National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being—Third Cohort (NSCAW III): Agency Recruitment
OMB Information Collection Request
0970 - 0202
Supporting Statement
Part A
October 2016
Submitted By:
Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation
Administration for Children and Families
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
4th Floor, Mary E. Switzer Building
330 C Street, SW
Washington, D.C. 20201
Project Officers:
Mary Bruce Webb
Christine Fortunato
Section Page
A1. Necessity for the Data Collection 1
A1.2 Legal or Administrative Requirements that Necessitate the Collection 2
A2. Purpose of Survey and Data Collection Procedures 2
A2.1 Overview of Purpose and Approach 2
A2.4 Universe of Data Collection Efforts 6
A3. Improved Information Technology to Reduce Burden 7
A4. Efforts to Identify Duplication 8
A5. Involvement of Small Organizations 8
A6. Consequences of Less Frequent Data Collection 8
A8. Federal Register Notice and Consultation 8
A8.1 Federal Register Notice and Comments 8
A8.2 Consultation with Experts Outside of the Study 9
A9. Incentives for Respondents 9
A10. Privacy of Respondents 10
A12. Estimation of Information Collection Burden 12
A13. Cost Burden to Respondents or Record Keepers 13
A14. Estimate of Cost to the Federal Government 13
A16. Plan and Time Schedule for Information Collection, Tabulation and Publication 13
A17. Reasons Not to Display OMB Expiration Date 13
A18. Exceptions to Certification for Paperwork Reduction Act Submissions 13
Number Page
The Administration for Children and Families (ACF) within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) seeks approval to contact child welfare agencies for the purpose of recruitment and gathering information to facilitate the sampling of children for the third cohort of children and families for the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being (NSCAW III). During this first phase (Phase I) of the project, the study team will only collect information relevant to child welfare agency recruitment and files for sampling children. A separate package will be submitted requesting approval for the second phase (Phase II) of the NSCAW III project, including baseline and 18-month follow-up data collection, instruments and procedures, data analyses and the reporting of study findings.
NSCAW is the only source of nationally representative, firsthand information about the functioning and well-being, service needs, and service utilization of children and families who come to the attention of the U.S. child welfare system (CWS). Information is collected about children’s cognitive, social, emotional, behavioral, and adaptive functioning, as well as family and community factors that are likely to influence their functioning. Family service needs and service utilization also are addressed in the data collection. Thus far, the study has produced two cohorts with data collected directly from children and their caregivers, caseworkers, and teachers.
The two prior NSCAW cohorts were initiated in 1999 and 2008, respectively. Both have included children investigated for maltreatment during the sampling period, whether or not their reports are substantiated. Sampled child welfare agencies nationwide submitted monthly files of closed child welfare investigations; children were sampled from these files monthly over a 15-month period. The first cohort of NSCAW was selected in 1999–2000 from 92 primary sampling units (PSUs), in 97 counties nationwide. These 5,501 children were ages 0 to 14 at the time of sampling and were followed up for five to six years, with data collection ending in 2007. A second round of NSCAW, with a new sample of children, began in 2008. Children were selected in 2008–2009 from 81 of the 92 original PSUs in 83 counties. These 5,873 children were ages 0 to 17.5 years old at the time of sampling and were followed up for three years, with data collection ending in 2012. In both studies, children were followed up at 18-month intervals after baseline. In addition to survey data, the second round of NSCAW collected agency-level administrative data. Child-level survey data was linked to National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS) and Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS) data on maltreatment re-reports and placements. Data are made available to the research community through licensing arrangements from the National Data Archive on Child Abuse and Neglect (NDACAN) at Cornell University.
In 2014, about 3.6 million referrals in the United States involved the alleged maltreatment of approximately 6.6 million children (US DHHS, 2016). The number of children in need of CWS services is staggering, as no other child-serving system encounters such a high prevalence of trauma (Greeson et al., 2014). Studies based on the prior NSCAW cohorts demonstrate the high needs of CWS-involved children. A few key findings from NSCAW are highlighted below:
The well-being needs of children with and without substantiated cases of maltreatment do not significantly differ (Casanueva et al., 2012).
