TANF and Child Support Moving Forward: Lessons Learned from the COVID-19 Pandemic

OMB NUMBER: 0970-0531

EXPIRATION: DATE XX/XX/2025

Questionnaire about Pandemic-Related Changes to the Child Support Program

Questionnaire for State Child Support Agencies

Month 2022

Public Burden Statement

According to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, an agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, a collection of information unless it displays a valid OMB control number. The valid OMB control number for this information collection is 0970-0531. The time required to complete this information collection is estimated to average 20 minutes per response, including the time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden, to the following address: [email protected]. Do not return the completed form to this address.

Introduction

Welcome to the Questionnaire about Pandemic-Related Changes to the Child Support Program!

This questionnaire is part of a study sponsored by the Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation (OPRE) in the Administration for Children and Families, at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The goal of this study is to better understand how child support programs changed programmatic policies, activities, and practices to continue serving clients during the pandemic and what lessons programs have learned from this experience. This questionnaire is not part of any HHS monitoring or auditing activities. The results of the questionnaire will be used for research purposes only.

It will take approximately 20 minutes to respond to this questionnaire; this includes the time it will take to read instructions, gather resources and search existing data sources. You may complete the questionnaire yourself or assign other agency staff to respond to any specific questions.

Your participation in this questionnaire is voluntary. Please note that a high level of response to this questionnaire is critical for the study and our findings will help the field better understand the changes that child support] programs across the country made in response to the pandemic. We will incorporate findings from this study into public documents, based on information collected through this questionnaire and other data collection activities. In these documents(s), we may identify your state as a contributor to the study, but we will not include the names of individual respondents in any reporting. Personally identifiable information will not be used to retrieve survey records or data and will not be disclosed publicly.

If you consent to participate in this questionnaire, you can click ‘next’ to begin.

For more information

If you have any questions or concerns about the questionnaire, please contact the Mathematica study team at [email protected] or the OPRE project officer, Lisa Zingman at [email protected].

Thank you in advance for your assistance in completing this questionnaire and for your participation in this important study.

Questionnaire instructions

[To be populated later]

• Can only select one option

 Can select multiple options

Respondent state and contact information

1. For which state are you completing this questionnaire?

   • [Drop down list of states]

2. Who should we contact if we have any questions about the responses in this questionnaire?

• Name:

• Title:

• Phone number:

• Email address:

Pandemic-related changes to child support

The COVID-19 pandemic caused considerable interruptions to program operations, activities, and processes. We know that child support programs found different ways of responding to the interruptions caused by the pandemic. We are interested in capturing how your child support program responded to the COVID-19 pandemic. First, we need to understand what, if any, changes were in place prior to the pandemic and what was newly implemented or revised at some point during the pandemic (March 2020 – now).

