(CNN) The Trump administration is reversing a controversial policy implemented this summer that immigration advocates say caused thousands of unaccompanied migrant children to remain in shelters for extended periods.

The Department of Health and Human Services is no longer requiring fingerprint checks for all adult members of a sponsor's household when the sponsor applies to take in unaccompanied minors, a spokesperson for the agency said. Sponsors must still be fingerprinted and undergo background checks before unaccompanied minors are released into their care, the spokesperson said.

The decision to reverse the policy to the procedures in place before June is because, according to the spokesperson, HHS has determined that the checks of all household members "have generally not yielded additional information" in revealing risks to the children, and the additional checks meant children were staying in HHS care much longer.

In an email to providers obtained by CNN, HHS said, "Effective immediately, adult household members of any sponsor category do not require fingerprint background checks" unless information such as a public records check indicates additional information about household members is needed before a child is released to a sponsor.

Last spring, the Trump administration implemented new information-sharing policies between HHS and Immigration and Customs Enforcement that included stricter vetting of adults who sponsor unaccompanied children. They also required the fingerprinting of everyone in the home and the sharing of that information with ICE.

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