CWS-involved children –whether they remain in home, are placed out of home, or are discharged to permanence—are at higher risk for behavioral and developmental problems, compared to children in the general population (Burns, et al. 2004; Casanueva et al., 2008).
High needs are aggravated by a low rate of services received, particularly among those living at home after a maltreatment report, and also among infants and toddlers (Casanueva et al., 2008; Dolan et al., 2012).
Children living with kin caregivers are consistently less likely to receive needed services than children living in non-kin foster care (Casanueva et al., 2012; Ringeisen et al., 2011).
Children 12 years or older placed in foster care are at particularly high risk for remaining in long-term foster care (Ringeisen et al., 2013).
In the fall of 2015, ACF awarded a contract to RTI International to carry out the third cohort of NSCAW. A major objective for NSCAW III is to maintain the strengths of previous work, while better positioning the study to address the changing child welfare population. While the previous NSCAW cohorts provided a vastly better understanding of what children and families involved with the child welfare system face, many knowledge gaps remain. More research is needed about children who enter CWS custody for reasons other than a maltreatment investigation; pathways to reunification, guardianship, and adoption, particularly for children entering CWS as adolescents; and youth’s transition to adulthood, particularly those aging out of foster care. Additional research is also needed on the quality of services received by children in the CWS, including mental health services and psychotropic medication use. While prior NSCAWs relied on child, caregiver, and caseworker self-report, the third NSCAW will link to Medicaid data to better address these service use questions. Evolving policy and practice, such as the increasing use of differential response strategies, and a child welfare population that has changed since the study was last launched in 2008 also highlight the need for a third cohort of NSCAW data collection to assess children and families’ current experiences.
The National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-being (NSCAW) was first established by the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (P.L. 104-193), Section 429A. There are no legal or administrative requirements that necessitate the current collection. This is a discretionary data collection that falls under the authority of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 626) Section 426.
The proposed data collection approach for NSCAW III includes two phases: Phase I includes child welfare agency recruitment and collection of files for sampling children, and Phase II includes baseline data collection and an 18-month follow-up data collection.
The overall goal for Phase I of the project is to secure the participation of 83 child welfare agencies. As detailed in Section B1.3, because a sample size of 55 to 60 completed cases per primary sampling unit (PSU) or county is considered optimal, 83 child welfare agencies must be recruited to achieve the desired cohort size (see Phase II below). In order to secure the participation of 83 child welfare agencies, we anticipate contacting 114 total agencies. Section B1.5 provides detail on expected agency response rates. The 83 participating agencies will submit, on a monthly basis for 15 months, files containing children with a closed maltreatment investigation in the prior month, as well as children who entered CWS custody without a maltreatment investigation. These files will be used to select the child sample for the third NSCAW cohort.
For future information collection in Phase II of the project, the plan involves recruiting a new cohort of 4,565 children and families and repeating similar data collection procedures as the previous two NSCAW cohorts. The overarching goal is to maintain the strengths and continuity of the prior surveys while better positioning the study to address changes in the child welfare population and increasing the study’s utility through linkage to additional administrative datasets. Study design changes and enhancements planned for the third cohort include:
Expansion of the study population to include children who enter CWS custody without a maltreatment investigation, such as juvenile justice and human trafficking cases.
Oversampling of older children, ages 12–17, who are more likely to enter and remain in foster care or group homes, and be prescribed psychotropic medications.
Obtaining Medicaid data, including psychotropic medication use and the use of mental health services, on the approximately 75–80% of NSCAW children covered by Medicaid.
Obtaining income-related data on NSCAW children and families, such as SSI, wage, and unemployment data, to better understand economic conditions and financial hardships.
Current Request for Data Collection Instruments (Phase I). Approval is currently being requested for child welfare agency recruitment and collection of files for sampling children. Data collection will take place over a 2-year period. Supporting Statement Part B details these activities.
Future Information Collection Requests (Phase II). A separate package will be submitted requesting approval for baseline data collection and 18-month follow-up data collection, instruments and procedures, data analyses and the reporting of study findings. This future request will provide information about linking survey data to administrative data, including Medicaid claims data, NCANDS, and AFCARS. For Phase I of NSCAW III, recruitment of sampled child welfare agencies is scheduled to begin in October 2016 and to be completed by June 2017. Participating child welfare agencies will submit 15 monthly sample files beginning in June 2017. For Phase II, baseline data collection is scheduled to begin in July 2017 and to be completed in December 2018, pending OMB review/approval. The 18-month follow-up data collection is scheduled to occur between January 2019 and May 2020, pending OMB review/approval.
