either more efficient or reliable to do so rather than to search for
eligibility documentation, programs could seek information from third
parties who have first-hand knowledge about the pregnant woman's or
child's eligibility, and document the names, titles, and relationship
to the applicant in the participant's record. Programs also could seek
third party information in cases where documents are not submitted to
prove a claim that a pregnant woman or family has no income. We believe
all applicants must be given the opportunity to withhold consent
related to each third party the program would like to contact.
Therefore, we propose that if programs plan to seek third party
verification from one or more entities regarding an applicant's
eligibility, staff must inform the applicant about each entity that
they intend to contact and have the applicant sign a consent form
permitting the program to contact each of the specified third parties;
this would provide applicants the opportunity to withhold their consent
for third party verification from one or more entities. If applicants
do not sign the consent form, the Head Start program would not be
allowed to contact that entity and the applicant would remain
responsible for providing appropriate documentation. We also propose
that when programs contact third parties, they should limit the
information discussed and questions posed to the third party to the
information necessary to obtain the required eligibility information.
Programs should be especially sensitive to any potential domestic
violence issues prior to seeking verification of the required
eligibility information.
In paragraph (f), we propose to require agencies to verify and
document categorical eligibility before a pregnant woman or child is
determined to be eligible for Head Start or Early Head Start
participation. We propose to require the pregnant woman or the child's
parent, guardian or other person(s) seeking services for the child who
has knowledge of the family's situation to submit information to the
program concerning the family's categorical eligibility. As proposed,
verification of categorical eligibility by the program must include
examination of the relevant documents submitted by the pregnant woman
or family for the relevant type of categorical eligibility, as
described below. If a pregnant woman or child could qualify for Head
Start or Early Head Start participation based on more than one
eligibility criterion, then the program should enroll the child under
the criterion that is easiest to verify and document; it would not be
necessary to verify and document multiple eligibility criteria.
The first requirement in proposed paragraph (f)(1) addresses
categorical eligibility based on eligibility for public assistance.
This proposal aligns with the requirement currently at Sec. 1305.4(d),
which specifies that verification of family income ``must include
examination of * * * documentation showing current status as recipients
of public assistance.'' Under proposed paragraph (f)(1), we require
agency staff to examine any official documents submitted for the
purpose of demonstrating that the pregnant woman, the child, or child's
parent or guardian, is eligible or, in the absence of child care, would
potentially be eligible for public assistance. Based on Federal Head
Start grantee monitoring experience, we are aware that some agencies
already have developed policies and procedures, or practices, for
verifying public assistance eligibility or receipt status. Since the
substance of this proposed requirement is based on current practice by
many grantees, we do not believe this would impose a large burden.
Under proposed paragraph (f), in cases in which a child is in
foster care, we add a new requirement for agency staff to review a copy
of a court order, other legal or government-issued document, or a
statement of a State, Tribal, or local child welfare official
demonstrating the child is in foster care. The current regulations do
not require agencies to verify or document foster care status. Based on
Federal Head Start grantee monitoring experience, we are aware that
some agencies already have developed policies and procedures, or
practices, for verifying foster care status through their
collaborations with local child welfare agencies. Since the substance
of this requirement is based on current practice by many grantees, we
do not believe this proposed requirement would impose a large burden.
Proposed paragraph (f) also adds a new provision to address cases
when documents are not submitted to provide evidence of a child's
status as homeless. Under proposed paragraph (f)(3), in lieu of other
source documents, the program could substitute a written statement of a
program staff member certifying that he or she has made reasonable
effort to confirm a declaration by the parent, guardian, or other
person(s) seeking services for the child that the child is a ``homeless
child,'' as defined in Sec. 1305.2(i). As stated previously, the 2007
reauthorization added homeless children as a category of individuals
that are categorically eligible for enrollment. The current regulations
do not specify how agencies should verify
[[Page 14849]]
that a child is homeless. We believe it is essential for program
integrity, especially in light of GAO's recent investigation into
allegations that grantees enrolled children who were known by agency
staff not to be homeless, to require that homelessness must be
verified, and documentation must be maintained in the agency's files
(as described in proposed paragraph (g)), in order to prevent cases of
fraud in which staff intentionally enroll children based on being
homeless despite knowing they are not. We recognize that obtaining
verification and documentation of the circumstances that fall within
the Federal definition of homeless children can present unique
challenges to Head Start and Early Head Start agencies and to
vulnerable families. We would encourage agencies to enroll homeless
children based on the families' description of their living situation,
if that description meets the definition and documentation is not
readily available. Statements that describe the living situation also
could be accepted from family members and other individuals that are
cohabitating temporarily with the family. As proposed, verification of
circumstances and collection of documents should be obtained within a
reasonable timeframe. In order to verify homelessness, we would
encourage grantees to conduct the following types of efforts: Engage
their school district homeless liaisons, private and public shelter
providers, HUD Continuums of Care, and other homeless service agencies
in their service area to assist in the verification and documentation
process. We also would urge agencies to exercise care to ensure that
their verification activities do not increase the risk that families
may be evicted or suffer other resulting adverse consequences. In
addition, we would urge agencies to ensure that these efforts do not
impose barriers to the enrollment and participation of homeless
children in Head Start programs, an important goal expressed in the
Head Start Act.
