Alternative Supporting Statement for Information Collections Designed for
Research, Public Health Surveillance, and Program Evaluation Purposes
Family Partners for Research Study
Formative Data Collections for ACF Research
0970 – 0356
Supporting Statement
Part A
June 2024
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:
Christine Fortunato and Laura Hoard
Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation
Part A
Executive Summary
Type of Request: This Information Collection Request is for a generic information collection under the umbrella generic, Formative Data Collections for ACF Research (0970-0356).
Description of Request: The Family Partners for Research Study will assess the feasibility of administering a select set of child well-being assessments, compare any differences by mode (in-person vs. remote) or reporter (parent, interviewer), and gather feedback from parent respondents on their experience. These activities are intended to inform the design of future National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being (NSCAW) data collections. NSCAW is approved under OMB control number #0970-0202 (Expiration Date: 8/31/2026).
We do not intend for this information to be used as the principal basis for public policy decisions.
Time Sensitivity: To remain on schedule with project timelines and begin data collection, we would like to initiate recruitment as soon as possible.
A1. Necessity for Collection
In 2021, the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) established the Preliminary Activities to Support Future Data Collection for the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well‐Being (“Reimagining NSCAW”) to carry out preliminary activities to guide the development of future NSCAW data collections. NSCAW (OMB #0970-0202) is a nationally representative, longitudinal survey of children and families who came in contact with the child welfare system (CWS). The first cohort of NSCAW began in 1999; there have been three cohorts to date. The goal of the study is to provide information on a range of fundamental questions about the outcomes of children involved with the CWS.
Reimagining NSCAW includes (a) developing potential design option(s); (b) actively engaging with various collaborators and experts; (c) conducting preliminary or pilot data collections; and (d) disseminating findings from these efforts. The Family Partners for Research information collection described in this package is intended to serve as a preliminary/pilot data collection to inform future information collections.
NSCAW relies on the participation of children and families reporting directly on various aspects of well-being. Like other large, in-person surveys, NSCAW has experienced declining participation rates over time. To decrease the burden of participation this information collection will compare and evaluate the use of shorter, more focused, and novel (i.e., not used in prior cohorts) instruments administered in multiple modes. By comparing in-person vs. remote direct child assessments, the project team can explore whether offering an alternative mode of administration in potential future NSCAW data collections may support enhancements to engaging and recruiting participants.
There are no legal or administrative requirements that necessitate this collection. ACF is undertaking the collection at the discretion of the agency.
A2. Purpose
Purpose and Use
The overall purpose of this effort is to contribute to the development of future NSCAW data collections with a goal of improving participation and ultimately data quality. The proposed information collections in this request will inform future NSCAW data collections by providing information on the:
Administration of child well-being assessments not included in prior NSCAW cohorts;
Comparability of administration modes (remote or in-person) and reporters (parent or interviewer); and
Experiences of respondents with regard to burden, mode, and the relevance and appropriateness of assessments.
This proposed information collection meets the following goals of ACF’s generic clearance for formative data collections for research and evaluation (0970-0356) through:
informing the development of ACF research
maintaining a research agenda that is rigorous and relevant
ensuring that research products are as current as possible
The information collected as part of this OMB request is meant to contribute to the body of knowledge on ACF programs. It is not intended to be used as the principal basis for a decision by a federal decision-maker and is not expected to meet the threshold of influential or highly influential scientific information.
Guiding Questions
There are six guiding questions for this information collection, detailed below:
What challenges or barriers prevent, increase the burden on, or otherwise decrease rates of successful completion of the proposed in-person and remote administration of child assessments, which are based on parent report and interviewer-report?
To what extent are results from in-person parent-reported or interviewer-observed assessments correlated with results from identical remote parent-reported child assessments for 2–5-year-olds?
Within each mode, what proportion of children 2-5 years of age score in the clinical range for each assessment? To what extent do these children overlap across instruments, within each mode?
Which administration mode(s) do parent respondents prefer?
Which assessment(s) do parents perceive to reflect the intended construct more accurately? Which assessment(s) do they perceive to adopt a more strengths-based approach to assessing child well-being?
Which assessment(s) do parents believe will more effectively identify potential service needs among children?
Study Design
This study will recruit a total of up to 70 family mentors1 (hereafter referred to as “parents”) with a child between 2-5 years of age who have prior child welfare experience and have been selected and trained to provide peer-to-peer support to parents currently involved with CWS (“family mentors”). See Exhibit 1 for an overview of the study design.
