Submission for Office of Management and Budget Review: Unaccompanied Alien Children Bureau Assessments for Children and Sponsors (Office of Management and Budget #0970-NEW)

<NOTICE> DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES <SUBAGY>Administration for Children and Families</SUBAGY> <SUBJECT>Submission for Office of Management and Budget Review: Unaccompanied Alien Children Bureau Assessments for Children and Sponsors (Office of Management and Budget #0970-NEW)</SUBJECT> <HD SOURCE="HED">AGENCY:</HD> Office of Refugee Resettlement; Administration for Children and Families; U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. <HD SOURCE="HED">ACTION:</HD> Request for public comments. <SUM> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUMMARY:</HD> The Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), Administration for Children and Families (ACF), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, requests approval from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and invites public comments on the proposed information collection, including proposed changes. The request consists of several forms that will allow the Unaccompanied Alien Children Bureau (UAC Bureau) to continue conducting statutorily mandated assessments of unaccompanied alien children (UAC—also referred to as “child” or “children”) in ORR care and custody as well as their sponsors. These assessments allow ORR to understand the status and needs of the child and their potential sponsor; assessment findings inform all decisions concerning the child's care while in ORR custody and eventual reunification with a sponsor. </SUM> <DATES> <HD SOURCE="HED">DATES:</HD> <E T="03">Comments due</E> June 26, 2025. The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is required to decide about the collection of information between 30 and 60 days after publication of this document in the <E T="04">Federal Register</E> . Therefore, a comment is best assured of having its full effect if OMB receives it within 30 days of publication. </DATES> <HD SOURCE="HED">ADDRESSES:</HD> Written comments and recommendations for the proposed information collection should be sent within 30 days of publication of this notice to <E T="03">www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain.</E> Find this information collection by selecting “Currently under 30-day Review—Open for Public Comments” or by using the search function. You can also obtain copies of the proposed collection of information by emailing <E T="03">infocollection@acf.hhs.gov.</E> Identify all emailed requests by the title of the information collection. <SUPLINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:</HD> <E T="03">Description:</E> ORR has undertaken a reorganization of its information collections to promote operational efficiency. The reorganization will result in more collections that contain fewer forms under a single OMB number. This request is to create a new information collection that contains forms associated with the provision of critical assessments to UAC and their sponsors. This information collection will contain seven revised forms transferred from one existing information collection and two new forms. The forms and the information collections under which they are currently approved are as follows: • <E T="03">Services Provided to Unaccompanied Alien Children (OMB #0970-0553)</E> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">○ Sponsor Assessment (Form S-5)</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">○ Adult Contact Profile (Form S-7)</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">○ Initial Intakes Assessment (Form S-8)</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">○ Assessment for Risk (Form S-9)</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">○ UAC Assessment (Form S-11)</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">○ UAC Case Review (Form S-12)</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">○ Individual Service Plan (Form S-13)</FP> • <E T="03">Newly Developed Category 4 Initiative Forms:</E> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">○ Permanency Planning Portfolio (Form #—TBD)</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">○ Family Finding Mobility Mapping Practice Guide (Form #—TBD)</FP> These forms are completed by care provider Case Managers and Clinicians at care provider facilities, and exclusively for the Sponsor Assessment (Form S-5), by Unification Specialists operating remotely. These forms assess the suitability of potential sponsors applying to reunify with a child; capture critical historical, biographic and medical data for children upon admission to the UAC Bureau care provider; assess the child for sexual abuse history and risk of abusive behavior towards others; review and update prior assessment data over time; and collaboratively identify potential sponsors for children without a viable sponsor (referred to as “Category 4” cases) utilizing child-friendly interactive techniques and extensive kinship network mapping. These forms are documentary in nature and a critical component of the child's case file. In addition to grouping forms related to Assessments together in this information