[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 189 (Monday, October 2, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 67759-67760]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-21649]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Administration for Children and Families


Proposed Information Collection Activity; Home-Based Child Care 
Toolkit for Nurturing School-Age Children Study (New Collection)

AGENCY: Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation, Administration 
for Children and Families, United States Department of Health and Human 
Services.

ACTION: Request for public comments.

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SUMMARY: The Administration for Children and Families (ACF) Office of 
Planning, Research, and Evaluation (OPRE) at the U.S. Department of 
Health and Human Services (HHS) is proposing to collect information to 
examine a toolkit of new measures designed to assess and strengthen the 
quality of child care, the Home-Based Child Care Toolkit for Nurturing 
School-Age Children (HBCC-NSAC Toolkit). This study aims to build 
evidence about the English version of the HBCC-NSAC Toolkit for use by/
with providers caring for children in a residential setting (i.e., 
home-based child care [HBCC]).

DATES: Comments due within 60 days of publication. In compliance with 
the requirements of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, ACF is 
soliciting public comment on the specific aspects of the information 
collection described above.

ADDRESSES: You can obtain copies of the proposed collection of 
information and submit comments by emailing 
<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#e6a9b6b4a38f88808985898a8a8385928f8988a6878580c88e8e95c8818990"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="66293634230f08000905090a0a0305120f090826070500480e0e1548010910">[email protected]</span></a>. Identify all requests by the title of 
the information collection.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 
    Description: The HBCC-NSAC Toolkit is designed for home-based 
providers who regularly care for at least 1 school-age child who is not 
their own. The purpose of the HBCC-NSAC Toolkit is to help home-based 
providers identify their caregiving strengths and areas for growth. The 
HBCC-NSAC Toolkit consists of a self-administered provider 
questionnaire (composed of multiple newly developed measures) and a 
family communication questionnaire (composed of 1 communication tool). 
For validation purposes, the study will include the provider 
questionnaire from the HBCC-NSAC Toolkit with additional items from 
existing measures and a separate family survey with child and family 
background information items and items from an existing measure. A 
subset of providers will be observed with an existing observation 
measure. Study participants will include home-based providers who can 
complete the provider questionnaire in English. They must currently 
care for at least 1 school-age child (age 5 and in kindergarten, or 
ages 6 through 12) in a home for at least 10 hours per week and for at 
least 8 weeks in the past year. These providers may also care for 
younger children (ages birth through 5 and not yet in kindergarten). 
Families (a parent or guardian of school-age children receiving care in 
the HBCC setting) who can complete the family survey in English will 
also be included in the study. The study will be based on a purposive 
sample of home-based providers in at least 10 geographic locations to 
maximize variation in the sample. OPRE proposes to collect survey and 
observational data from home-based providers who are licensed or 
regulated by states to provide child care and early education (CCEE) 
and providers who are unlicensed or legally exempt from state 
regulations for CCEE. Study participants may or may not participate in 
the child care subsidy program. The data collection activities are 
designed to provide critical information that is needed to analyze the 
reliability and validity of the HBCC-NSAC Toolkit's provider 
questionnaire. The resulting data will help ACF understand if the HBCC-
NSAC Toolkit's provider questionnaire can be used to support home-based 
providers in identifying and reflecting on their caregiving strengths 
and areas for growth.
    Respondents: Home-based providers; families of the children cared 
for by the providers.

[[Page 67760]]



                                             Annual Burden Estimates
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                                                                     Number of
                                                     Number of     responses per
                                                    respondents     respondent    Average burden   Total/annual
                   Instrument                       (total over     (total over    per response     burden (in
                                                      request         request       (in hours)        hours)
                                                      period)         period)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Provider telephone script and recruitment                 204               1            0.33              67
 information collection.........................
2. Provider telephone script and recruitment                 150               1             .42              63
 information collection including observations..
3. HBCC-NSAC Toolkit provider questionnaire.....             150               1             .75             113
4. Family survey................................             166               1            0.25              42
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 285.
    Comments: The Department specifically requests comments on (a) 
whether the proposed collection of information is necessary for the 
proper performance of the functions of the agency, including whether 
the information shall have practical utility; (b) the accuracy of the 
agency's estimate of the burden of the proposed collection of 
information; (c) the quality, utility, and clarity of the information 
to be collected; and (d) ways to minimize the burden of the collection 
of information on respondents, including through the use of automated 
collection techniques or other forms of information technology. 
Consideration will be given to comments and suggestions submitted 
within 60 days of this publication.
    Authority: 42 U.S.C. 9858.

Mary B. Jones,
ACF/OPRE Certifying Officer.
[FR Doc. 2023-21649 Filed 9-29-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4184-23-P


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