This recruitment effort is the initial stage (Phase I) to address the following (Phase II) research questions:
Who are the children and families who come into contact with the child welfare system in 2017–2018?
To what extent are children entering the CWS via pathways other than a maltreatment investigation or assessment? What are their characteristics?
To what extent are children receiving mental health, psychotropic medications, and other services covered by Medicaid?
What are the predictors of permanency and other outcomes for older youth who enter the CWS?
What are the predictors of a successful transition to adulthood and other outcomes for youth aging out of foster care?
To what extent are developmental risks among infants being identified and addressed?
To what extent do economic resources and family context play a role in CWS processes and determinations and in child and family outcomes?
How do aspects of out-of-home placement (e.g., placement type, subsidies, and licensure) influence child outcomes?
Answering these research questions for the proposed project will fill knowledge gaps such as the characteristics of children currently being served by the CWS, the extent to which children are entering via pathways other than a maltreatment investigation, and outcomes for groups at particular risk, including infants, children entering foster care at ages 12 and older, and youth aging out the system. The proposed project will also generate information about the receipt of Medicaid-covered services, the impact of economic resources, and the extent to which different types of out-of-home placements impact child trajectories and outcomes.
As with prior NSCAWs, a stratified, two-stage sample design will be employed where the primary sampling units (PSUs) are U.S. counties or contiguous areas of two or more counties and the secondary sampling units are children involved with the child welfare system during the sample recruitment period. The overall goal is to recruit 83 child welfare agencies to participate in the study. Child welfare agencies will be selected with probability proportional to size, based on the current distributions in the child welfare system. Agency recruitment needs to begin in October 2016 to allow time for agency recruitment, to complete all necessary data agreements and study approvals, and to prepare agencies to submit files for sampling children. Agencies will submit sampling files beginning in June 2017 to ensure that baseline data collection can begin in July 2017.
In Phase I of the project, child welfare agencies in the sampled PSUs/counties will be contacted and asked to participate in the study. The following describes the procedures for information collection from agencies.
Information package for child welfare agency administrators. After the sample of child welfare agencies is drawn, child welfare agency administrators will be sent a package of materials asking them to participate in NSCAW III. The purpose of this mailout package is to introduce the study’s design and goals, and explain the agency’s role in the sampling and data collection process. The packet is being sent by mail to allow agency administrators and other relevant staff time to review the study materials and gain an understanding of what is being asked of agencies prior to receiving a call.
Initial visit or call with agency staff. Within a week of project information being received, agency recruiters will contact child welfare agency administrators to describe the study, discuss their involvement, answer questions, address concerns, determine whether additional approvals are required, and obtain the agency’s cooperation. The telephone calls and visits with the agency staff are necessary steps in the agency recruitment process that will allow the project to build rapport with the agency, answer any questions the agency may have, and directly address any concerns the agency has about participating, and secure the agency’s participation in NSCAW.
Visit or call with agency staff explaining the sample file process. Once an agency has agreed to participate, a member of the project team will work with designated data systems staff from the participating child welfare agency to prepare the site for submission of monthly data files. Designated agency staff are typically responsible for maintaining all agency administrative data. An initial data request call, and subsequent calls as needed, will be held to ensure that the agency staff fully understands all of the data elements that are being requested. Because agencies data systems, terminology, and policies are likely to vary, these visits or calls will allow the project team to address the issues unique to the agency’s data systems and cross-walk between agency policy and practice and data fields needed for child-level sample selection.
Child welfare agency staff monthly sample file generation and transmission. Agencies that agree to participate will submit monthly files containing children with a closed maltreatment investigation or assessment and children who have entered legal custody. A secure transmission website will allow agencies to easily and securely transmit data files for processing and sample selection. Files will be submitted for 15 months to allow the project to capture all eligible CWS-involved children within a 12 month period. Files provided by agencies form the basis of the target population from which children will be sampled for NSCAW. Oversampled cases will include infants under 1 year of age, children ages 12–17, children receiving services, and children in out of home care.
