Form 1 Practice and Systems Level Change Telephone Survey

Attachment 5

OMB Control No.: xxxx-xxxx

Expiration Date: xx/xx/20xx

National Study of Children’s Bureau’s Title IV-E Child Welfare Waiver Demonstrations

THE PAPERWORK REDUCTION ACT OF 1995 (Pub. L. 104-13) Public reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 60 minutes per response, including the time for reviewing instructions, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and reviewing the collection of information. 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.

Fiscal Flexibility and Practice and Systems-Level Change Survey

For internal uses only:

State/DC/PGST Name: ____________________________________________

Respondent Name: ___________________________________________________

Position Title: _______________________________________________________

Interviewer: ________________________________________________________

Date: _____________________________________________________________

INSTRUCTIONS FOR INTERVIEWER:

****ADD ANY NECESSARY INSTRUCTIONS HERE****

Introduction

Hello. My name is ____________. I am calling from James Bell Associates, the evaluation technical assistance provider for the Children’s Bureau title IV-E child welfare waiver demonstrations. Our firm has been contracted by the Children’s Bureau to conduct a study of the jurisdictions implementing waiver demonstrations. The purpose of the study is to synthesize information across the waiver jurisdictions to understand their collective impact on outcomes, practice, system operations, and fiscal policies. Today, we want to learn about fiscal flexibility and the practice and systems-level changes that have occurred during the implementation of the waiver demonstration in ____________ (jurisdiction). Your participation is critical to this study. We expect that the interview will take about 60 minutes. Your privacy is important to us. Information you provide during the interview will be combined with answers from other jurisdictions and will not be associated with individual respondents.

[Interviewer please read the following text box: ]

A. Background

Do you have any questions about what I’ve explained to you before we begin? I would like to first start out by asking you some basic questions about your background and history with the agency [Interviewer: Please fill-in the appropriate bubble.]

A1. What is your primary organization affiliation?

• Evaluation Firm

• University

• Jurisdiction (State, DC, PGST) Child Welfare Agency/Department

• Public County/Regional Child Welfare Agency/Department

• Non-Public Child Welfare Agency/Department

• Other, please specify ____________________

[Interviewer: Please rank order up to three areas of activities.]

A2.  Which of the following describes the area of activities for your current position? Please rank order up to three areas of activities.

		Evaluation
		Direct Practice
		Supervising/Overseeing Direct Practice
		Developing and Implementing Programs
		Developing and Implementing Policy
		Fiscal/Accounting
		Organization Oversight and Management
		Other, please specify ____________________

B. Fiscal Flexibility and Practice- and Systems-Level Changes

The next several questions are focused on whether fiscal flexibility has resulted in practice-level and systems-level change for the child welfare agency. Practice-level change refers to change at the level of implementation, where case workers and other child welfare staff are interacting with children and families. Systems-level change refers to change that takes place at the organizational level, both internal to the organization and in the organization’s relationship with its external environment.

B1. Practice-Level Changes

B1a. Has the child welfare agency experienced practice-level changes as a result of fiscal flexibility provided through the title IV-E waiver demonstration?

B1b. No Please explain why you think the practice-level changes haven’t occurred.

B1c. Yes Please describe the key practice-level changes that have occurred as a result of fiscal flexibility.

Probe: In what specific areas have these practice-level changes occurred?

Probe: Have the changes occurred in specific divisions of the organization?

Probe: Have the changes occurred in terms of agency policies related to practice or case management practices?

Probe: Did the practice level change vary by region or county or implementation area?

B1d. Can you characterize how significant the key practice-level changes have been?

Probe: Do the changes seem significant when compared to practice-level changes that have occurred in the past?

B2. Systems-Level Changes

B2a. Has the child welfare agency experienced systems-level changes as a result of fiscal flexibility provided through the title IV-E waiver demonstration?

B2b. No Please explain why you think the systems-level changes haven’t occurred.

B2c. Yes Please describe the key systems-level changes that have occurred as a result of fiscal flexibility.

Probe: In what specific areas of the organization have these systems-level changes occurred?

Probe: Have changes occurred across government agencies associated with child welfare?

Probe: Have changes occurred with contracted and/or non-contracted community-based service providers?

B2d. Can you characterize how significant to which the key systems-level changes have been?

Probe: Do the changes seem significant when compared to systems-level changes that have occurred in the past?

C. Factors Influencing the Jurisdiction’s Ability to Use Title IV-E Funding Flexibly

The next several questions are focused on which factors have inhibited or enhanced the jurisdiction’s ability to use title IV-E funding flexibly for the county/regional child welfare agency.

C1. Enhancing Factors

C1a. What are the factors, internal to the jurisdiction, that have enhanced the jurisdiction’s ability to use funding in a flexible manner?

