[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 196 (Wednesday, October 10, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 50936-50938]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-22020]
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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Administration for Children and Families
Children's Bureau; Proposed Information Collection Activity;
Comment Request
AGENCY: Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of
Health and Human Services.
Title: RPG National Cross-Site Evaluation and Evaluation Technical
Assistance.
OMB No.: New Collection.
Description: The Children's Bureau (CB) within the Administration
for Children and Families of the U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services seeks approval to collect information for the Regional
Partnership Grants to Increase the Well-being of and to Improve
Permanency Outcomes for Children Affected by Substance Abuse (known as
the Regional Partnership Grants Program or ``RPG'') Cross-Site
Evaluation and Evaluation-Related Technical Assistance project. The
Child and Family Services Improvement and Innovation Act (Pub. L. 112-
34) includes a targeted grants program (section 437(f) of the Social
Security Act) that directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services
to reserve a specified portion of the appropriation for these Regional
Partnership Grants, to be used to improve the well-being of children
affected by substance abuse. Under three prior rounds of RPG, the
Children's Bureau has issued 74 grants to organizations such as child
welfare or substance abuse treatment providers or family court systems
to develop interagency collaborations and integration of programs,
activities, and services designed to increase well-being, improve
permanency, and enhance the safety of children who are in an out-of-
home placement or are at risk of being placed in out-of-home care as a
result of a parent's or caretaker's substance abuse. In 2017, CB
awarded grants to a fourth cohort of 17 grantees and in 2018 they plan
to award 10 grants to a fifth cohort.
The RPG cross-site evaluation will extend our understanding of what
types of programs and services grantees provided to participants, how
grantees leveraged their partnerships to coordinate services for
children and families, and what the outcomes were for children and
families enrolled in RPG programs. First, the cross-site evaluation
will describe the characteristics of participants served by RPG
programs, the types of services provided to families, the dosage of
each
[[Page 50937]]
type of service received by families, and the level of participant
engagement with the services provided. Second, the cross-site will
assess the coordination of partners' service systems (e.g., shared
participant data, joint staff training) to better understand how
partners' collaborative effort affects the array of services offered to
families. The cross-site evaluation will also focus more deeply on the
partnership between the child welfare and substance use disorder (SUD)
treatment agencies, to add to the research base about how these
agencies can collaborate to address the needs of children and families
affected by SUD. Finally, the evaluation will assess the outcomes of
children and adults served through the RPG program.
The evaluation is being undertaken by the Children's Bureau and its
contractor Mathematica Policy Research. The evaluation is being
implemented by Mathematica Policy Research and its subcontractor, WRMA
Inc.
The RPG Cross-Site Evaluation will include the following data
collection activities:
1. Site visits and key informant interviews. The cross-site
evaluation team will visit up to 21 sites to better understand the
partnership and coordination between the child welfare and SUD
treatment agencies. The remaining six grantees will participate in
telephone interviews to gather similar information about their design
and implementation. The site visits and phone interviews will focus on
the RPG planning process; how and why particular services were
selected; the ability of the child welfare, substance use disorder
treatment, and other service systems to collaborate and support quality
implementation of the RPG services; challenges experienced; and the
potential for sustaining the collaborations and services after RPG
funding ends.
2. Partner survey. To describe the interagency collaboration within
RPG sites, grantees and their partners will participate in an online
survey once during the grant period. One person from each organization
knowledgeable about the RPG program will be invited to participate in
the survey. The survey will collect information about communication and
service coordination among partners. The survey will also collect
information on characteristics of strong partnerships (e.g., data
sharing agreements, colocation of staff, referral procedures, and
cross-staff training).
3. Semi-annual progress reports. The semi-annual progress reports
will be used to obtain updated information from grantee project
directors about their program operations and partnerships, including
any changes from prior periods. The CB has tailored the semi-annual
progress reports to collect information on grantees' programs and other
services grantees implement, the target population for the RPG program,
and grantees' perceived successes and challenges to implementation.
4. Enrollment, client, and service data. To document participant
characteristics and their enrollment in RPG services, all grantees will
provide data on family characteristics, and enrollment of and services
provided to RPG families. These data include demographic information on
family members, dates of entry into and exit from RPG services, and
information on RPG service dosage. These data will be submitted on an
ongoing basis by staff at the grantee organizations into an information
system developed by the cross-site evaluation team.