The agency recruitment activities and collection of files for sampling children that are the focus of this request for approval are described in detail in Supporting Statement Part B.
In Phase II of the project (to be detailed in a subsequent information collection request), data will be collected from multiple informants associated with each sampled child in order to get the fullest possible picture. A baseline round of face-to-face interviews and assessments will be conducted with sampled children, their adult caregivers (e.g., biological/adoptive parents, foster parents, kin caregivers, group home caregivers) and their assigned caseworkers. Ultimately, the NSCAW III cohort will include approximately 4,565 children, aged birth to 17 ½ years, involved with the child welfare system within a fifteen month period beginning in June, 2017.
Previously Approved Data Collection Instruments. ACF previously received OMB approval for all instruments, procedures, and respondent materials needed to conduct five waves of NSCAW I data collection (1999 to 2007) and three waves of NSCAW II data collection (2008–2012) (OMB control number 0970-0202). Data collections for NSCAW I and NSCAW II are complete.
Current Request for Data Collection Instruments. Approval is currently being requested for child welfare agency recruitment and collection of files for sampling children.
Respondents are child welfare agency administrators and other personnel who will be contacted in order to obtain the agency’s agreement to participate in the study, including the submission of data available in their Statewide Automated Child Welfare Information Systems (SACWIS), Comprehensive Child Welfare Information System (CCWIS), or other data systems that will be used to select the sample of children for the third NSCAW.
Prior to being contacted by phone, agencies will receive information about the study. Teleconferences and in-person meetings (as needed or requested) will be held with agency personnel to ensure an understanding of the study requirements and to gain cooperation. Exhibit A2.1 lists the instruments and related information to be used during Phase I, as well as the research questions and/or purpose of each instrument. The process and information to be collected is based on prior NSCAW cohorts.
Exhibit A2.1. Instruments and Related Information/Instructions to be Used in Phase I
Instrument and Related Information/Instructions |
Purpose |
Information package for child welfare agency administrators
|
Introduce child welfare agencies to the study, highlight key study findings, convey what is asked of agencies who agree to participate. |
Initial call with agency staff
|
Identify agency staff who will serve as study contacts, including an agency liaison, staff who will submit monthly sample files, and staff who will submit NCANDS and AFCARS files. Determine if agency requires county or state-level IRB approval or data sharing agreement. Collect signed Memorandum of Agreement from agency. |
In-person visit with agency staff (if needed or requested)
|
Identify agency staff who will serve as study contacts, including an agency liaison, staff who will submit monthly sample files, and staff who will submit NCANDS and AFCARS files. Determine if agency requires county or state-level IRB approval or data sharing agreement. Collect signed Memorandum of Agreement from agency. |
Visit or call with agency staff explaining the sample file process
|
Review eligible child cases and data elements to be included in monthly sampling files with designated agency contact; review steps for secure transmission of files; document how investigations, siblings, and unsubstantiated records are documented in the agency’s system. |
Child welfare agency staff monthly sample file generation and transmission
|
Receive monthly files from agencies for 15 months and select the child sample for NSCAW. The sample draw from child welfare agencies will ultimately address two of the study’s main research questions:
|
Future Information Collection Requests. A second request will be submitted requesting approval for baseline data collection and 18-month follow-up data collection. This future package will also provide information for linking survey data to administrative data, including Medicaid claims data, NCANDS, and AFCARS.
A web-based Agency Recruiting System will be used to capture all contact information and communications with the sampled child welfare agencies and to facilitate the recruitment process. This web-based system, developed for NSCAW II, guides recruiters through the process of securing agency cooperation—maximizing the efficiency of contacts with agencies and reducing burden.
To reduce the burden of generating monthly sample frame files, a computer-aided data entry (CADE) application will be offered to agencies which will allow agency staff to enter the requested sample data. This technology will assist those agencies currently not capable of easily generating the requested data files. A user-friendly secure transmission website will be available for agencies to submit sample files. Each agency will be assigned a unique login and password that will direct the agency programmer to a custom agency web page.
Section A10 provides information about how the information collected from agencies will be kept private.
