The Office of Refugee Resettlement is seeking comments on revised child-health forms that describe limited disclosure of health information to the Department of Homeland Security when a child with healthcare needs leaves ORR custody for DHS-led repatriation.
The notice, published in the Federal Register on October 26, says the purpose is continuity of care. It explicitly says the data is not shared for immigration enforcement purposes.
When the information would be shared
The notice says relevant treatment-plan information must be shared when DHS identifies for repatriation a child whose health condition needs daily management or accommodation, such as medication or durable medical equipment.
It further specifies that limited data from the Medical Assessment Form and Dental Assessment Form would go to the DHS Field Office Juvenile Coordinator when travel arrangements have been made.
The categories include the child's name, alien number and date of birth; active diagnoses or concerns needing management during travel; allergies; current medications and dosages; isolation or quarantine requirements; health-related accommodations; and health-related travel restrictions.
These are the notice's stated purposes and limits. The notice does not demonstrate how sharing works in an individual case or establish that information has been misused.
Other proposed form changes
ORR proposes bringing its Serious Medical Procedure Request form into the same information collection as the medical and dental assessment forms. It also proposes changes to reduce duplicate documentation, revise instructions and improve fields used to track care and accommodations.
The notice says unaccompanied children in ORR custody receive routine and emergency medical, dental and mental-health services through care-provider programs. Healthcare providers and care-provider staff use the forms to compile assessment information, which staff transcribe into ORR's secure electronic system of record.
This is an information-collection request submitted for Office of Management and Budget review. It is not a final new regulation announcing a general authorization to send all children's medical records to DHS.
Comment deadline
Comments are due November 25, 2026. The notice identifies information-collection request 202610-0970-004 on RegInfo.gov for viewing and comments, and gives instructions for requesting copies of the proposed collection from ACF.