The Trafficking Victims Protection Act
of 2000 (TVPA), as amended, authorizes the Secretary of Health and
Human Services (HHS) to expand benefits and services to victims of
severe forms of trafficking in persons in the United States (U.S.),
without regard to their immigration status. The TVPA also
authorizes HHS to establish and strengthen programs to assist
United States citizens and lawful permanent residents who have
experienced sex trafficking or severe forms of trafficking in
persons (22 U.S.C. § 7105(f)(1)). Acting under a delegation of
authority from the Secretary of HHS, the Administration for
Children and Families (ACF) awards cooperative agreements to
organizations to establish a program to assist U.S. citizens and
lawful permanent residents who have experienced human trafficking
through the Domestic Victims of Human Trafficking (DVHT) Program.
The central purpose of the DVHT Program is to connect survivors
with the services they need to improve their well-being and health
outcomes. Domestic Victims of Human Trafficking Program Data (OMB
#0970-0542) is an active and approved collection of client-level
data on those served through the DVHT Program. The information
collected allows ACF to evaluate service delivery efforts, inform
prevention programming, and monitor program outcomes. In addition
to client-level data, information on the type and cost of services
provided through the program is collected to enable ACF to respond
to congressional inquiries related to program spending and to
provide technical assistance to grant recipients on managing
available funding for individuals and households enrolled in the
program. DVHT currently inclusive of two distinct award programs:
the Domestic Victims of Human Trafficking and Services Outreach
Program (DVHT-SO) and the Demonstration Grants to Strengthen the
Response to Victims of Human Trafficking in Native Communities
(VHT-NC) Program. The performance indicators and data collection
instruments under OMB #0970-0542 apply to both DVHT programs. The
primary objective of OTIP’s victim assistance programs, including
DVHT, is to provide comprehensive, culturally and linguistically
responsive case management to individuals who have experienced a
severe form of trafficking in persons. Current DVHT recipients have
reported concerns over competing requirements and priorities under
their awards, which made it difficult to balance direct service
provision against training activities for community-based providers
and members of the general public. Grant recipients have also cited
concerns over the lack of foundational knowledge within their
communities as to what constitutes human trafficking victimization,
which has impacted their ability to identify potential victims and
connect those individuals with services. Beginning in FY 2024, so
as to reduce reporting burden on recipients and strengthen public
awareness within the geographic service areas where recipients
implement their programs, training is no longer required or an
allowable activity under DVHT. These updated requirements
pertaining to allowable and required programmatic activities were
made public through the most recent NOFOs and grant award processes
and are already in effect. As such, we are requesting to remove the
training indicators from OMB #0970-0542 and to make a minor update
to the Outreach form for recipients to report on their public
awareness activities.
US Code:
22 USC 7105(f)(1)) Name of Law: The Trafficking Victims
Protection Act of 2000 (TVPA), as amended
This change request includes
removal of the Training form and a minor change to the Outreach
form. This collection captures information on DVHT participant
demographics (e.g., age, gender identity, race/ethnicity), type of
trafficking experienced (sex, labor, or both), types of services
and benefits provided, along with aggregate information on outreach
and public awareness activities conducted and subrecipients
enrolled. Minor updates have been made to performance indicators
under this collection in consultation with existing grant
recipients and stakeholders, to reduce respondent burden and to
bring the collection into alignment with new programmatic
requirements. These updated requirements pertaining to allowable
and required programmatic activities were made public through the
most recent NOFOs and grant award processes and are already in
effect. The revisions made to this collection, as summarized in
full below, bring the collection into alignment with new
programmatic requirements and allow for clients served to be more
accurately represented in post-award reporting datasets. Overview
of Revisions Training form To reduce burden and bring the
collection into alignment with new programmatic requirements, OTIP
is requesting to discontinue use of and remove the Training form
data elements. We have removed the Training form from the
collection and updated the burden accordingly. Outreach form OTIP
proposes to add one indicator to the Outreach form: “Number of
Public Awareness Activities Conducted”. DVHT seeks to increase
domestic victim identification through service delivery and
outreach and adds a necessary public awareness component to improve
the general public’s understanding of human trafficking
victimization, particularly labor trafficking. The addition of
“Number of Public Awareness Activities Conducted” to the Outreach
Form will bring the collection into alignment with revised DVHT
requirements necessitating recipients to engage in public awareness
activities.
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.
Form 5 Victim Outreach
NonSub Change Request_DVHT_10.26.23.docx
Victim Outreach