Paragraph (f) proposes that, before a child or pregnant woman is
determined to be eligible on the basis of categorical eligibility, the
pregnant woman or the child's parent, guardian, or other person(s)
seeking services for the child who has knowledge of the family's
situation must provide the program with: (1) A copy of official
documents demonstrating current eligibility or receipt of public
assistance benefits or services by the pregnant woman's or the child's
family; (2) a copy of the court order or other legal or government-
issued document or statement of government child welfare official
demonstrating the child is in foster care; or (3) a copy of any other
source document that establishes categorical eligibility. Under the
proposal, in place of the foregoing documents, the program could
substitute a written statement of a program staff member certifying
that the staff member has made reasonable efforts to confirm a child is
homeless, as defined in proposed Sec. 1305.2(i). The lack of
documentation of homelessness should not be a barrier to enrollment.
Under the proposal, when appropriate, in cases in which no
documentation regarding the income eligibility of the pregnant woman or
child has been received by the agency, or when it is either more
efficient or reliable to do so rather than to search for eligibility
documentation, programs could seek information from third parties who
have first-hand knowledge about the pregnant woman's or child's
eligibility, and document the names, titles, and relationship to the
applicant in the participant's record. As proposed, programs also could
seek third party information in cases where documents are not submitted
to prove a claim that a pregnant woman or family has no income. We
propose that if programs plan to seek third party verification from one
or more entities regarding an applicant's eligibility, staff must
inform the applicant about each entity that they intend to contact. In
addition, the applicant would be required to sign a consent form
permitting the program to contact specified third parties; this would
provide applicants the opportunity to withhold their consent for third
party verification from one or more entities. An applicant must be
given the opportunity to withhold consent related to each entity the
program would like to contact. If applicants do not sign the consent
form the Head Start program could not contact that entity and the
applicant would remain responsible for providing appropriate
documentation. We propose that when programs contact third parties,
they should limit the information discussed and questions posed to the
third party to the information necessary to obtain the required
eligibility information. Programs should be especially sensitive to any
potential domestic violence issues prior to seeking verification of the
required eligibility information.
In proposed paragraph (g), we strengthen and supplement current
regulatory requirements related to eligibility certification and
documentation to respond to GAO's finding that ``the lack of
documentation made it virtually impossible to determine whether only
under-income children were enrolled in spots reserved for under-income
children'' and its recommendations that we establish ``more stringent
income verification requirements, documentation requirements, or both
by Head Start employees responsible for certifying family eligibility,
such as maintaining income documentation provided by the applicant
(e.g., pay stubs or W-2s).'' As previously mentioned, current
regulations require a signed statement by an employee of the Head Start
program, identifying which documents were examined and stating that the
child is eligible to participate in the program, but do not require
staff to maintain copies of the documents.
First, this proposed paragraph requires all Head Start and Early
Head Start programs to keep an eligibility determination record for
each child or pregnant woman as part of the record maintained by the
agency on that individual. Proposed paragraph (g)(1) requires this
record to include copies of all documents submitted by a pregnant woman
or persons seeking services on behalf of a child to the program by such
persons or other persons relating to the pregnant woman's or child's
eligibility for services and any staff member's notes recording any
other information related to eligibility received from any source.
Proposed paragraph (g)(2) requires the record to include a copy of
the statements and documents required under proposed paragraphs (e) and
(f) (related to income and categorical eligibility). Based on Federal
Head Start grantee monitoring experience, we are aware that some
agencies already have developed policies and procedures, or practices,
for maintaining copies of documents verified during eligibility
determination. Since the substance of this requirement is based on
current practice by some grantees, we do not believe this proposed
requirement would impose a large burden.
Proposed paragraph (g)(3) requires that the record also includes a
signed and dated statement by the person seeking services, i.e., the
pregnant woman or the child's parent, guardian, or other person seeking
services for the child who has knowledge of the family's situation that
``the documents and information that the person provided concerning
eligibility are accurate to the best of the person's knowledge.''
Proposed paragraph (g)(4) requires the record to include
documentation establishing that an agency staff member has sought to
verify the accuracy of the information on eligibility provided to
[[Page 14850]]
the agency by: (i) Conducting an in-person interview with the pregnant
woman or the child's parent, guardian, or other person seeking services
for the child who has knowledge of the family's situation; and (ii)
when appropriate, in cases in which no documentation regarding the
income eligibility of the pregnant woman or the child's family or
regarding the categorical eligibility of the child based on being
homeless has been received by the agency, or when it is either more
efficient or reliable to do so rather than to search for eligibility
documentation, seeking information from third parties who have first-
hand knowledge about the pregnant woman's or child's eligibility, whose
names, titles, and affiliations would be recorded in the record. If
programs seek third party verification regarding an applicant's
eligibility, the record would be required to include the applicant's
signed consent form permitting the program to contact each particular
third party, as required under proposed paragraphs (e) and (f).
