Voluntary Acknowledgment of
Paternity and Required Data Elements for the Paternity
Establishment Affidavit
Revision of a currently approved collection
No
Regular
11/23/2020
Requested
Previously Approved
36 Months From Approved
01/31/2021
4,262,038
5,343,546
593,947
782,003
0
0
This request is for an extension of an
approved information collection: Voluntary Acknowledgement of
Paternity and Required Data Elements for the Paternity
Establishment Affidavit (OMB #0970-0171). The Administration for
Children and Families (ACF) is proposing minor changes to the
burden estimate as last approved in 2017. Section 466(a)(5)(C) of
the Social Security Act requires States to enact laws ensuring a
simple civil process for voluntarily acknowledging paternity via an
affidavit. The State must provide that, before a mother and
putative father can sign a voluntary acknowledgment of paternity,
the mother and putative father must be given notice, orally and in
writing of the alternatives to, the legal consequences of, and the
rights (including any rights, if one parent is a minor, due to
minority status) and responsibilities of acknowledging paternity.
One affidavit needs to be filled out for each paternity established
and the information cannot be provided any less frequently than
once to each mother and putative father. The development and use of
an affidavit for the voluntary acknowledgment of paternity would
include the minimum requirements specified by the Secretary and to
give full faith and credit to such an affidavit signed in any other
State according to its procedures.
US Code:
42
USC 666 Name of Law: Social Security, Subchapter IV Part D:
Child Support and Establishment of Paternity
US Code: 42
USC 652 Name of Law: Social Security, Subchapter IV Part D:
Child Support and Establishment of Paternity
In the last review of this
information collection in 2017, OCSE calculated the burden to be
782,003 hours annually. In this information collection, we estimate
the burden to be 593,947 hours annually. This adjustment is due to
several factors. To start, since 2017, there has been an increase
in the estimated number of partners involved in the voluntary
paternity acknowledgment program by about 87,000 entities. This
increase affects the burden in the rows for training and for
brochures on the burden table. However, this increase is offset by
a change in the method of calculating the paternity acknowledgment
services activity. In this request, to estimate the number of
services provided, we used the number of non-marital births
(approximately 1.4 million), while in the 2017 estimate we used the
universe of possible entities that could provide the service
(approximately 2.7 million). While using the number of non-marital
births is more accurate, it is a big decrease in burden, more than
offsetting the increase described in the previous paragraph.
On behalf of this Federal agency, I certify that
the collection of information encompassed by this request complies
with 5 CFR 1320.9 and the related provisions of 5 CFR
1320.8(b)(3).
The following is a summary of the topics, regarding
the proposed collection of information, that the certification
covers:
(i) Why the information is being collected;
(ii) Use of information;
(iii) Burden estimate;
(iv) Nature of response (voluntary, required for a
benefit, or mandatory);
(v) Nature and extent of confidentiality; and
(vi) Need to display currently valid OMB control
number;
If you are unable to certify compliance with any of
these provisions, identify the item by leaving the box unchecked
and explain the reason in the Supporting Statement.
Attachment_OCSE Pater Est Data Elements (0970-0171) - Comments to 60 day notice 2020.xlsx
Supporting Statement_Paternity Data Elements_FINAL.docx
Brochures