NSCAW is the only source of nationally representative, longitudinal data on the well-being of children and families in the child welfare system. While two established federal reporting systems—NCANDS and AFCARS—provide critically important, ongoing snapshots of the safety and permanency of children in the child welfare system, there is no equivalent source of child welfare agency-level data on the social and emotional well-being of these at-risk families.
The files that states and counties will prepare and submit to NSCAW for sampling purposes will likely draw from variables and data already being collected and stored in their Statewide Automated Child Welfare Information Systems (SACWIS), Comprehensive Child Welfare Information System (CCWIS), or other data systems. While the study will be requesting that states draw upon these existing variables to create the sampling frame, the variables will be used for a unique purpose – to ensure the selection of a nationally representative sample of children and families to be offered participation in NSCAW.
NSCAW involves direct data collection with children, their caregivers, and their caseworker via in-person interviews and standardized assessments to capture detailed information about children’s functioning, service needs and service utilization. In short, in their present form, the NCANDS and AFCARS data systems cannot replicate the longitudinal, child- and family-level developmental and well-being data collected by NSCAW. Rather, the three data sources complement one another.
No small businesses or organizations will be contacted during site recruitment. As described in Supporting Statement Part B, very small county child welfare agencies (i.e., those with fewer than 55 maltreatment investigations annually) will be excluded from the sample frame.
This is a onetime data collection.
There are no special circumstances for the proposed sampling and agency recruitment activities.
In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (Pub. L. 104-13 and Office of Management and Budget (OMB) regulations at 5 CFR Part 1320 (60 FR 44978, August 29, 1995)), ACF published a notice in the Federal Register announcing the agency’s intention to request an OMB review of this information collection activity. This notice was published on April 8, 2016, Volume 81, Number FR 20646, page 20646 -20647, and provided a 60-day period for public comment. This notice included information about all possible burden under this OMB number and the future submissions for anything described but not yet submitted as final will be announced in a 30-day Federal Register Notice only. A copy of this notice is included as Attachment J. During the notice and comment period, no substantive comments were received and one person requested the instruments.
An expert panel with diverse expertise is providing input and recommendations on all aspects of the study design. The panel includes individuals with backgrounds in child welfare administration, social work, pediatrics, juvenile justice, social services and programs, and mental health and trauma. Members of the NSCAW III expert panel are shown in Exhibit A8.1.
Exhibit A8.1. NSCAW III Expert Panel Members
Expert Panel Member |
Affiliation |
Lonnie Berger |
University of Wisconsin-Madison, Center for Financial Security |
Cheryl Boyce |
National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) |
David Bundy |
Former President and CEO, Children’s Home Society of America (Retired) |
Diane DePanfilis |
Hunter College, CUNY, School of Social Work |
Alan Dettlaff |
University of Illinois at Chicago, Jane Addams College of Social Work, |
Joseph Doyle |
MIT, Sloan School of Management |
Patrick Fowler |
Washington University in Saint Louis, George Warren Brown School of Social Work |
Brenda Jones-Harden |
University of Maryland, College of Education, Developmental Science Program |
Sacha Klein |
Michigan State University, School of Social Work |
John Landsverk |
Oregon Social Learning Center; California Evidence-Based Clearinghouse for Child Welfare |
Laurel Leslie |
American Academy of Pediatrics |
Curtis McMillen |
University of Chicago, School of Social Service Administration |
Ramesh Raghavan |
Rutgers University, School of Social Work |
Cassandra Simmel |
Rutgers University, School of Social Work |
Cynthia Tate |
Senior Deputy Director, Division of Program, Practice, & Research; Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) |
Dana Weiner |
Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago |
No incentives will be offered as part of the Phase I child welfare agency recruitment and sampling activities.
In Phase II of the project (to be submitted in a separate package), gifts of appreciation offered to participating children and families will mirror those offered to the two prior NSCAW cohorts. As a thank you, parents and caregivers will be offered $50; children 11 years and older will be offered a $20 gift card; and children 10 years of age and younger will be offered a $10 gift card that is provided to the child’s current caregiver for the child. When possible, gift cards for children will be purchased from bookstores or toy stores. Regarding the $50 thank you for parents and caregivers, it is important to note that the administration time for the NSCAW parent/caregiver interview is approximately 100 minutes – a longer duration than the 60 minutes represented in the Bureau of Labor Statistic’s Occupational Employment Statistics wage rates.