Proposed paragraph (g)(5) requires the eligibility determination
record to include documentation of the specific eligibility criterion
under which the child or pregnant woman was determined eligible for
participation. As stated above, under the proposed rule, if a pregnant
woman or child could qualify for Head Start or Early Head Start
participation based on more than one eligibility criterion, then the
program should enroll the child under the criterion that is easiest to
verify and document; it would not be necessary to verify and document
multiple eligibility criteria. This includes a record of the income
level or relevant eligibility category, as addressed in proposed
paragraphs (b) and (c). The first criterion under which the child or
pregnant woman could be determined eligible is based on having income
below the income guideline for the family size, with the family size
used documented, as described in proposed paragraph (b). The second
criterion under which the child or pregnant woman could be determined
eligible is whether the child's family or pregnant woman is eligible
or, in the absence of child care, would potentially be eligible for
public assistance, as described in proposed paragraph (c)(1). The third
criterion, as stated in proposed paragraph (c)(2), is based on being a
homeless child, as defined in proposed Sec. 1305.2(i). The record also
would need to include the provision of proposed Sec. 1305.2(i) under
which the child was determined to be homeless. The fourth criterion is
whether the child is in foster care, as proposed in paragraph (c)(3).
The fifth criterion, as proposed in paragraph (b)(2), is being a
pregnant woman or child in the area served who would benefit from such
programs but who is not eligible otherwise for services (total
enrollment in this category not to exceed 10 percent of the enrollment
slots). The sixth criterion under which the pregnant woman or child
could be determined eligible, which is described in proposed paragraph
(b)(3), is whether the pregnant woman or child's family has income over
100 percent to 130 percent of the income guidelines (total enrollment
in this category not to exceed 35 percent of the enrollment slots, in
addition to any slots filled under paragraph (b)(2)). The final
proposed criterion under which the pregnant woman or child could be
determined eligible is whether the pregnant woman or child meets
alternative eligibility criteria as permitted under Sec. 1305.4(d) or
section 645(a)(2) of the Act.
Proposed paragraph (g)(6) also adds a new Head Start staff
certification requirement in direct response to GAO's aforementioned
recommendation to establish ``more stringent income verification
requirements, documentation requirements, or both by Head Start
employees responsible for certifying family eligibility.'' The proposed
paragraph requires the record to include a signed and dated statement
by the program staff person who made the eligibility determination
certifying that the information on eligibility in the file is accurate
to the best of the person's knowledge, and based on that information,
the person has determined the pregnant woman or child to be eligible
for services.
Finally, proposed paragraph (g)(7) specifies the record retention
and access requirements for the documents and certifications maintained
in each child and pregnant woman's record under this paragraph. These
record retention and access practices must be consistent with section
647 of the Head Start Act and the uniform administrative requirement
regulations regarding HHS grant awards implemented at 45 CFR 74.53 for
awards and subawards to institutions of higher education, hospitals,
other nonprofit organizations, and commercial organizations and 45 CFR
92.42 for grants and cooperative agreements to State, local, and Tribal
governments. Among other requirements, Section 647 states that all
grant recipients to ``keep such records as the Secretary shall
prescribe'' and provide ``access for the purpose of audit and
examination to any books, documents, papers, and records of the
recipients that are pertinent to the financial assistance received''
under the Head Start Act. A key requirement explained in both 45 CFR
74.53 and 92.42 is that documents shall be retained for a period of
three years. Additionally, both of these sections state requirements
related to the right of access by the HHS awarding agency, the U.S.
Comptroller General, or any of their authorized representatives, to any
pertinent books, documents, papers, or other records of recipients in
order to make audits, examinations, excerpts, transcripts and copies of
such documents. We have included a reference to these longstanding
Departmental policies in order to respond to GAO's concerns that
agencies were not required to maintain documents related to enrollment.
This requirement will ensure that documents and certifications required
to be maintained under this paragraph are retained for the appropriate
amount of time and are accessible to the Office of Head Start and other
Federal agencies, such as the HHS Inspector General and the GAO, as
needed for monitoring, audit, investigative, and other purposes.
Proposed paragraph (h) addresses the establishment of agency
policies regarding violation of eligibility determination regulations,
policies, and procedures. Under this paragraph, we propose that all
Head Start and Early Head Start agencies must establish policies and
procedures describing the actions that will be taken against agency
staff who commit intentional violations of Federal and agency
eligibility determination regulations, policies and procedures
including enrolling children and pregnant women who staff have not
documented as eligible to participate in the program. We believe this
proposed requirement is necessary in order to prevent future incidents
of fraud like those found in the GAO investigation and to make clear to
all agency staff the legal consequences of intentionally committing
enrollment fraud.
