[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 100 (Wednesday, May 26, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 28360-28362]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-11118]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Administration for Children and Families


Proposed Information Collection Activity; Evaluation of the Child 
Welfare Capacity Building Collaborative (New Collection)

AGENCY: Children's Bureau, Administration for Children and Families; 
HHS.

ACTION: Request for public comment.

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SUMMARY: The Children's Bureau, Administration for Children and 
Families (ACF), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), is 
proposing to collect data for an evaluation of the services provided to 
child welfare jurisdictions and Court Improvement Programs (CIP) by the 
Child Welfare Capacity Building Collaborative. This study uses 
instruments that build on previously approved OMB instruments, 
including satisfaction surveys, assessment tools, interview protocols, 
and service-specific feedback forms (OMB #0970-0484, expiration 11/30/
22; OMB #0970-0494, expiration 2/28/23).

DATES: Comments due within 30 days of publication. OMB is required to 
make a decision concerning the collection of information between 30 and 
60 days after publication of this document in the Federal Register. 
Therefore, a comment is best assured of having its full effect if OMB 
receives it within 30 days of publication.

ADDRESSES: Written comments and recommendations for the proposed 
information collection should be sent within 30 days of publication of 
this notice to www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain. Find this particular 
information collection by selecting ``Currently under 30-day Review--
Open for Public Comments'' or by using the search function.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 
    Description: The Capacity Building Collaborative includes three 
centers (Center for States, Center for Tribes, Center for Courts) 
funded by the Children's Bureau to provide national child welfare 
expertise and evidence-informed training and technical assistance 
services to state, tribal, and U.S. territorial public child welfare 
agencies and CIP. The Centers offer services including Web-based 
content and resources, product development and dissemination, self-
directed and group-based training, virtual learning and peer networking 
events, and tailored consultation, coaching, and facilitation 
(``tailored services''). Centers' services will be evaluated by Center-
specific evaluations and a cross-Center evaluation. The cross-Center 
evaluation will examine collaboration across and within Centers; how 
well Centers have established themselves nationally, and how the child 
welfare field perceives their expertise, credibility, and value; what 
services are delivered by the Centers, and how well they are defined; 
service recipient satisfaction with service quality; child welfare 
jurisdiction and federal staff's experiences of assessment and work 
planning services offered by Centers; effectiveness of Center services; 
how Centers apply a common ``change management approach'' in their 
work; what affects child welfare jurisdiction engagement with and use 
of Center services; and the costs of Center services. The Center for 
States' evaluation consists of data collection around two research 
questions and five sub-studies. The research questions focus on 
understanding usefulness, relevance, and satisfaction from a 
stakeholder perspective, as well as outcomes of all services, with a 
focus on tailored services. The sub-studies assess organizational 
capacities, child welfare policy and practice, and outcomes for 
children and families. The Center for Tribes' evaluation will examine 
the extent to which the Center provides effective, culturally 
responsive services that meet the needs of tribal child welfare 
programs; the satisfaction of service recipients with service quality; 
and service outcomes for tribal child welfare programs and 
stakeholders. The Center for Courts' evaluation will assess 
satisfaction with and effectiveness of service delivery; progress 
toward meeting Center goals and the needs of CIP to promote continuous 
quality improvement (CQI); and increased knowledge, collaboration, and 
capacity to improve court performance and child and family outcomes.
    Proposed cross-Center evaluation data sources for this effort 
include (1) a survey to assess child welfare staff perceptions of the 
outcomes of intensive \1\ courses of tailored services and their 
satisfaction with those services, completed by a project team lead with 
input from the rest of the team; (2) a survey to assess child welfare 
staff perceptions of the outcomes of brief courses of tailored 
services, for use with tribes and CIP;\2\ (3,4,5) a leadership 
interview protocol, administered to all state/territory child welfare 
directors, and to tribal child welfare directors and CIP coordinators 
receiving services from the Centers; (6) a collaboration and 
communication survey administered twice to Center staff/contractors and 
their federal partners to understand whether factors that support 
collaboration are in place and improving over time; (7) a survey to 
assess whether collaborative teams for specific projects and/or 
communication teams exhibit signs of healthy collaboration; and (8) a 
survey to assess child welfare jurisdiction staff satisfaction with the 
assessment and work planning services provided by Centers.
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    \1\ Intensive services typically last 9 or more months and 
involve 20 or more hours of service.
    \2\ The Center for States will administer its own, similar 
survey for use with state respondents.
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    Center for States' data sources include (1) a registration form for 
participation in virtual events; (2,3) a survey to gather feedback from 
participants in brief service events of 100+ registrants, and a follow-
up survey to measure outcomes 3 months later; (4) a short poll for use 
by participants in brief service events with fewer than 100 
registrants; (5) a peer learning group survey to gather feedback to 
inform program planning; (6) a survey to measure satisfaction with 
learning experiences; (7) a protocol for interviewing staff in 
jurisdictions receiving intensive services; (8) a protocol for use with 
state project leads to capture feedback following meetings associated 
with intensive projects, for use in a fidelity study; (9) a tailored 
services brief project survey to inform outcome reporting and CQI; (10) 
a survey of participants in peer-to-peer events to inform project 
planning; and (11) a jurisdiction interview protocol for a longitudinal 
ethnographic sub-study of several intensive projects. Center for 
Tribes' data sources include (1) a form for tribes requesting Center 
services; (2) an inquiry form for Center staff to collect information 
on services the tribe requests; (3) a demographic survey to provide 
information about the tribal child welfare program; (4) a ``needs and 
fit exploration tool--phase 1'' to gather information to decide if the 
tribe's request meets criteria for services; (5) a ``needs and fit 
exploration tool--phase 2'' for use when meeting with tribes whose 
service request has been