Probe: Are there specific policies and/or procedures that play a role? How?

Probe: Does organization culture and/or climate play a role? How?

Probe: Does leadership play a role? How?

C1b. What are the factors, external to the jurisdiction, that have enhanced the jurisdiction’s ability to use funding in a flexible manner?

Probe: Are there specific relationships with other organizations that have had an influence?

Probe: Is there a particular climate (e.g., political, economic) that has had an influence?

C2. Inhibiting Factors

C2a. What are the factors, internal to the jurisdiction, that have inhibited the jurisdiction’s ability to use funding in a flexible manner?

Probe: Are there specific policies and/or procedures that play a role?

Probe: Does organization culture and/or climate play a role?

C2b. What are the factors, external to the jurisdiction, that have inhibited the jurisdiction’s ability to use funding in a flexible manner?

Probe: Are there specific relationships with other organizations that have had an influence?

Probe: Is there a particular climate (e.g., political, economic) that has had an influence?

D. The Waiver Demonstration and Policies That Promote the Use of Fiscal Flexibility

The next several questions are focused on the policies that have been developed and implemented that enhance the jurisdictions ability to use title IV-E funding flexibly for the child welfare agency.

D1. Have policies been developed and implemented by the child welfare agency through the waiver demonstration that enhances the ability of the agency to use funding flexibly?

D1a. No Why do you think such policies have not been developed and implemented? (SKIP TO SECTION E)

D1b. Yes GO TO D2 AND D3.

D2. What kinds of policies have been developed and implemented?

Probe: Are there specific policies that were not implemented well? Describe.

D3. Have the policies been successful at enhancing the jurisdictions use of funding in a flexible manner?

E. Practice, Program, and Policy Decision-Making in a Capped Allocation Environment

The next several questions are focused on how operating in a capped allocation environment may have influenced decision making at the practice, program and policy level. A capped allocation environment is one in which a distribution of monies is limited to a predetermined amount. In the case of waiver jurisdictions, the capped allocation is based on the amount that the jurisdiction would have received in absence of the waiver.

E1. Has operating in a capped allocation environment had an influence on decision-making by child welfare workers when working with children and families involved with the demonstration project. (IF “DON’T KNOW” SKIP TO E2)

E1a. No Why do you think that operating in a capped allocation environment has not had an influence on decision-making at the worker-level?

E1b. Yes Please describe the influence and how decision-making is different.

Probe: Is the decision making different only for a subset of child welfare workers? Are there certain divisions that have been most affected by this change- example: investigatory unit, permanency, adoption unit. Was the decision making different at state, county, and contracted agency level?

E2. Has operating in a capped allocation environment had an influence on decision-making at the program-level (e.g., how programmatic resources are distributed)? (IF “DON’T KNOW” SKIP TO E3)

E2a. No Why do you think that operating in a capped allocation environment has not had an influence on decision-making at the program-level?

E2b. Yes Please describe the influence and how decision-making is different.

E3. Has operating in a capped allocation environment had an influence on decision-making at the policy-level (e.g., contracting with service providers, union relations, organization mission and direction)? (IF “DON’T KNOW” SKIP TO SECTION F)

E3a. No Why do you think that operating in a capped allocation environment has not had an influence on decision-making at the policy-level?

E3b. Yes Please describe the influence and how decision-making is different.

F. Data Systems Awareness, Use, and Improvements

The next several questions are focused on the possible awareness, use and improvements of data systems as a result of the waiver demonstration.

F1. Has there been an increase in the use of data as a result of the waiver demonstration?

(IF “DON’T KNOW” SKIP TO F2)

F1a. No Why do you think that there has not been in increase in the use of data?

F1b. Yes Please describe how data are being used and how the increase is represented?

Probe: Is the increase due to specific aspects of the waiver demonstration?

F2. Has the waiver demonstration resulted in improvements or enhancements to SACWIS or a similar child welfare information system? (IF “DON’T KNOW” SKIP TO F3)

F2a. No Why do you think that there has not been improvement or enhancements?

F2b. Yes Please describe the improvements and/or enhancements to SACWIS or a similar child welfare information system?

F3. Has the waiver demonstration resulted in the development and use of new data systems?

(IF “DON’T KNOW” SKIP TO END)

F3a. No Why do you think that there has not been the development of new data systems?

F3b. Yes Please describe the new data systems that have been developed?

Probe: What kinds of enhanced capabilities do they have?

Probe: Do any of the new data systems capture fiscal data? Please explain.

Thank you.

This is the end of the interview.

We greatly appreciate your participation in this evaluation of child and caregiver well-being during the implementation of the waiver demonstration in ____________ (jurisdiction).

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