Incentives are used to encourage participation and convey appreciation for respondent contributions to the research. The use of incentives can significantly increase participation rates and reduce nonresponse (e.g., Singer 2002; Singer and Ye, 2013). This is true not only for adults, but also children. For example, Martinson et al. (2000) found that the inclusion of incentives increased participation rates among adolescents from 55% to 69%. Rice and Broome (2004) note the importance of ensuring that the incentives provided are appropriate for the child’s developmental level, and recommended that gift vouchers or other redeemable incentives be used instead of cash.
The plan to provide gift cards to children as tokens of appreciation for their participation in NSCAW III is consistent with this recommendation and with the use of incentives on other ACF-sponsored projects involving young children, including prior rounds of NSCAW ($10 gift cards to toy stores for children 10 years or younger), Head Start FACES ($10 book for completing 45-minute child assessment), Building Strong Families (a $5 book and a $5 toy for participating in two 15-minute parent-child interaction tasks), and Baby FACES ($5 to 7 for participating in a 60-min child assessment). The provision of incentives to both parents and children on NSCAW also serve as a token of appreciation to families for allowing field staff into their home to complete two separate and comprehensive interviews, typically in the same day.
Minimizing non-response is critically important for panel surveys such as NSCAW, particularly at baseline. Families offered participation in NSCAW have very recently been involved with the child welfare system. For study findings to be representative of all cases entering child welfare, cooperation must be secured from participants with wide-ranging characteristics and outcomes, including cases with substantiated and unsubstantiated maltreatment investigations, children who remain at home and those placed in foster care, and families who continue to receive services or have other contact with the system alongside those who have no subsequent involvement.
Both prior NSCAW studies have included respondent incentives to lessen the impact of non-response bias. After the baseline waves of both efforts, non-response bias analyses were conducted to determine the magnitude of the biases both before and after weighting adjustments were applied.
A total of approximately 500 items were examined for both the child and caregiver interviews. Prior to non-response adjustment, about 16% of the caregiver and 10% of the child items had biases that were significant at the 5% level. After adjustment, this was reduced to 12% and 5%, respectively. Less than 1% of the items had biases that were deemed “practically significant” - defined as exceeding 10% of the estimate. Nevertheless, these analyses showed that important biases can result in the data unless high response rates are obtained and effective nonresponse adjustment methods are applied.
The items that exhibited the greatest bias were children in foster care or who experienced the most serious abuse – two groups of particular interest to NSCAW researchers. Unsubstantiated maltreatment cases were also underrepresented in the sample. It is possible that parents with this outcome may not have continued involvement with the child welfare system (and not see their participation as relevant) or may have been left with a negative view of the system as a result of unfounded accusations of abuse or neglect.
Without the continued use of incentives on NSCAW III, the study is likely to miss significantly more of the types of cases that contributed to bias in the prior rounds. Because the NSCAW studies have never been undertaken without the inclusion of incentives, it is not possible to estimate how significantly non-response bias would be impacted. Results of the follow-up waves of NSCAW I and II indicate that the incentives continue to be a powerful tool to maintaining high response rates and overall data quality post-baseline. For example, weighted response rates for caregivers in the two most recent waves of NSCAW II were 86% (18-month follow-up) and 83% (36-month follow-up), respectively.
Information collected will be kept private to the extent permitted by law. The consent statement provided to all participants includes assurances that the research team will protect the privacy of respondents to the fullest extent possible under the law, that respondents’ participation is voluntary, and that they may withdraw their consent at any time without any negative consequences. The contractor will use a computerized document management system (DocMan) created for the prior NSCAW in which interviewers secure respondents’ informed consent via the laptop computer and a portable scanner.
In addition to project-specific training about study procedures, members of the data collection team will receive training that includes general security and privacy procedures. All members of the data collection team will be knowledgeable about privacy procedures and will be prepared to describe them in detail or to answer any related questions raised by respondents.
Prior to initiating agency recruitment or sample file submission activities, approval will be received from the RTI Institutional Review Board (IRB).