Proposed paragraph (i), ``Training,'' requires that all Head Start
and Early Head Start agencies train all governing body, policy council,
management and those staff members who have the responsibility to make
participant eligibility determinations on Federal and agency
eligibility regulations, policies, and procedures, including
verification, certification, and documentation requirements. The
requirements in proposed paragraph (i) are an extension of current
requirements stated at Sec. 1304.50(g)(1) that grantee and delegate
agencies must have written policies that define the roles and
responsibilities of the governing body
[[Page 14851]]
members and inform them of the management procedures and functions
necessary to implement a high-quality program. They also would expand
on current requirements stated at Sec. 1304.52(l) that the training
and development requirements that grantee and delegate agencies must
implement, including to provide an orientation to new staff,
consultants, and volunteers; provide training or orientation to Head
Start and Early Head Start governing body members; and provide
orientation and ongoing training to Head Start and Early Head Start
Policy Council and Policy Committee members to enable them to carry out
their program governance responsibilities effectively.
We have communicated to the public and to grantees on several
occasions that we would be addressing GAO's findings by strengthening
our training requirements. For example, we told GAO after it shared its
investigation findings that we would ``make sure that grantee staff
received training regarding the proper way to validate income
documentation;'' this assurance was documented and shared publicly in
GAO's May 18, 2010 testimony in the section entitled ``Corrective
Action Briefing.'' In addition, Secretary Sebelius provided notice to
all grantees through her May 17, 2010 letter that we would be
developing new regulations to address ``staff training on eligibility
criteria and procedures.''
Proposed paragraph (i) specifies that the training must be
conducted within 30 days following the effective date of this final
rule, and within 30 days of hiring or beginning of tenure of new
governing body, policy council, management and those staff members who
have the responsibility to make participant eligibility determinations.
We propose to require agencies to develop policies regarding how often
such training would be provided after the initial training to ensure
that governing body, policy council, management and those staff members
who have the responsibility to make participant eligibility
determinations are aware of all current eligibility determination
regulations, policies and procedures. The National Center on Program
Management and Fiscal Operations will be developing training assistance
on this topic to assist grantees.
We propose to require the training to include explanations of the
legal consequences for individuals and agencies that commit fraud
related to eligibility determinations, including by intentionally
enrolling children or pregnant women that they know are ineligible.
Examples of legal consequences to be explained during training include
the disallowance of the agency's Head Start or Early Head Start funds;
the determination of deficiencies through the monitoring review
process; the suspension or termination of the grant; or individual
consequences for the staff involved who intentionally commit fraud. We
also would require such training to address methods and strategies for
obtaining facts necessary for complete and accurate eligibility
determinations. These methods and strategies would need to address
treating families with dignity and respect and give due regard for
possible issues of domestic violence, stigma, and privacy. We propose
to require all agencies to maintain ongoing records of training
sessions. Examples of information that would need to be documented
include: The dates sessions were conducted, instructor names and
titles, and attendee names.
V. Paperwork Reduction Act
This proposed rule establishes new information collection
requirements in Sec. 1305.4(b), (e), (f), and (g). As required by the
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, codified at 44 U.S.C. 3507, the
Administration for Children and Families will submit a copy of these
sections to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and
they will not be effective until they have been approved and assigned a
clearance number.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Average
burden per Total burden
Requirement Respondents Annual respondent hours
(hours)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sec. 1305.4(b)(3)(ii)............... 10 1....................... 2 20
Sec. 1305.4(e) and (f).............. 1,600 (should reflect info 2 3,200
collections for each
applicant).
Sec. 1305.4(g)...................... 1,600 (should reflect info 2 3,200
collections for each
applicant).
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
We estimate the costs of implementing these proposed requirements
would be approximately $132,188 annually. We calculated this estimate
by multiplying the average hourly salary for family services
coordinators ($20.59) by the estimated total burden hours (6,420).
With respect to these provisions, the Administration for Children
and Families will consider comment by the public on this collection of
information in the following areas:
Evaluating whether the proposed collection is necessary
for the proper performance of the functions of ACF, including whether
the information will have practical utility;
Evaluating the accuracy of ACF's estimate of the proposed
collection of information, including the validity of the methodology
and the assumptions used;
Enhancing the quality, usefulness, and clarity of the
information to be collected; and
Minimizing the burden of the collection of information on
those who are to respond, including through the use of appropriate
automated, electronic, mechanical, or other technology, e.g.,
permitting electronic submission of responses.
OMB is required to make a decision concerning the collection of
information contained in this proposed regulation 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. This does not affect the
deadline for the public to comment to the Department on the
regulations. Written comments to OMB for the proposed information
collection should be sent directly to the following: Office of
Management and Budget, either by fax to 202-395-6974 or by e-mail to
OIRA at [email protected]. Please mark faxes and e-mails to the
attention of the desk officer for ACF.
