Cover Sheet

DOCUMENTATION FOR THE GENERIC CLEARANCE

FOR THE COLLECTION OF QUALITATIVE RESEARCH & ASSESSMENT

TITLE OF INFORMATION COLLECTION: Exceptions to Termination of Parental Rights Timelines for Children in Foster Care

[X ] INTERVIEWS

[X ] SMALL DISCUSSION GROUPS

[ ] FOCUS GROUPS

[ ] QUESTIONNAIRES

[ ] OTHER (EXPLAIN:)

DESCRIPTION OF THIS SPECIFIC COLLECTION

1. Intended purpose: The qualitative data collected will complement ASPE quantitative analyses of exceptions provided to federal timelines for termination of parental rights (TPR) for children in foster care for extended periods, helping us to develop hypotheses about factors that drive differences among states.

2. Need for the collection: Twenty years after the Adoption and Safe Families Act introduced a requirement that, with some statutory exceptions, states seek termination of parental rights once children have been in care for 15 of the previous 22 months, timely TPR remains the exception rather than the rule. The qualitative data to be gathered through this information collection will compliment quantitative analyses of federal administrative data underway intramurally, in order to better understand how states use exceptions to the TPR timelines and begin to identify some of the policies practices and attitudes that may lie behind the quantitative results.

3. Planned use of the data: Data will be used to provide illustrative examples of the policies, practices and attitudes that may fuel differences among states in the rates at which TPRs occur timely, adding contextual detail to complement quantitative analysis and generating hypotheses for future research.

4. Date(s) and location(s): Telephone interviews will be conducted with child welfare staff in 4 sites. Discussions with persons with lived experience (young adults who are former foster youth, birth parents, and foster/adoptive parents) will also be by phone but will not be site-based. For the site-based interviews, we have chosen Texas, Utah, Illinois and Wisconsin as primary sites, and West Virginia and Rhode Island as back up sites in case a primary site declines to participate. We anticipate conducting interviews in April and May, 2020.

5. Collection procedures: Telephone interviews.

6. Number of collections (e.g., focus groups, surveys, sessions): Approximately 23 small group interviews. A few of the site-based interviews may be individual interviews rather than small groups depending on recruitment and scheduling issues.

7. Description of respondents/participants: Qualitative interviews will be conducted with child welfare staff and stakeholders (e.g. judges, attorneys who represent parents) as well as individuals with lived experience with TPR (young adults who are former foster youth, birth parents, and foster/adoptive parents).

8. Description of how results will be used: Information from the qualitative interviews will be used to provide examples of the variations in policies, practices and attitudes that may be associated with wide disparities in states’ performance in adhering to federal timelines for freeing children for adoption by terminating parental rights for children who remain in foster care for extended periods.

9. Description of how results will or will not be disseminated and why or why not: Results will be incorporated into a series of research briefs on the topic of termination of parental rights and states’ use of exceptions to federal timelines requiring that states initiate TPR once a child has been in foster care for 15 of the previous 22 months. The focus of the briefs will be our quantitative analyses of AFCARS data (not subject to OMB clearance because they are secondary data analysis of existing federal administrative data). However, we hope to use examples from the qualitative data to provide context for the quantitative findings and to generate hypotheses about possible factors that could lie behind the quantitative results and bear further study.

AMOUNT OF ANY PROPOSED STIPEND OR INCENTIVE: Nonprofessional respondents (former foster youth, birth parents, foster and adoptive parents) will receive a $50 gift card that will signal respect for their time and the value of their insights. No incentives will be provided to professional respondents (child welfare agency staff, judges, and attorneys).

BURDEN HOUR COMPUTATION (Number of responses (X) estimated response or participation time in minutes (/60) = annual burden hours):

Category of Respondent	No. of Respondents	Participation Time	Burden
State or local child welfare administrators	12	60 minutes	12 hours
State or local child welfare practitioners	12	60 minutes	12 hours
Judges	12	60 minutes	12 hours
Legal representatives	12	60 minutes	12 hours
Representatives from other stakeholder organizations	12	60 minutes	12 hours
Biological parents	5	90 minutes	7.5 hours
Foster or adoptive parents	5	90 minutes	7.5 hours
Former foster youth (young adults)	5	90 minutes	7.5 hours
Total	75	-	82.5

BURDEN COST COMPUTATION

Category of Respondent	No. of Respondents	Hourly Rate	Response Time	Total
State or local child welfare administrators	12	$36.72	1 hour	$440.64
State or local child welfare practitioners	12	$25.35	1 hour	$304.20
Judges	12	$58.23	1 hour	$698.76
Legal representatives	12	$69.34	1 hour	$832.08
Representatives from other stakeholder organizations	12	$23.69	1 hour	$284.28
Biological parents	5	$24.98	1.5 hour	$187.35
Foster or adoptive parents	5	$24.98	1.5 hour	$187.35
Former foster youth (young adults)	5	$24.98	1.5 hour	$187.35
Total	75		82.5 hours	$3,122.01

OTHER SUPPORTING INFORMATION

REQUESTED APPROVAL DATE: March 4, 2020

NAME OF CONTACT PERSON: Laura Radel, Senior Social Science Analyst,

TELEPHONE NUMBER: 202-730-3927

DEPARTMENT/OFFICE/BUREAU: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, Division of Children and Youth Policy

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