Remote information collection
Parents will self-select into the study and be screened (Instrument 1) for having a child 2-5 years of age and will be asked complete child well-being assessments remotely via online parent report and by telephone (Instrument 2). Following the completion of these remote activities, parents will be asked to complete a 13-item online feedback questionnaire (Instrument 3). This online feedback questionnaire will query parent respondents on their experience with several aspects of the study relevant to remote administration, including contacting protocols, informed consent and assent process, ease of use of technology, engagement in the assessments, and appropriateness of timing and incentive amounts.
In-person information collection
Approximately two weeks after parents complete the remote parent-reported assessments and online feedback questionnaire, they will be asked to complete the same assessments, but in-person [Instrument 4]. As a part of the in-person session, 60 children aged 2-5 years old will also participate in a play session with their parent [Instrument 5]. Following completion of these in-person activities, all parents will be asked to participate in an in-person semi-structured feedback interview as a means of collecting qualitative data on their experiences, recommendations, and thoughts (Instrument 6).
An overview of the study design is found in Exhibit 1, and includes details on the instruments, respondents, content, purpose, mode, and duration of the information collection, sorted by data collection activities.
Exhibit 1: Study Design Overview
Other Data Sources and Uses of Information
None.
A3. Use of Information Technology to Reduce Burden
Online and in-person assessments will be programmed for computer-assisted interviewing (CAI). CAI offers several features to increase efficiency of administration, reducing respondent burden while also supporting data quality. Information collection efforts will be conducted either remotely (online), by telephone, or in respondents’ homes (in-person), so participation does not require them to travel. The project team will also offer live virtual support for online assessments to minimize burden on respondents.
A4. Use of Existing Data: Efforts to reduce duplication, minimize burden, and increase utility and government efficiency
A literature review and environmental scan was completed in an effort to identify relevant,
existing data (including administrative data), reduce duplication of effort, and as a result,
minimize participation burden. No existing sources were found with information on the data
collection effort described here.
A5. Impact on Small Businesses
No small businesses will be involved with this information collection.
A6. Consequences of Less Frequent Collection
This is a one-time data collection.
A7. Now subsumed under 2(b) above and 10 (below)
A8. Consultation
Federal Register Notice and Comments
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 two notices in the Federal Register announcing the agency’s intention to request an OMB review of the overarching generic clearance for formative information collection. This first notice was published on August 11, 2023 (88 FR 54614) and provided a sixty-day period for public comment. The second notice published on December 14, 2023 (88 FR 86656) and provided a thirty-day period for public comment. ACF did not receive any substantive comments.
Consultation with Experts Outside of the Study
The project team did not consult with external experts to develop plans for information collection.
A9. Tokens of Appreciation
Respondents will be offered monetary and non-monetary tokens of appreciation.
Parent Respondents
Parent respondents may receive up to $150, consisting of:
A $50 gift card token of appreciation for completing the remote assessment (Instrument 2) and online parent feedback questionnaire (Instrument 3).
A $100 gift card token of appreciation for completing the in-person interviewer-administered assessment (Instrument 4) and play session (Instrument 5) and in-person parent feedback interview (Instrument 6).
Monetary tokens of appreciation offered to parent respondents are intended to offset any incidental costs associated with participation (e.g., child care) that may otherwise prevent their participation. This will also help to mitigate non-response bias by increasing the likelihood that individuals with constraints on their time may be more likely to participate. These tokens of appreciation are consistent with other ACF-sponsored projects involving families in the CWS, including NSCAW III (OMB: 0970-0202) in which young adults received a $50 token of appreciation at follow up; and the Survey of Youth Transitioning from Foster Care (OMB: 0970-0546), in which young adults who were recently, or are currently in, foster care received a $75 token for a 60-minute telephone/web survey.
Child Respondents (2-5 years of age)
Children 2-5 years of age will receive a $10 token of appreciation for completing the in-person play session (Instrument 5). The monetary tokens of appreciation offered to all child respondents are consistent with other ACF-sponsored projects involving youth in the CWS, including NSCAW III (OMB: 0970-0202), in which children received a $10 to $20 gift card for taking part in an assessment. A $10 gift card can help parents encourage their child to participate in the 30-minute play session, as this is similar in cost to a small toy.
A10.Privacy: Procedures to protect privacy of information, while maximizing data sharing
Personally Identifiable Information
No personally identifiable information (PII) will be collected beyond the respondent’s name, email address, phone number, and mailing address. This information will only be used for contacting purposes during information collection. No PII will be stored with the assessment or interview data except for child’s gender and age (in months). Information will not be maintained in a paper or electronic system from which data would be actually or directly retrieved by an individuals’ personal identifier.