Data security. The project team will utilize its extensive corporate administrative and security systems to prevent the unauthorized release of personally identifiable information (PII), including state-of-the-art hardware and software for encryption that meet federal standards, and physical security that includes keyless card‐controlled access system on all buildings and local desktop security and lockout of account via Microsoft Windows.
The contractor has established data security plans for handling data during all phases of the data collection. This includes:
Field staff laptops will be password‐protected and disk encrypted. There are several levels of password‐protected access required to view the files on the laptops. Failure to provide a password at any of the levels would deny one access to the case files.
Data will be transmitted and stored in such a way that only members of the project team who are authorized and have need will have access to any identifying information. All project team members have been trained on data security procedures and signed confidentiality agreements that provide for termination of employment, civil suit, and financial and other penalties in case of violation. RTI field laptops and data transmitted to and from them are encrypted with FIPS 140.2 compliant algorithms.
All personnel working on the survey must sign affidavits pledging that the data they will collect or work with will not be disclosed. Penalties for disclosure include termination of employment and substantial financial fines.
Access to project file shares, systems, and data is strictly controlled by role based security in the form of Windows security groups. An individual’s security group membership is determined based on the minimum necessary access to perform their job function on the project, and need‐to‐know. Staff are only added to security groups after completing the Project Confidentiality Pledge and any required trainings on data security. Security group membership is audited quarterly by project leaders to ensure that only those who still need specified access continue group membership.
Receipt of Monthly Sample Files from Agencies. The monthly sample frame files generated by the participating child welfare agencies will contain PII. Several data security procedures will be implemented to ensure the protection of the PII contained in those files. The data will be transmitted to the contractor via a password protected, Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) secured the contractor’s website. Following the process used for NSCAW II, each agency will have a unique login directing them to a custom agency web page for monthly submission of frame files. The agency web page will allow the agency programmer to upload frame files and view the filenames and timestamps of the files that they have uploaded in prior sessions. As the agency uploads a sample frame file, the file will be cached in memory, encrypted using a Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) 140‐2 compliant encryption, and then saved in an internal data folder on the website not directly accessible by web browser.
On a daily basis, a program will harvest the file from the folders on the website, transfer the file to the appropriate folder on project share in the contractor’s National Institute of Standards and Technology, or NIST‐Moderate Enhanced Security Network (ESN), and decrypt the file. The ESN will be isolated from the internet and accessed only via two‐factor authentication (PIN plus token). Data files will be protected through access restrictions on a need basis, and will be stored in username and password protected directories. This process for storing the sample files in the ESN is streamlined and does not require the sharing of encryption passwords with any other agency or project staff. Once the sample of children has been selected, the sample frame files will be archived. The files will be destroyed after the sample weights have been created and verified as required in any data use agreement negotiated with participating states and counties. Prior to initiating the in-person interviewing activities for Phase II of the project to be submitted for OMB approval in a subsequent clearance package, a federal Certificate of Confidentiality from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) will be secured.
A11. Sensitive Questions
There are no sensitive questions in this data collection.
Exhibit A12.1 below summarizes the reporting burden associated with the agency recruitment and collection of files for sampling children that will take place over a 2-year period. The estimated response burden by instrument was calculated based on information from prior NSCAW cohorts.
Exhibit A12.1. Information Collection Burden
Instruments and Information |
Total Number of Respondents |
Annual Number of Respondents |
Number of Responses Per Respondent |
Average Burden Hours Per Response |
Annual Burden Hours |
Average Hourly Wage |
Total Annual Cost |
Information package for child welfare agency administrators |
114 |
57 |
1 |
0.25 |
14 |
$32.56* |
$455.84 |
Initial call with agency staff |
114 |
57 |
1 |
1 |
57 |
$32.56* |
$1,855.92 |
In-person visit with agency staff |
20 |
10 |
1 |
1 |
10 |
$32.56* |
$325.60 |
Visit or call with agency staff explaining the sample file process |
83 |
42 |
1 |
2 |
84 |
$39.56** |
$3,323.04 |
Child welfare agency staff monthly sample file generation and transmission |
83 |
42 |
15 |
1 |
630 |
$39.56** |
$24,922.80 |
|
Totals: |
795 hrs. |
|
$30,883.20 |
|||
* Assumes an hourly rate of $32.56 for Social and Community Service Managers in the Bureau of Labor Statistic’s Occupational Employment Statistics, May 2014.