VI. Regulatory Flexibility Act
The Secretary certifies that, under 5 U.S.C. 605(b), as enacted by
the Regulatory Flexibility Act (Pub. L. 96-354), this proposed rule
will not result in a significant economic impact on a substantial
number of small entities.
[[Page 14852]]
This proposed rule primarily is intended to ensure accountability for
Federal funds consistent with the purposes of the Head Start Act and is
not duplicative of other requirements. We believe this proposed rule
implements the aims of the Head Start Act, as amended, to improve the
effectiveness of Head Start programs while preserving the ability of
Head Start grantees to continue using creativity and innovation to
promote the school readiness of low-income children.
Specifically, as noted under the Paperwork Reduction Act section of
this preamble, we estimate the cost of implementing the proposed new
reporting requirements would be approximately $132,188 annually, which
when applied to all 1,600 grantees nationally, results in a cost per
grantee of less than $85. In developing this estimate, we assumed that
each of the 1,600 Head Start and Early Head Start grantees would spend
an additional four hours beyond what they spend currently to conduct
the proposed new eligibility verification, certification, and
documentation procedures, as required by paragraphs (e) through (g).
Included in our estimated annual costs are the minimal costs incurred
by those grantees that choose to serve additional pregnant women and
children per the authority granted at section 645(a)(1)(B)(iii)(II) of
the Head Start Act, and therefore would be required to comply with the
annual reporting requirements described in section 645(a)(1)(B)(iv) of
the Head Start Act and paragraph (b)(3)(ii) of this proposed rule.
Since no grantees have taken the opportunity to serve additional
pregnant women and children per the authority granted at section
645(a)(1)(B)(iii)(II) of the Head Start Act to date, our reasonable
expectation is that approximately 10 grantees per year might choose to
use this authority in the future, at a total estimated cost of $412 per
year.
We request public comments on whether we have adequately considered
all costs for small entities.
VII. Regulatory Impact Analysis
Executive Order 12866 requires that regulations be reviewed to
ensure that they are consistent with the priorities and principles set
forth in the Executive Order. The Department has determined that this
Notice of Proposed Rulemaking is consistent with these priorities and
principles. These regulations incorporate statutory changes to the Head
Start program enacted in the Improving Head Start for School Readiness
Act of 2007 and strengthen procedures to determine, verify, certify,
and maintain records regarding eligibility for Head Start and Early
Head Start program enrollment. We have consulted with the Office of
Management and Budget (OMB) and determined that these proposed rules
meet the criteria for a significant regulatory action under E.O. 12866.
ACF does not believe there would be a significant economic impact
from this proposed regulatory action. Based on our estimate described
under the Paperwork Reduction Act section of this preamble, the total
cost would fall well below the $100 million threshold. The estimated
total cost of implementation of these rules for all grantees is
approximately $132,188 annually.
VIII. Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995
Section 202 of the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995 requires
that a covered agency prepare a budgetary impact statement before
promulgating a rule that includes any Federal mandate that may result
in the expenditure by State, local, and Tribal governments, in the
aggregate, or by the private sector, of $100 million or more in any one
year. If an agency must prepare a budgetary impact statement, section
205 requires that it select the most cost-effective and least
burdensome alternative that achieves the objectives of the rule
consistent with the statutory requirements. Section 203 requires a plan
for informing and advising any small government that may be
significantly or uniquely impacted. The Department has determined that
this proposed rule would not impose a mandate that will result in the
expenditure by State, local, and Tribal governments, in the aggregate,
or by the private sector, of more than $100 million in any one year.
IX. Congressional Review
This regulation is not a major rule as defined in 5 U.S.C. Chapter
8.
X. Executive Order 13132
Executive Order 13132, Federalism, requires that Federal agencies
consult with State and local government officials in the development of
regulatory policies with federalism implications. This proposed rule
will not have substantial direct impact on the States, on the
relationship between the National Government and the States, or on the
distribution of power and responsibilities among the various levels of
government. Therefore, in accordance with section 6 of Executive Order
13132, it is determined that this proposed rule does not have
sufficient federalism implications to warrant the preparation of a
federalism summary impact statement.
XI. Treasury and General Government Appropriations Act of 1999
Section 654 of the Treasury and General Government Appropriations
Act of 1999 (Pub. L. 105-277) requires Federal agencies to issue a
Family Policymaking Assessment for any rule that may affect family
well-being. This proposed rule would not have any impact on the
autonomy or integrity of the family as an institution. Accordingly, HHS
has concluded that it is not necessary to prepare a Family Policymaking
Assessment.
List of Subjects in 45 CFR Part 1305
Education of disadvantaged, Grant programs/social programs,
Individuals with disabilities.
(Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance Program Number 93.600,
Project Head Start)
Dated: September 14, 2010.
David A. Hansell,
Acting Assistant Secretary for Children and Families.
