Change Request Memo - CB-496, Sept 2024

To: Kelsi Feltz

Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA)

Office of Management and Budget (OMB)

From: William Meltzer

Children’s Bureau

Administration on Children, Youth and Families

Administration for Children and Families (ACF)

Date: September 20, 2024

Subject: Change Request – Form CB-496 Title IV-E Programs Quarterly Financial Report

(OMB #0970-0510)

This memo requests approval of changes to the approved information collection, Form CB-496 Title IV-E Programs Quarterly Financial Report, approved under the Generic Clearance for Financial Reports used for ACF Non-Discretionary Grant Programs (OMB #0970-0510).

Background

The information collection was last approved by OMB as part of the three-year renewal cycle in June 2024. This approval did not include any changes to the form or the instructions. We are now seeking changes to the form and instructions based on the need to remove reporting items no longer needed, and the addition or revision of reporting lines and instructions required due to recent changes in program regulations, policy guidance, and other operational changes for which further information will enhance the administration of the program.

Overview of Requested Changes

A summary of the requested changes to the CB-496 form and reporting instructions is as follows:

1. Deletion of obsolete portion of the form (Part 3 and several Part 1 lines) previously used for now expired child welfare waiver demonstrations and calculation of Funding Certainty Grants.

2. Addition of lines and instructions to break out expenditures and caseloads for maintenance payments made to youth in extended foster care (age 18+) in the IV-E agencies that have exercised this option;

3. Collection of information from states on the average monthly number of children served through State-Tribe agreements under each of the IV-E entitlement programs and a breakout of expenditures made under those agreements for the title IV-E Prevention Program due to upcoming application of a different rate of federal financial participation (Tribal FMAP rate) for these expenditures;

4. Clarification of instructions and needed changes to reporting lines to align with recent policy and regulatory changes relating to relative/kin foster care licensing and the definition of relative; expansion of allowable legal representation administrative costs; and increased flexibilities for tribes operating IV-E Prevention Program through a State-Tribe agreement.

Time Sensitivities

Implementation of the requested changes for Form CB-496 is sought for Fiscal Year (FY) 2025 quarterly reporting purposes. Past experience has shown that reporting form changes are most useful and likely to be timely implemented when put in place for an entire FY. Since the Form CB-496 is a quarterly report, implementation in time for the report for the quarter ending December 31, 2024 is essential if we are to obtain consistent data for FY 2025. Approval for the requested revisions is thus needed by no later than October 2024 to permit us to issue guidance on the revisions and to assure that the automated data collection (OLDC) system is programmed to display all of those reporting revisions.