collection, ORR is proposing the following revisions: ○ <E T="03">Global Changes across all currently approved forms:</E> Replace “Minor” with “Child”; replace “UC” or “Unaccompanied Child” with “UAC” or “Unaccompanied Alien Child” wherever they appear in conformance with terminology originating in the Homeland Security Act of 2002. Replace “Gender” with “Sex”; “male” and “female” as the only menu options in conformance with Executive Order (E.O.) 14168 ( <E T="03">Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government</E> ) Replace “Primary” language with “Preferred”. Simplify certain fields that capture both date and time to only capture the date when hour and minute of completion or certification is immaterial. Include Physical Location of the Child field in the UAC Basic Information section across all forms to conform with changes concurrently proposed in the Services Provided to Unaccompanied Alien Children Information Collection (OMB #0970-0553). Minor terminology edits to conform with UACB style guide standards as established in the UC Program Foundational Rule (45 CFR 410) as well as to improve clarity and consistency with other form titles and/or fields. Add translator or interpreter certification to assessments requiring input directly from a child or sponsor, as relevant. • <E T="03">Sponsor Assessment (Form S-5):</E> Currently, there are two approved versions of this form-one for UAC Portal and one for the UC Path system, which was never implemented. ORR plans to discontinue the UC Path version of this form, which was never deployed, and make the following revisions to the UAC Portal version. ○ Add new Current Sponsor Status field to the Sponsor Assessment to provide a high-level progress status for each assessment to inform concurrent planning efforts to identify alternative sponsors and Case Review (Form S-12). ○ Add Date Sponsor Identified to Adult Contact Profile section to improve data tracking for program performance evaluation. ○ Revise Proof of Identity Document Type options to conform with updated UAC Policy Guidance Section 2.2.4—Required Documents for Submission with the Application for Release, issued March 7th, 2025. ○ Revise Proof of Address Document Type options conform with updated UAC Policy Guidance Section 2.2.4—Required Documents for Submission with the Application for Release, issued March 7th, 2025. ○ Revise Proof of Address verification question “Dated within 2 months?” to “Dated within 30 days?”. ○ Revise Proof of Relationship Document Type options to conform with updated UAC Policy Guidance Section 2.2.4—Required Documents for Submission with the Application for Release, issued March 7th, 2025. ○ Add “Comment” field for Case Managers to document other proof of relationship submitted for Category 3 cases to reliably and sufficiently establish a bona-fide social relationship with the child and/or family in country of origin. ○ Revise Proof of Identity Document Type for Household Members to conform with updated UAC Policy Guidance Section 2.2.4—Required Documents for Submission with the Application for Release, issued March 7th, 2025. ○ Revise “Proof of Income” field under Employment section to a dropdown menu with the following options: Previous Year's U.S. Tax Return; Paystubs covering last 60 days continuous; Original letter from employer on company letterhead verifying sponsor's employment and salary, dated within <60 days; ORR Affidavit of support; Bank statements; Public Assistance Records—TANF; Public Assistance Records—SSI; Public Assistance Records—Cash Assistance; Public Assistance Records—Other entitlement Program; Records of interest or income earned from assets or investments. ○ Revise Proof of Identity Document Type options for Alternate Caregiver to conform with updated UAC Policy Guidance Section 2.2.4—Required Documents for Submission with the Application for Release, issued March 7th, 2025 ○ Revise “Substance Abuse Disclosed by Sponsor” under Criminal History and Background Checks Self Disclosure section to read “Legal issues related to drug or alcohol use ( <E T="03">e.g.,</E> D.U.I., D.W.I., Possession, Manufacture. Distribution of controlled substances)” to better capture data concerning the sponsor's risk profile ○ Add several questions to the “Care Plan” section of the form to document the sponsor's awareness and ability to care for the child's healthcare needs ○ In response to public comment, add the following questions to the “Care Plan” section to document the actions ORR has taken to uphold its obligations under the <E T="03">Lucas R.</E> Settlement Agreement: Affirmative efforts to support children with identified disabilities and their sponsors with referral to appropriate community-based services; Affirmative efforts to educate the potential sponsor on the child's specific disability-related needs; Document any reasonable accommodation or modifications made to the sponsorship process to facilitate the safe release of a child to a sponsor with an identified disability. ○ Add functionality to add multiple adult caregivers to the “Care Plan” section of the fo ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Preview showing 10k of 40k characters. 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