The Children’s Bureau (CB) is a
division of the Administration on Children, Youth and Families
(ACYF), Administration for Children and Families of the Department
of Health and Human Services. CB has responsibility for the
administration of the Children’s Justice Act (CJA) authorized by
the Child Abuse Prevention and TreatmentAct (CAPTA), as amended by
Public Law (P.L.) P.L. 111-320 enacted December 20, 2010. The CJA
program is located in Section 107, 42 U.S.C. 5106c under Grants to
States for Programs Relating to the Investigation and Prosecution
of Child Abuse and Neglect Cases. The CJA is designed to assist
states in improving the systems handling child abuse and neglect
cases. CB staff execute all the tasks involved in administering and
monitoring the CJA program. The legislation notes a requirement for
States to submit information to the CB on an annual basis: 42
U.S.C. 5106c Sec. 107 (b) (4) of CAPTA requires States to “submit
annually an application to the Secretary….” 42 U.S.C. 5106c Sec.
107 (B) (5) of CAPTA requires States to “submit annually to the
Secretary a report on the manner in which assistance received under
this program was expended throughout the State,…” While the
statutory requirements for reporting have not changed, the related
Program Instruction has been revised to focus solely on providing
instructions for respondents, remove requests for information not
required by statute, reduce duplicative information, and simplify
language. Additional information is provided in section
A15.
In accordance with the current
administration’s priority related to burden reduction for states,
the length of the CJA Program Instruction has been reduced by
approximately 67 percent. Edits have been made to focus solely on
providing instructions for respondents, remove requests for
information not required by statute, reduce duplicative
information, and simplify language. The Program Instruction does
include minimal language to clarify what level of information is
needed from respondents to comply with statutory reporting
requirements. The inclusion of such language ensures that grant
recipient responses provide sufficient documentation and data on
the use of grant funds in compliance with requirements of the CJA
statute. While the Program Instruction still includes time to
respond, it is the experience of ACF that without such guidance
states either over-respond to be sure they are perceived as being
responsive or require significant technical assistance to respond
in a manner that meets statutory requirements. The proposed changes
attempt to balance the overall burden in the CJA Program
Instruction with the states’ need for support.
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.
03/04/2026
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Children's Justice Act Program Instruction