Approved: December 22, 2010.
Kathleen Sebelius,
Secretary.
For the reasons set forth in the preamble, we propose to amend Part
1305 of 45 CFR Chapter XIII as follows:
PART 1305--ELIGIBILITY, RECRUITMENT, SELECTION, ENROLLMENT, AND
ATTENDANCE IN HEAD START
1. The authority citation for part 1305 is revised to read as
follows:
Authority: 42 U.S.C. 9801 et seq., 5 U.S.C. 553(b).
2. Amend Sec. 1305.2 by:
a. Revising paragraph (g)
b. Redesignating paragraphs (i) through (s) as paragraphs (j)
through (t);
b. Adding a new paragraph (i); and
c. Revising newly redesignated paragraphs (k) and (m).
The revisions and addition read as follows:
Sec. 1305.2 Definitions.
* * * * *
(g) Head Start or Early Head Start eligible means a child or
pregnant woman who meets the requirements for age and family income or
categorical eligibility or, if applicable, the requirements established
by a grantee under section 645(a)(2) of the Head Start Act or by a Head
Start program operated by an Indian Tribe under 45 CFR 1305.4(d).
* * * * *
[[Page 14853]]
(i) Homeless children:
(1) Means individuals who lack a fixed, regular, and adequate
nighttime residence (within the meaning of 42 U.S.C. 11302(a)(1)); and
(2) Includes--
(i) Children and youths who are sharing the housing of other
persons due to loss of housing, economic hardship, or a similar reason;
are living in motels, hotels, trailer parks, or camping grounds due to
the lack of alternative adequate accommodations; are living in
emergency or transitional shelters; are abandoned in hospitals; or are
awaiting foster care placement;
(ii) Children and youths who have a primary nighttime residence
that is a public or private place not designed for or ordinarily used
as a regular sleeping accommodation for human beings (within the
meaning of 42 U.S.C. 11302(a)(2)(C));
(iii) Children and youths who are living in cars, parks, public
spaces, abandoned buildings, substandard housing, bus or train
stations, or similar settings; and
(iv) Migratory children (as such term is defined in 20 U.S.C. 6399)
who qualify as homeless for the purposes of this part because the
children are living in circumstances described in paragraphs (i)(2)(i)
through (iii) of this section.
* * * * *
(k) Income guidelines means the official poverty line specified in
section 637(19) of the Head Start Act.
* * * * *
(m) Low-income family means a family whose total income before
taxes is equal to, or less than, the income guidelines.
* * * * *
3. Revise Sec. 1305.4 to read as follows:
Sec. 1305.4 Determining, verifying, and documenting eligibility.
(a) Age eligibility. Except as provided in section 645(a)(2) of the
Head Start Act:
(1) To be age eligible for Early Head Start services:
(i) A child must be an infant or toddler between the ages of zero
and three years old.
(ii) A pregnant woman may be any age.
(2) To be age eligible for Head Start services, a child must be at
least three years old by the date used to determine eligibility for
public school in the community in which the Head Start program is
located and not older than the age of required school attendance,
except in cases where the Head Start program's approved grant provides
specific authority to serve younger children. Examples of such
exceptions are programs serving children of migrant and seasonal
farmworker families.
(b) Income eligibility. Except as provided in section 645(a)(2) of
the Head Start Act:
(1) Age eligible children and pregnant women from low-income
families shall be eligible for participation in Head Start and Early
Head programs.
(2) To a reasonable extent, but not to exceed 10 percent of
participants, participants may include age eligible children and
pregnant women in the area served who would benefit from Head Start or
Early Head Start programs, who are not eligible under paragraphs (b)(1)
or (c) of this section.
(3) From the area served, an additional 35 percent of participants
may include pregnant women and age eligible children whose families
have incomes over 100 percent but below 130 percent of the income
guidelines who also are not eligible under paragraphs (b)(1) or (c) of
this section, if:
(i) Prior to serving the children and pregnant women eligible under
paragraph (b)(3) of this section, the agency involved establishes and
implements outreach, prioritization, and enrollment policies and
procedures that ensure such agency is meeting the needs of children and
pregnant women eligible under paragraphs (b)(1) or (c) of this section
and children with disabilities eligible under paragraph (b)(2) of this
section; and
(ii) Any agency serving additional children and pregnant women
under this paragraph must report annually to the Secretary the
information required at section 645(a)(1)(B)(iv) of the Head Start Act.
(c) Categorical eligibility. Pregnant women and age eligible
children are categorically eligible for enrollment in Head Start and
Early Head Start if:
(1) The pregnant woman or the child's family is eligible or, in the
absence of child care, would potentially be eligible for public
assistance;
(2) The child is homeless, as defined in Sec. 1305.2(i); or
(3) The child is in foster care, as defined in Sec. 1355.20(a).