5. Outcome and impact data. To measure participant outcomes, all
grantees will collect self-administered standardized instruments from
RPG adults. The standardized instruments used in RPG collect
information on child well-being, adult and family functioning, and
adult substance use. Grantees will share the responses on these self-
report instruments with the cross-site evaluation team. Grantees will
also obtain administrative data on a common set of child welfare and
substance use disorder treatment data elements.
In addition to conducting local evaluations and participating in
the RPG Cross-Site Evaluation, the RPG grantees are legislatively
required to report performance indicators aligned with their proposed
program strategies and activities. A key strategy of the RPG Cross-Site
Evaluation is to minimize burden on the grantees by ensuring that the
cross-site evaluation, which includes all grantees in a study that
collects data to report on implementation, the partnerships, and
participant characteristics and outcomes, fully meets the need for
performance reporting. Thus, rather than collecting separate evaluation
and performance indicator data, the grantees need only participate in
the cross-site evaluation. In addition, using the standardized
instruments that the Children's Bureau has specified will ensure that
grantees have valid and reliable data on child and family outcomes for
their local evaluations. The inclusion of an impact study conducted on
a subset of grantees with rigorous designs will also provide the
Children's Bureau, Congress, grantees, providers, and researchers with
information about the effectiveness of RPG programs.
This 60-Day Federal Register Notice covers the following data
collection activities: (1) The site visits with grantees; (2) the web-
based survey of grantee partners (3) the semi-annual progress reports;
(4) enrollment and service data provided by grantees; and (6) outcome
and impact data provided by grantees.
Respondents. Respondents include grantee staff or contractors (such
as local evaluators) and partner staff. Specific types of respondents
and the expected number per data collection effort are noted in the
burden table below.
Annual burden estimates. The following instruments are proposed for
public comment under this 60-Day Federal Register Notice. Burden for
all components is annualized over three years.
RPG Cross-Site Evaluation Annualized Burden Estimates
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Number of Average burden
Total number responses per hours per Estimated Total annual
Data collection activity of respondents respondent response (in total burden burden hours
(each year) hours) hours
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Site Visit and Key Informant Data Collection
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Program director in-person 21 .33 2 42 14
interview......................
Program manager/supervisor in- 21 .33 1 21 7
person interview...............
Partner representative 63 .33 1 63 21
interviews.....................
Frontline staff interview....... 42 .33 1 42 14
Program director/manager phone 12 .33 1 4.0 12
interview......................
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Partner survey.................. 135 .33 0.42 56.3 18.8
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Enrollment, client and service data
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Semi-annual progress reports.... 27 2 16.5 2,673 891
Case enrollment data............ 81 43 0.25 2,612.3 870.8
Case closure.................... 81 43 0.017 174.2 58.1
Case closure--prenatal.......... 81 33 0.017 133.7 44.6
Service log entries............. 162 2,288 0.03 37,065 12,355
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Outcome and impact data
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Administrative Data:
Obtain access to 27 1 42.6 3,450.6 1150.2
administrative data........
Report administrative data.. 27 2 144 23,328 7,776
Standardized instruments:
Review and adopt reporting 27 .33 8 216 72
templates..................
Data entry for standardized 27 130 1.25 13,162.5 4,387.5
instruments................
Review records and submit....... 27 2 25 4,050 1,350
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Data entry for comparison study 22 130 1.25 10,725 3,575
sites (22 grantees)............
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Estimated Total Burden Hours .............. .............. .............. 97,827 32,609
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In compliance with the requirements of Section 3506(c)(2)(A) of the
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the Children's Bureau within the
Administration for Children and Families is soliciting public comment
on the specific aspects of the information collection described above.
Copies of the proposed collection of information can be obtained and
comments may be forwarded by writing to Administration for Children and
Families, Office of Administration, Office of Planning, Research and
Evaluation, 330 C Street SW, Washington, DC 20201, Attn: ACF Reports
Clearance Officer. Email address: [email protected]. All
requests should be identified by the title of the information
collection.
The Department specifically requests comments on: (a) Whether the
proposed collection of information is necessary for the proper
performance of the function of the agency, including whether the
information shall have practical utility; (b) the accuracy of the
agency's estimate of the burden of the proposed collection of
information; (c) the quality, utility, and clarity of the information
to be collected; and (d) ways to minimize the burden of the collection
of information on respondents, including through the use of automated
collection techniques or other forms of information technology.
Consideration will be given to comments and suggestions within 60 days
of this publication.
Robert Sargis,
Reports Clearance Officer.
[FR Doc. 2018-22020 Filed 10-9-18; 8:45 am]
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