E8-27234. Proposed Information Collection Activity; Comment Request

Proposed Projects:

Title: Court Improvement Program.

OMB No.: 0970-0245.

Description: The Court Improvement Program provides grants to State court systems to conduct assessments of their foster care and adoption laws and judicial processes and to develop and implement a plan for system improvement. ACF proposes to collect information from the States about this program (applications, program reports) by way of a Program Instruction, which (1) describes the requirements for States under the reauthorization of the Court Improvement Program; (2) outlines the programmatic and fiscal provisions and reporting requirements of the program; (3) specifies the application submittal and approval procedures for the program for Fiscal Years 2007 through 2011; and (4) identifies technical resources for use by State courts during the course of the program. This Program Instruction contains information collection requirements pursuant to receiving a grant award that are found in Public Law 103-66, as amended by Public Law 105-89, Public Law 107-133, Public Law 109-239, and Public Law 109-288. The agency will use the information received to ensure compliance with the statute and provide training and technical assistance to the grantees.

Respondents: State Courts.

Annual Burden Estimates.

Instrument	Number of respondents	Number of responses per respondent	Average burden hours per response	Total burden hours
Application	52	1	40	2,080
Annual program report	52	1	36	1,872

Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 3,952.

In compliance with the requirements of Section 506(c)(2)(A) of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the Administration for Children and Families is soliciting public comment on the specific aspects of the information collection described above. Copies of the proposed collection of information can be obtained and comments may be forwarded by writing to the Administration for Children and Families, Office of Administration, Office of Information Services, 370 L'Enfant Promenade, SW., Washington, DC 20447, Attn: ACF Reports Clearance Officer. E-mail address: [e-mail]. All requests should be identified by the title of the information collection.

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.

Dated: November 12, 2008.

Janean Chambers,

Reports Clearance Officer.