(d) Special rule for Indian Tribes. Notwithstanding paragraph
(b)(2) of this section, a Head Start or Early Head Start program
operated by an Indian Tribe may enroll more than 10 percent of its
children from families whose incomes exceed the low-income guidelines
or are not categorically eligible when the following conditions are
met:
(1) All children from Indian and non-Indian families living on the
reservation that meet the low-income guidelines or are categorically
eligible who wish to be enrolled in the program are served by the
program;
(2) All children from income-eligible or categorically-eligible
Indian families native to the reservation living in non-reservation
areas, approved as part of the Tribe's service area, who wish to be
enrolled in the program are served by the program. In those instances
in which the non-reservation area is not served by another Head Start
or Early Head Start program, the Tribe must serve all of the income-
eligible and categorically-eligible Indian and non-Indian children
whose families wish to enroll them in the program prior to serving
over-income children.
(3) The Tribe has the resources within its grant or from other non-
Federal sources to enroll children from families whose incomes exceed
the low-income guidelines or are not categorically eligible without
using additional funds from HHS intended to expand Head Start or Early
Head Start services; and
(4) At least 51 percent of the children to be served by the program
are from families that meet the income-eligibility guidelines or are
categorically eligible.
(5) Programs which meet the conditions of this paragraph (d) must
annually set criteria that are approved by the Policy Council and the
Tribal Council for selecting over-income children who would benefit
from such a program.
(e) Income verification. Before a pregnant woman or child is
determined to be eligible on the basis of family income, the pregnant
woman or the child's parent, guardian or other person(s) seeking
services for the child who has knowledge of the family's finances must
submit information to the program concerning the family's income.
Verification must include examination of documents such as individual
income tax forms, W-2 forms, pay stubs, pay envelopes, or written
statements from employers (if Individual Income Tax Forms, W-2 forms,
pay stubs, or pay envelopes are not available). Income must be compared
to the poverty guidelines for the appropriate size of family, and
program staff must document whether a pregnant woman or child's family
qualifies as a low-income family under the income guidelines for the
appropriate size of family. When appropriate, in cases in which no
documentation regarding the income eligibility of the pregnant woman or
child has been received by the agency, or when it is either more
efficient or reliable to do so rather than to search for eligibility
documentation, programs
[[Page 14854]]
may seek information from third parties who have first-hand knowledge
about the pregnant woman's or child's eligibility, and document the
names, titles, and relationship to the applicant in the participant's
record. Programs also may seek third party information in cases where
documents are not submitted to prove a claim that a pregnant woman or
family has no income. If programs plan to seek third party verification
from one or more entities regarding an applicant's eligibility, staff
must inform the applicant about each entity that they intend to
contact. In addition, the applicant must sign a consent form permitting
the program to contact specified third parties; this provides
applicants the opportunity to withhold their consent for third party
verification from one or more entities. An applicant must be given the
opportunity to withhold consent related to each entity the program
would like to contact. If applicants do not sign the consent form the
Head Start program may not contact that entity and the applicant
remains responsible for providing appropriate documentation. When
programs contact third parties, they should limit the information
discussed and questions posed to the third party to the information
necessary to obtain the required eligibility information. Programs
should be especially sensitive to any potential domestic violence
issues prior to seeking verification of the required eligibility
information.
(f) Verification of categorical eligibility. (1) Before a pregnant
woman or child is determined to be eligible on the basis of categorical
eligibility, the pregnant woman or the child's parent, guardian, or
other person(s) seeking services for the child who has knowledge of the
family's situation must submit information to the program concerning
the family's categorical eligibility. Verification of categorical
eligibility by the program must include examination of the following
documents:
(i) A copy of official documents demonstrating that the pregnant
woman or the child, child's parent, or guardian, is eligible, or in the
absence of child care, would potentially be eligible for public
assistance;
(ii) A copy of the court order or other legal or government-issued
document or statement of a government child welfare official
demonstrating the child is in foster care; or
(iii) A copy of any other source document that establishes
categorical eligibility.
(2) In place of the foregoing documents, the program can substitute
a written statement of a program staff member certifying that the staff
member has made reasonable efforts to confirm a child is homeless, as
defined in Sec. 1305.2(i). The lack of documentation of homelessness
should not be a barrier to enrollment. When appropriate, in cases in
which no documentation regarding the eligibility of the pregnant woman
or child has been received by the agency, or when it is either more
efficient or reliable to do so rather than to search for eligibility
documentation, programs may seek information from third parties who
have first-hand knowledge about the pregnant woman's or child's
eligibility, and document the names, titles, and relationship to the
applicant in the participant's record. Programs also may seek third
party information in cases where documents are not submitted to prove a
claim that a pregnant woman or family has no income. If programs plan
to seek third party verification from one or more entities regarding an
applicant's eligibility, staff must inform the applicant about each
entity that they intend to contact and the applicant must sign a
consent form permitting the program to contact each of the specified
third parties; this provides applicants the opportunity to withhold
their consent for third party verification related to each entity the
program would like to contact. If applicants do not sign the consent
form the Head Start program may not contact that entity and the
applicant remains responsible for providing appropriate documentation.
