Appendix O - Interview E-mail Invitation

Appendix O: Interview E-mail Invitation, Word Version

Subject: Invitation to participate in a study for the Administration for Children and Families

Dear [Name]:

We are conducting a study for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Administration for Children and Families (ACF) on the implementation of the background ground checks requirements for child care workers mandated by the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 2014.

The Act requires that state and territory child care agencies conduct comprehensive background checks of child care staff that include a search of state (or territory) criminal histories, sex offender registries, and child abuse and neglect registries in each state or territory where the child care staff member resided in the previous 5 years. In response to the difficulties states and territories have had in implementing these out-of-state background checks, the Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation (OPRE) and the Office of Child Care (OCC) within ACF, have asked for this study on implementation challenges and possible solutions. They want to know how ACF can help support states and territories in their implementation efforts.

This interview is completely voluntary and individual responses will not be attributed to you. Information collected will be kept private to the extent permitted by law. Responses may be combined and shared in aggregate at the state level with ACF to inform technical assistance resources.

To inform this effort, we are conducting interviews with key informants involved in background check processes in the states and territories. We would like to invite you to participate in an interview to discuss the [complete sentence based on type of respondent].

The interview will take [complete based on respondent type]. It’s important to note that the sole purpose of the interviews is to gather data to inform how the ACF can better support state and territory agencies. The information that you provide will not be used for punitive or compliance-related decisions or actions.

Please let us know if you are willing to participate in an interview for this project. If possible, we would like to conduct the interview by [date], but we can accommodate your availability. Please let us know which dates and times would work best for you. You may reach us at this e-mail ([email protected]) or at XXX-XXX-XXXX to schedule your interview or to answer any questions you may have.

If you are unavailable for an interview, is there someone else at your agency who might be able to discuss these issues with us? If so, could you please provide us with their name, e-mail, and phone number?

Your participation matters to us. We appreciate your support of this important ACF study.

Thank you,

Name

Organization

An agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number. The OMB number for this information collection is 0970-0356 and the expiration date is 06/30/2021.