** Assumes an hourly rate of $39.56 for Database Administrators in the Bureau of Labor Statistic’s Occupational Employment Statistics, May 2014.
There are no additional costs to respondents.
The total cost for the agency recruitment and collection of files for sampling children covered in the current request will be $794,360. Annual costs to the Federal government will be $397,180. This includes direct and indirect costs of data collection.
This is a new wave of data collection under OMB No. 0970-0202.
For Phase I, child welfare agency recruitment is scheduled to begin in October 2016 and to be completed by June 2017, pending OMB approval. Participating child welfare agencies will submit 15 sample files beginning in June 2017 to ensure that baseline data collection for Phase II can begin in July 2017.
Agency contact and other information relevant to the study will be documented in a web-based system. No analyses will be conducted on agency information compiled or on files submitted by agencies for sampling purposes. No publications will emerge from this effort.
Detailed plans and time scheduled for the Phase II baseline and 18-month follow-up information collection, tabulation, and publication will be explained in a subsequent package.
All recruitment letters and materials will display the expiration date for OMB approval.
No exceptions are necessary for this information collection.
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Children’s Bureau. (2014). Child Welfare Outcomes 2009–2012: Report to Congress. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; Administration on Children (Ed.). Washington, DC.
Greeson, J. K. P., Briggs, E. C., Layne, C. M., Belcher, H. M. E., Ostrowski, S. A., Kim, S., . . . Fairbank, J. A. (2014). Traumatic childhood experiences in the 21st century: Broadening and building on the ACE studies with data from the National Child Traumatic Stress Network. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 29(3), 536–556. doi: 10.1177/0886260513505217
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Raghavan, R., Brown, D. S., Allaire, B. T., Garfield, L. D., Ross, R. E., & Snowden, L. R. (2014). Racial/ethnic differences in Medicaid expenditures on psychotropic medications among maltreated children. Child Abuse & Neglect, 38(6), 1002-1010. doi: 10.1016/j.chiabu.2014.02.013
Rice, M., & Broome, M. (2004). Incentives for children in research. Journal of Nursing Scholarship, 36(2), 167-172.
Ringeisen, H., Casanueva, C., Smith, K., & Dolan, M. (2011). NSCAW II Baseline Report: Children’s Services. OPRE Report #2011-27f. Washington, DC: Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Ringeisen, H, Tueller, S., Testa, M., Dolan, M., & Smith, K. (2013). Risk of long-term foster care placement among children involved with the child welfare system. OPRE Report #2013-30. Washington, DC: Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Singer, E. (2002). The use of incentives to reduce nonresponse in household surveys. In Groves, R.B., Dillman, D.A., Eltinge, J.L, & Little, R.J.A (Eds), Survey Nonresponse. New York: Wiley.
Singer, E., & Ye, C. (2013). The use and effects of incentives in surveys. The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 645, 112-141.
Stambaugh, L., Ringeisen, H., Casanueva, C., Tueller, S., Smith, K., & Dolan, M. (2013). Adverse childhood experiences in NSCAW. Washington, DC: Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Report #2013-26.
Stein, R. E. K., Hurlburt, M. S., Heneghan, A. M., Zhang, J. J., Rolls-Reutz, J., Landsverk, J., & Horwitz, S. M. (2014). Health Status and Type of Out-of-Home Placement: Informal Kinship Care in an Investigated Sample. Academic Pediatrics, 14(6), 559–564. doi:10.1016/j.acap.2014.04.002
Stein, R. E. K., Hurlburt, M. S., Heneghan, A. M., Zhang, J. J., Rolls-Reutz, J., Silver, E. J., . . . Horwitz, S. M. (2013). Chronic conditions among children investigated by child welfare: A national sample. Pediatrics, 131(3), 455–462. doi: 10.1542/peds.2012-1774.
Testa, M. F. (2014). Wicked problems and grand challenges: what’s the next big solution for child welfare? Paper presented at the Wicked Problems of Child Welfare Institute, Washington, DC.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2016). Child maltreatment 2014. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.
| File Type | application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document |
| Author | Sroka, Christopher |
| File Modified | 0000-00-00 |
| File Created | 2021-01-23 |