[[Page 28361]]

approved; (6,7) a Tribal Child Welfare Leadership Academy Self-
Assessment (pre- and post-training versions); and (8) a feedback survey 
to measure satisfaction with Center webinars. Center for Courts' data 
sources include (1) a survey to assess the usefulness of CQI workshops 
and perceived knowledge gained from participating in them; (2) a survey 
to assess participant satisfaction with Judicial and Attorney Academies 
and perceived knowledge gained; and (3) a pre-post survey to assess 
knowledge gained from the Academies and to provide exposure to material 
tailored to the participant's knowledge.
    Respondents: Respondents to the data collection instruments will 
include (1) child welfare and judicial professionals that use the 
Centers' web pages, products, and online courses; participate in 
virtual or in-person trainings or peer events; and/or receive brief or 
intensive tailored services from the Centers; (2) state child welfare 
directors, tribal child welfare directors, and CIP coordinators 
receiving services from the Centers; (3) directors, staff, and 
consultants of the three Capacity Building Centers; and (4) federal 
staff.

Annual Burden Estimates

    The proposed data collection will span 3 years.

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                                                   Total number       Average
           Instrument              Total number    of responses    burden hours    Total burden    Annual burden
                                  of respondents  per respondent   per response        hours           hours
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Cross-Center: Outcomes of and                120               1            0.25              30              10
 Satisfaction with Tailored
 Services Survey (Intensive
 projects)--team lead's
 completion of survey...........
Cross-Center: Outcomes of and                576               1            0.17              98              33
 Satisfaction with Tailored
 Services Survey (Intensive
 projects)--input from other
 members of the team............
Cross-Center: Outcomes of                    150               1            0.05               8               3
 Tailored Services Survey (Brief
 projects)......................
Cross-Center: Leadership                      43               2               1              86              29
 Interview--States and
 Territories....................
Cross-Center: Leadership                      37               2               1              74              25
 Interview--CIPs................
Cross-Center: Leadership                      14               2            1.25              35              12
 Interview--Tribes..............
Cross-Center: Collaboration and              200               1            0.22              44              15
 Communication Survey--Center
 staff..........................
Cross-Center: Collaboration                  120               1            0.23              28               9
 Project Team Survey............
Cross-Center: Assessment and                 130               1            0.15              20               7
 Work Planning Survey--
 Jurisdiction Staff.............
Center for States: Event                  13,500               1            0.03             405             135
 Registration...................
Center for States: Brief Event             1,500               1             0.1             150              50
 Survey.........................
Center for States: Event Follow-           1,500               1            0.08             120              40
 up Survey......................
Center for States: Event Poll...             300               1            0.03               9               3
Center for States: Peer Learning             300               1            0.33              99              33
 Group Survey...................
Center for States: Learning                  975               1            0.33             322             107
 Experience Satisfaction Survey.
Center for States: Jurisdiction               90               1               1              90              30
 Interview Protocol.............
Center for States: Fidelity                  108               1            0.25              27               9
 Study: State Lead Debrief
 Questions......................
Center for States: Tailored                  150               1            0.13              20               7
 Services Brief Project Survey..
Center for States: Peer to Peer               60               1            0.08               5               2
 Event Survey...................
Center for States: Longitudinal               45               2               1              90              30
 Ethnographic Sub-study
 Jurisdiction Interview.........
Center for Tribes: Request for               100               1               1             100              33
 Services Form..................
Center for Tribes: Inquiry Form.             200               1            0.08              16               5
Center for Tribes: ICW                        60               1            1.75             105              35
 Demographic Survey.............
Center for Tribes: Needs and Fit             150               1               2             300             100
 Exploration Tool Phase 1.......
Center for Tribes: Needs and Fit              80               1               3             240              80
 Exploration Tool Phase 2
 (Process Narrative)............
Center for Tribes: Tribal Child              240               1             0.5             120              40
 Welfare Leadership Academy Pre-
 Training Self-Assessment.......
Center for Tribes: Tribal Child              240               1             0.5             120              40
 Welfare Leadership Academy Post-
 Training Self-Assessment.......
Center for Tribes: Universal                 400               1            0.08              32              11
 Services Webinar Feedback
 Survey.........................
Center for Courts: CQI Workshop              240               1            0.07              17               6
 Feedback Survey................
Center for Courts: Academy                   600               1            0.07              42              14
 Feedback Survey................
Center for Courts: Pre/Post                  600               2            0.22             264              88
 Academy Assessment.............
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    Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 1,041.

    Authority: Sec. 5106, Public Law 111-320, the Child Abuse 
Prevention and Treatment Act Reauthorization Act of 2010, and titles 
IV-B and IV-E of the Social Security Act.


[[Page 28362]]


Mary B. Jones,
ACF/OPRE Certifying Officer.
[FR Doc. 2021-11118 Filed 5-25-21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4184-44-P