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 OTIPâs 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: âNumber of Public Awareness Activities Conductedâ. DVHT seeks to increase domestic victim identification through service delivery and outreach and adds a necessary public awareness component to improve the general publicâs understanding of human trafficking victimization, particularly labor trafficking. The addition of âNumber of Public Awareness Activities Conductedâ 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