3. Did any locations in your state implement any of the following? Please select only one response for each row.

	Never or Stopped Utilizing before COVID-19	Yes, in place prior to COVID-19, not revised or expanded during COVID-19	Yes, in place prior to COVID-19, revised or expanded during COVID-19	Yes, newly implemented during COVID-19
Staffing
Offer telework or remote work				
Provide computer or other devices to staff to support remote work				
Provide high-speed internet access for staff to support remote work				
Stagger in-office schedule for staff				
Offer flexible staff working hours				
Reduce staffing or furlough staff				
Serving customers
Stop or suspend in-person service				
Offer flexible service hours (e.g., extended hours or different hours)				
Offer virtual services				
Increase use of appointments				
Text customers				
Email customers				
Use 1-800 numbers or other service lines				
Offer online application				
Offer online payment options				
Allow customers to submit documents electronically				
Offer drop boxes or self-service kiosks to submit documents or payments				
Use electronic signatures				
Use digital or electronic notarization				
Waive notarization requirements				
Internal operations/system changes
Establish paperless office				
Use virtual or digital mail system				
Upgrade or change electronic case management system				
Use computer-assisted means for staff to communicate amongst themselves, such as TEAMS, WebEx, etc.				
Paternity establishment
Use drive-up or curbside paternity testing				
Use appointment-only paternity testing				
Contract with new genetic testing vendors				
Enhance communication with vital records offices, hospitals, and/or birthing centers				
Place IV-D staff at hospitals and birthing centers				
Administrative or judicial order establishment or modification
Use pre-hearing outreach or meetings				
Offer virtual or telephonic administrative hearings				
Offer virtual or telephonic court hearings for order establishment/modification				
Expand dispute resolution or mediation				
Submit request for order modification to court before conducting full review				
Allow verbal requests for order modification to initiate review process				
Administrative enforcement
Allow flexibility for imposing driver’s license suspensions				
Stop driver’s license suspensions				
Allow flexibility for imposing bank liens				
Stop imposing bank liens				
Allow flexibility in Credit Bureau reporting				
Stop Credit Bureau reporting				
Judicial processes and enforcement
Child support program uses flexibility in requesting contempt hearings				
Child support program stops requesting contempt hearings				
Court offers electronic-filing (e-filing) system				
Court offers virtual or telephonic contempt hearings				
Court stops holding contempt hearings				
Court stops incarcerating				
Court allows alternatives to incarceration				
Court allows flexibility for setting bench warrants				
Law enforcement stops enforcing bench warrants				
Service of process is revised				
Service of process is stopped				
Family well-being
Provide parenting time guidance				
Change approach to conducting domestic violence screenings				
Make referrals to fatherhood programs				
Provide employment services for noncustodial parents				

4. Are there any other program operations, activities, and processes that were newly implemented or expanded in your program at some point during the pandemic that we did not ask about? For example, adding other features to website to improve customer service or increasing customer outreach in ways not mentioned above. If so, please describe them in the box below.

[OPEN TEXT FREE RESPONSE]

5. [Populate response options where respondent checked ‘Newly implemented’ or ‘expanded during COVID-19’]

We want to understand the extent to which newly implemented or expanded changes made by your program during COVID-19 are still in place (as of [MONTH] 2022) and whether they are likely to stay in place in the foreseeable future. We understand that circumstances change all the time; however, to the best of your ability, please indicate which operations, policies, or activities, if any, that you listed in Question 3 or 4 do you expect to be sustained or continued for the foreseeable future?

	No longer in place	Currently in place, not likely to be sustained	Currently in place and likely to be sustained
[POPULATE RESPONSES FROM Q3]			
[POPULATE RESPONSES FROM Q3]			
[POPULATE RESPONSES FROM Q3]			
[POPULATE RESPONSES FROM Q3]			
[POPULATE RESPONSES FROM Q3]			
[POPULATE RESPONSES FROM Q3]			
[POPULATE RESPONSES FROM Q3]			
[POPULATE RESPONSES FROM Q3]			
Other [open text field]

6. [Populate response option categories where respondent checked ‘Currently in place and likely to be sustained’]

Of the changes that your program implemented and are likely to continue, please rank the categories of changes by how important they are to your agency’s ability to serve customers during the pandemic. Give the highest number to the category that you think is the most important and the lowest number to the category you think is the least important.

	Rank changes in order of most central to least central to your program’s ability to serve customers during the pandemic
Staffing
Serving customers
Internal operations/system changes
Paternity establishment
Establishing and modifying administrative or judicial child support orders
Court processes
Administrative enforcement
Family well-being
Other [open text field]

Learning more about your child support program’s experiences through staff interviews

This study includes speaking to a subset of leadership and/or frontline staff from county or local programs that expanded or newly implemented significant program changes in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This will allow us to understand a fuller range of COVID-19 experiences, disruptions, and program responses that may exist within a state.

Please list up to 3 local or county offices that you recommend we contact for an interview if your state is selected to participate in the interviews with staff.

7. [Open Text Field. Ask respondents to list up to 3 local or county offices]

Conclusion

Thank you so much for completing this questionnaire. We appreciate your time.

We will reach out in [TIMELINE] to schedule an interview to learn more about what was reported in this questionnaire. If your state is selected for additional study components, we will also use the interview time to discuss the local or county offices you recommended and the preferred approach for conducting interviews with those staff members.