Assurances of Privacy
Information collected will be kept private to the extent permitted by law. Respondents will be informed of all planned uses of information, that their participation is voluntary, and that their information will be kept private to the extent permitted by law. During the in-person assessment, the project team will request the respondent’s permission to audio record the semi-structured feedback interview using the project team’s laptop quality control (QC) system which is used to monitor the interviewer’s work. These recordings will be destroyed upon completion of the study. As specified in the contract, the Contractor (RTI) will comply with all Federal and Departmental regulations for adequately securing or protecting individuals’ private information.
In addition, RTI obtained a federal Certificate of Confidentiality for this study. This certificate prevents the release of information that would identify you with anyone, even from a court order.
Data Security and Monitoring
We will ensure that all staff, including all subcontractors, who perform work under this contract are trained on data privacy issues and comply with the above requirements. The data collected through this information request will not be shared outside of the federal and contractor staff directly involved with the project. All RTI staff are required to participate in annual data security awareness training.
RTI complies with the originally passed E-Government Act of 2002 and the amended Federal Information Security Modernization Act ( FISMA) of 2014, which covers site security, security control documentation, access control, change management, incident response, and risk management. RTI/Global Technology Solutions (GTS) is an ISO/IEC 27001:2013 certified provider whose Information Security Management System (ISMS) has received third-party accreditation from the International Standards Organization. Additionally, GTS has received an Authority to Operate under the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) SP 800-53r4 for FIPS LOW and FIPS MOD classifications assessed by an accredited FedRAMP Third Party Assessment Organizations (3PAO). In accordance with these frameworks, RTI has implemented continuous monitoring capabilities to ensure that all security controls are regularly monitored and reported on. These monitoring capabilities include but are not limited to regular vulnerability scanning, automated audit log monitoring, intrusion detection and prevention measures, data loss prevention measures, and periodic control auditing.
Systems for this project will operate in both the FIPS Moderate and FIPS Low networks, with only deidentified data residing in the FIPS Low network. RTI field laptops and case data transmitted to and from them are encrypted with FIPS 140.3 Cryptographic Modules security requirements.. The laptops are password protected, and a separate password is needed to access case management systems on the laptop.
Access to RTI project file shares, systems, and databases 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. Addition to or removal from security groups is strictly controlled and audited, accomplished via a formal request to GTS which must be approved by the project director or authorized designate. Security group membership is audited quarterly by project leaders to ensure that only those who still need specified access continue group membership.
A11. Sensitive Information 2
This information collection does not request any sensitive information.
A12. Burden
Explanation of Burden Estimates
Up to 70 parents and 70 children will be asked to participate in assessments, feedback questionnaires, and/or feedback interviews to inform future NSCAW data collections. Because the target number of completed interviews (both remote activities and in-person activities) is 60, it is anticipated that 70 parents will need to be screened [Instrument 1] to account for any participants who are ineligible or who withdraw.
For parents, participation in screening activities will take approximately 15 minutes [Instrument 1]
For parents, participation in remote assessments will take approximately 60 minutes[Instrument 2]
For parents, participation in the online feedback questionnaire will take approximately 15 minutes [Instrument 3]
For parents, participation in in-person information collections will take approximately 30 minutes [Instrument 4]
For children, participation in an in-person play session with their parent will take approximately 30 minutes [Instrument 5]
For parents, participation in the in-person feedback interview will take approximately 45 minutes [Instrument 6]
Estimated burden was calculated by totaling the estimated administration time for the assessments, feedback questionnaire, and feedback interview guide.
Estimated Annualized Cost to Respondents3
For parents, respondent cost was calculated by using the mean salary for full-time employees over the age of 25 who are high school graduates with no college experience ($22.63/hour)4. Exhibit 2 presents the estimated number of respondents, time burden per respondent, and estimated cost burden to respondents, by instrument.
Exhibit 2: Burden Estimates
A13. Costs
There are no additional costs to respondents.
A14. Estimated Annualized Costs to the Federal Government
Exhibit 3 presents estimated annualized costs to the federal government directly related to the information collection, which would not have been incurred without this collection of information.
Exhibit 3: Estimated Annualized Costs to the Federal Government
Activity |
Detail |
Estimated Cost |
Instrument and Materials Finalization; IRB Clearance; Equipment Procurement
|
|
$100,000 |
Field Work |
|
$320,000 |
Analysis and Reporting |
|
$80,000 |
Total |
|
$500,000 |
A15. Reasons for changes in burden
This is for an individual information collection under the umbrella formative generic clearance for ACF research (OMB: 0970-0356).
