The purpose of the Procedural Justice Informed Alternatives to Contempt Demonstration (PJAC) demonstration project is to assess the feasibility and efficacy of incorporating principles of procedural justice into child support services as a cost-effective alternative to civil contempt proceedings. The PJAC Demonstration will add to the evidence base on innovations in child support practices by evaluating PJACâs impacts and determining whether the benefits of PJAC services exceed their costs. The PJAC Evaluation includes three key components: an implementation study, an impact study, and a benefit-cost study.
The coronavirus pandemic and related economic fallout require modifications to some of the approved data collection approaches and protocols. This nonsubstantive change request is for changes to Instruments 3, 4 and 7.
Instrument 3: Staff Interview Topic Guide. Due to travel restrictions, we now plan to complete the remaining interviews by videoconference, as opposed to in-person. The instrument and supporting statements have been updated to reflect this change in mode.
Instrument 4: Noncustodial Parent Participant Interview Protocol and Instrument 7: Custodial Parent Interview Protocol. These interviews have already been cleared for in-person or phone modalities; in light of travel restrictions, they will be conducted by phone only. Several questions in the proposed revised interviews would directly touch on aspects of parentsâ lives that have likely been affected by the coronavirus. These are employment, relationships with children and the other parent, and changes to how child support agencies and courts handle child support cases. In order to gather sufficient information to understand the effect of the pandemic on these key topics for the evaluation, questions and probes related to coronavirus have been added to the protocols. These questions and probes will allow the research team some insights into (1) how the public health crisis may have affected PJAC treatment and business-as-usual services from the vantage point of parents, thus effecting the treatment contrast for this random assignment study and (2) how the social and economic context of the pandemic may affect employment and family relationships, which may in turn affect child support payments, the evaluationâs main outcome of interest. Estimated average time to complete these interviews will remain the same.
US Code:
42 USC 1315
Name of Law: Section 1115 of the Social Security Act
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.
PJAC NonSub Change Request_20200717.docx
Attachment B_PJAC MDRC IRB Approval Letter.pdf
Instrument 7: Custodial Parent (CP) interview protocol