When programs contact third parties, they should limit the information
discussed and questions posed to the third party to the information
necessary to obtain the required eligibility information. Programs
should be especially sensitive to any potential domestic violence
issues prior to seeking verification of the required eligibility
information.
(g) Records and Certification. A Head Start or Early Head Start
program must keep an eligibility determination record for each pregnant
woman or child as part of the record maintained by the agency on that
individual, which must include:
(1) Copies of all documents submitted by a pregnant woman or
persons seeking services on behalf of a child to the program by such
persons or other persons relating to the pregnant woman's or child's
eligibility for services and any staff member's notes recording any
other information related to eligibility received from any source;
(2) A copy of the statements and documents required under
paragraphs (e) and (f) of this section;
(3) A signed and dated statement by the person seeking services
certifying that the documents and information that the person provided
concerning eligibility are accurate to the best of the person's
knowledge;
(4) Documentation establishing that an agency staff member has
sought to verify the accuracy of the information on eligibility
provided to the agency by:
(i) Conducting an in-person interview with the pregnant woman or
the child's parent, guardian, or other person(s), seeking services for
the child who has knowledge of the family's situation; and
(ii) When appropriate, in cases in which no documentation regarding
the income eligibility of the pregnant woman or the child's family or
regarding the categorical eligibility of the pregnant woman or child
has been received by the agency, or when it is either more efficient or
reliable to do so rather than to search for eligibility documentation,
seeking information from third parties who have first-hand knowledge
about the pregnant woman's or child's eligibility, whose names, titles,
and affiliations will be documented in the record, and the applicant's
signed consent form permitting the program to contact each particular
third party, as required under paragraphs (e) and (f) of this section;
(5) A record of the eligibility criterion under which the pregnant
woman or child was determined eligible as:
(i) Having income below the income guideline for the family size,
with the family size used documented;
(ii) Being eligible or, in the absence of child care, being
potentially eligible for public assistance;
(iii) Being a homeless child, including the specific provision of
Sec. 1305.2(i) under which the child was determined to be homeless;
(iv) Being a child in foster care;
(v) Being a pregnant woman or child in the area served who would
benefit from such programs but who is not otherwise eligible for
services (total enrollment in this category not to exceed 10 percent of
the enrollment slots);
(vi) Being a pregnant woman or child from a family with income over
100 percent but below 130 percent of the income guidelines (total
enrollment in this category not to exceed 35 percent of the enrollment
slots, in addition to any slots filled under paragraph (b)(2) of this
section; or
(vii) Meeting alternative eligibility criteria as permitted under
paragraph (d) of this section or section 645(a)(2) of the Head Start
Act; and
(6) A signed and dated statement by the program staff person who
made the
[[Page 14855]]
eligibility determination certifying that the information on
eligibility in the file is accurate to the best of the person's
knowledge, and based on that information, the person has determined the
pregnant woman or child to be eligible for services.
(7) Retention and access practices for the eligibility
determination record for each pregnant woman or child described under
this paragraph must be consistent with section 647 of the Head Start
Act and the uniform administrative requirement regulations regarding
HHS grant awards implemented at 45 CFR 74.53 for awards and subawards
to institutions of higher education, hospitals, other nonprofit
organizations, and commercial organizations and 45 CFR 92.42 for grants
and cooperative agreements to State, local, and Tribal governments.
(h) Establishment of agency policies regarding violation of
eligibility determination regulations, policies and procedures. All
Head Start and Early Head Start agencies must establish policies and
procedures describing the actions that will be taken against agency
staff who commit intentional violations of Federal and agency
eligibility determination regulations, policies and procedures,
including enrolling pregnant women and children who staff have not
documented as eligible to participate in the program.
(i) Training. Head Start and Early Head Start agencies must train
all governing body, policy council, management and those staff members
who have the responsibility to make participant eligibility
determinations on Federal and agency eligibility determination
regulations, policies and procedures, including verification,
certification, and documentation requirements within 30 days following
the effective date of this rule, and within 30 days of hiring or
beginning of tenure of new governing body, policy council, management
and those staff members who have the responsibility to make participant
eligibility determinations. Agencies must develop policies regarding
how often such training will be provided after the initial training is
conducted to ensure that governing body, policy council, management and
those staff members who have the responsibility to make participant
eligibility determinations are aware of all current eligibility
determination regulations, policies and procedures. Agencies shall
maintain ongoing records of training. The training must include:
(1) Explanation of the legal consequences for individuals and
agencies that commit fraud related to eligibility determination; and
(2) Information on methods and strategies for obtaining facts
necessary for complete and accurate eligibility determinations. Such
methods and strategies must address treating families with dignity and
respect and give due regard for possible issues of domestic violence,
stigma, and privacy.
[FR Doc. 2011-6326 Filed 3-17-11; 8:45 am]
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