A16. Timeline
Our timeline is as follows (Exhibit 4), dependent on the timing of OMB approval:
Exhibit 4: Timeline for Information Collection
Activity |
Timeline |
Duration |
Finalization of instruments and materials; IRB Clearance |
Begin upon OMB approval |
1 month |
Data Collection |
Begin 1 month after OMB approval |
3 months |
Data cleaning and analysis, preparation of dissemination product (i.e., presentation on findings) |
Begin 4 months after OMB approval |
1 month |
Total |
||
A17. Exceptions
No exceptions are necessary for this information collection.
Attachments
Instruments
Instrument 1: Online Parent Pre-Screener and Screening Call
Instrument 2: Remote Child Well-Being Assessment by Parent Report
Instrument 3: Online Parent Feedback Questionnaire
Instrument 4: Parent - In-Person Interviewer-Administered Child Well-Being Assessment
Instrument 5: Child – In-Person Interviewer-Administered Play Session
Instrument 6: In-Person Parent Feedback Interview
Appendices
Appendix A: Parent Consent Form
Appendix B: Outreach Materials for Organizations
Appendix C: Outreach Materials for Family Mentors
Administration for Children and Families. (2012). Promoting Social and Emotional Well-Being for Children and Youth Receiving Child Welfare Services. Retrieved from https://www.acf.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/documents/cb/im1204.pdf
Benninger, K. L., Richard, C., Conroy, S., Newton, J., Taylor, H. G., Sayed, A., Pietruszewski, L., Nelin, M. A., Batterson, N., & Maitre, N. L. (2022). One-Year neurodevelopmental outcomes after neonatal opioid withdrawal syndrome: a prospective cohort study. Perspectives of the ASHA special interest groups, 7(4), 1019-1032.
Firestein, M. R., Shuffrey, L. C., Hu, Y., Kyle, M., Hussain, M., Bianco, C., Hott, V., Hyman, S. P., Kyler, M., & Rodriguez, C. (2023). Assessment of Neurodevelopment in Infants With and Without Exposure to Asymptomatic or Mild Maternal SARS-CoV-2 Infection During Pregnancy. JAMA Network Open, 6(4), e237396-e237396.
Jang, J., White, S. P., Esler, A. N., Kim, S. H., Klaiman, C., Megerian, J. T., Morse, A., Nadler, C., & Kanne, S. M. (2021). Diagnostic evaluations of autism spectrum disorder during the COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 1-12.
Maitre, N. L., Benninger, K. L., Neel, M. L., Haase, J. A., Pietruszewski, L., Levengood, K., Adderley, K., Batterson, N., Hague, K., & Lightfoot, M. (2021). Standardized neurodevelopmental surveillance of high-risk infants using telehealth: implementation study during COVID-19. Pediatric Quality & Safety, 6(4).
Reynolds, C. R., & Kamphaus, R. W. (2015). Behavior assessment system for children (3rd ed.). Bloomington: NCS Pearson, Inc. (BASC–3).
The Children's Society (2022). The Good Childhood Report 2022. https://www.childrenssociety.org.uk/sites/default/files/2022-09/GCR-2022-Full-Report.pdf
1 Because our target number of completed interviews (including both remote activities and in-person activities) is 60, we anticipate needing to screen 70 parents to account for any ineligible or withdrawing participants.
2 Examples of sensitive topics include (but not limited to): social security number; sex behavior and attitudes; illegal, anti-social, self-incriminating and demeaning behavior; critical appraisals of other individuals with whom respondents have close relationships, e.g., family, pupil-teacher, employee-supervisor; mental and psychological problems potentially embarrassing to respondents; religion and indicators of religion; community activities which indicate political affiliation and attitudes; legally recognized privileged and analogous relationships, such as those of lawyers, physicians and ministers; records describing how an individual exercises rights guaranteed by the First Amendment; receipt of economic assistance from the government (e.g., unemployment or WIC or SNAP); immigration/citizenship status.
3 Because these activities are planned to occur over the span of less than one year, only total costs are reported.
4 Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, The Economics Daily, Median weekly earnings $721 for workers without high school diploma, $1,864 for advanced degree at https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2023/median-weekly-earnings-721-for-workers-without-high-school-diploma-1864-for-advanced-degree.htm (visited March 09, 2024).
| File Type | application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document |
| Author | Domanico, Rose |
| File Modified | 0000-00-00 |
| File Created | 2025-05-29 |