0970-AD32 202510 The Regulatory Plan and the Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions 0970 Administration for Children and Families ACF 0900 Department of Health and Human Services HHS Reforming Federal Reporting and Assessments in Child Welfare

This NPRM would permit ACF to streamline the assessment and reporting scheme in the Children’s Bureau.

]]> Other Significant First Time Published in The Unified Agenda Proposed Rule Stage Undetermined Undetermined Not subject to, not significant Not Yet Determined Not Yet Determined Yes

This NPRM proposes to simplify and restructure the overly bureaucratic array of reporting and monitoring systems that evaluate a state’s compliance with federal child welfare requirements. This includes both the five-year Child and Family Services Plan (CFSP), the Annual Progress and Services Report (APSR), and the Child and Family Services Review (CFSR). The CFSR is a periodic review of a state’s child welfare system, which no state has achieved substantial conformity under after three complete rounds of review of every state. As such, every state is on a Program Improvement Plan (PIP) to take corrective action to improve the CFSR’s findings. 

Unfortunately, the PIPs have also been ineffective, with states producing worse results in each subsequent round of the CFSR. It is clear that the web of reviews and reporting associated with state child welfare monitoring is overly restrictive and prescriptive. This rulemaking seeks to address this issue and reform the compliance reviews from a check-the-box process to an outcomes-based approach directed towards a tailored goal of ensuring a safe, loving home for every American child.

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TBD

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ACF has considered alternatives, including issuance of sub-regulatory guidance, but has determined that regulatory action is necessary to reduce burden on states who are responsible for complying with the current bureaucratic patchwork of reporting and assessments.  Sub-regulatory action alone is insufficient to overcome the needlessly prescriptive mandates and requirements included in existing regulations.

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ACF has calculated that the cost of administering the CFSR is roughly $600,000 per state, per round. A rewritten reporting and review process seeks to not only save administrative expenses, but will also allow states and ACF to spend time seeking to improve child welfare as opposed to following a failed bureaucratic process. This proposed rulemaking is set to save considerable administrative costs for both the states and ACF.

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Risks are minimal. ACF expects this NPRM will be well-received by the community as few individuals see much of a benefit in the CFSR process, which since the turn of the century has identified zero states in substantial compliance. While with any changes in reporting requirements, there could be some initial hesitation, it is expected that stakeholders would be excited for compliance reporting to strengthen a component of child welfare, rather than waste hundreds of thousands of dollars per review which will lead to a pre-determined failure.  

]]> NPRM 07/00/2026 Undetermined Undetermined Undetermined No No Adam Jones 0970 Administration for Children and Families ACF 202 417-0115 adam.jones@acf.hhs.gov 330 C Street SW, Washington DC 20201