Justification

Request for Approval under the “Generic Clearance for the Collection of Routine Customer Feedback” (OMB Control Number: 0970-0401)

T ITLE OF INFORMATION COLLECTION: Child Welfare Program Improvement Plan Pilot Evaluation

PURPOSE: The Child and Family Services Reviews (CFSR) Program Improvement Plan (PIP) pilot is designed to test an approach to launching PIPs that will address the most common reasons for current delays in approving PIPs, such as lack of meaningful stakeholder engagement/commitment, strategies that are not directly related to the underlying causes of poor performance on the outcomes, and extensive review and comment phases between the states and federal government. This pilot will involve three States and is intended to increase the possibilities of approved PIPs leading to measurable improvements on the CFSR outcomes. The Child Welfare Capacity Building Collaborative will conduct an evaluation of this pilot to obtain feedback from participants that will inform ongoing process modifications during the pilot and future improvements of the PIP process.

This is a request for approval by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), under the Federal Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, for data collection activities to be authorized under the Administration for Children and Families’ generic OMB clearance # 0970-0401. Information collection activities include delivering voluntary online surveys and telephone focus groups.

DESCRIPTION OF RESPONDENTS: Survey respondents will include State and local governments, service providers, legal and judicial staff. An estimate of the annual response burden is outlined in the following table.

TYPE OF COLLECTION: (Check one)

[ ] Customer Comment Card/Complaint Form [] Customer Satisfaction Survey

[ ] Usability Testing (e.g., Website or Software [] Small Discussion Group

[] Focus Group

[X] Other: Program Improvement Plan (PIP) Pilot Evaluation Forms (Pre-Onsite Feedback Survey, Onsite Feedback Survey, Focus Group Guide, End of PIP Feedback Survey)

CERTIFICATION:

I certify the following to be true:

1. The collection is voluntary.

2. The collection is low-burden for respondents and low-cost for the Federal Government.

3. The collection is non-controversial and does not raise issues of concern to other federal agencies.

4. The results are not intended to be disseminated to the public.

5. Information gathered will not be used for the purpose of substantially informing influential policy decisions.

6. The collection is targeted to the solicitation of opinions from respondents who have experience with the program or may have experience with the program in the future.

Name: __Brian Deakins______________________________________________

To assist review, please provide answers to the following question:

Personally Identifiable Information:

1. Is personally identifiable information (PII) collected? [ ] Yes [X] No

2. If Yes, will any information that is collected be included in records that are subject to the Privacy Act of 1974? [ ] Yes [ ] No

3. If Yes, has an up-to-date System of Records Notice (SORN) been published? [ ] Yes [ ] No

Gifts or Payments:

Is an incentive (e.g., money or reimbursement of expenses, token of appreciation) provided to participants? [ ] Yes [X] No

BURDEN HOURS

Instrument	Number of Respondents	Number of Responses per Respondent	Average Burden Hours per Response	Total Burden Hours
Pre-Onsite Feedback Survey	42	1	0.083	3.50
Onsite Feedback Survey	126	1	0.167	21.00
Focus Group Guide	126	1	1.000	126.00
End of PIP Feedback Survey	42	1	0.083	3.50

Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 154.0 hours

FEDERAL COST: The estimated annual cost to the Federal government is approximately __$34,165.80____

If you are conducting a focus group, survey, or plan to employ statistical methods, please provide answers to the following questions:

The selection of your targeted respondents

1. Do you have a customer list or something similar that defines the universe of potential respondents and do you have a sampling plan for selecting from this universe? [ X] Yes [] No

If the answer is yes, please provide a description of both below (or attach the sampling plan). If the answer is no, please provide a description of how you plan to identify your potential group of respondents and how you will select them.

Potential respondents for all data collection consist of a finite group of participants involved in a Program Improvement Plan (PIP) pilot with three (3) States. For each State, participants consist of: 1) state child welfare staff 2) agency stakeholders (e.g. private providers), 3) technical assistance providers (e.g. Capacity Building Center for States), and federal staff (e.g. Children’s Bureau). Once the plan is finalized for each pilot site, the Collaborative Evaluation Team will obtain from the Children’s Bureau a list of participants. For each State, current estimates for respondents for each phase in the pilot are: pre-onsite work (14), onsite meeting (42), and PIP development process (14). The Pre-Onsite Feedback Survey will be administered after the pre-onsite work is completed and before the start of the onsite meeting. The Onsite Feedback Survey will be administered after the onsite meeting. Four separate one-hour telephone focus groups will also be conducted within 1-2 weeks after the onsite meeting, with the same sample used for the Onsite Feedback Survey. The End of PIP Feedback Survey will be administered after the PIP has been approved, at the end of the PIP development process.

Administration of the Instrument

1. How will you collect the information? (Check all that apply)

[X] Web-based or other forms of Social Media

[X] Telephone

[X] In-person

[] Mail

[ ] Other, Explain

2. Will interviewers or facilitators be used? [X] Yes [] No

Please make sure that all instruments, instructions, and scripts are submitted with the request.

Instructions for completing Request for Approval under the “Generic Clearance for the Collection of Routine Customer Feedback”

TITLE OF INFORMATION COLLECTION: Provide the name of the collection that is the subject of the request. (e.g. Comment card for soliciting feedback on xxxx)

PURPOSE: Provide a brief description of the purpose of this collection and how it will be used. If this is part of a larger study or effort, please include this in your explanation.

DESCRIPTION OF RESPONDENTS: Provide a brief description of the targeted group or groups for this collection of information. These groups must have experience with the program.

TYPE OF COLLECTION: Check one box. If you are requesting approval of other instruments under the generic, you must complete a form for each instrument.

CERTIFICATION: Please read the certification carefully. If you incorrectly certify, the collection will be returned as improperly submitted or it will be disapproved.

Personally Identifiable Information: Provide answers to the questions. Note: Agencies should only collect PII to the extent necessary, and they should only retain PII for the period of time that is necessary to achieve a specific objective.

Gifts or Payments: If you answer yes to the question, please describe the incentive and provide a justification for the amount.

BURDEN HOURS:

Category of Respondents: Identify who you expect the respondents to be in terms of the following categories: (1) Individuals or Households; (2) Private Sector; (3) State, local, or tribal governments; or (4) Federal Government. Only one type of respondent can be selected per row.

No. of Respondents: Provide an estimate of the Number of Respondents.

Participation Time: Provide an estimate of the amount of time (in minutes) required for a respondent to participate (e.g. fill out a survey or participate in a focus group)

Burden: Provide the Annual burden hours: Multiply the Number of Respondents and the Participation Time then divide by 60.

FEDERAL COST: Provide an estimate of the annual cost to the Federal government.

If you are conducting a focus group, survey, or plan to employ statistical methods, please provide answers to the following questions:

The selection of your targeted respondents. Please provide a description of how you plan to identify your potential group of respondents and how you will select them. If the answer is yes, to the first question, you may provide the sampling plan in an attachment.

Administration of the Instrument: Identify how the information will be collected. More than one box may be checked. Indicate whether there will be interviewers (e.g. for surveys) or facilitators (e.g., for focus groups) used.

Submit all instruments, instructions, and scripts are submitted with the request.

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