OMB #: 0970-0505
EXPIRATION: xx/xx/xxxx
Procedural Justice informed alternatives to contempt (pjac)
staff time study
The Procedural Justice-Informed Alternatives to Contempt (PJAC) Evaluation, funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE), is examining the effectiveness of incorporating procedural justice principles into child support practices as an alternative to the use of civil contempt to address nonpayment of support. The purpose of this evaluation is to provide information to practitioners and policymakers within multiple levels of government about promising strategies for working with noncustodial parents to increase reliable child support payments. MDRC, in partnership with MEF Associates, is conducting the evaluation on behalf of OCSE.
You are being asked to complete this time study because you work at an agency that is participating in the PJAC evaluation. This time study will ask for information about how you spend your time at work so that the evaluation team can assess the relative costs of the PJAC initiative. The survey should take about 1.5 hours over a two-week period. Your responses will be kept private to the extent permitted by law and used only for research purposes. Our study team is trained to follow strict rules to protect your privacy. Your responses will be combined with the responses of other staff and no individual names will be reported. No one from your agency or OCSE will see your individual responses.
Participation in the time study is completely voluntary. There are no known risks of participating, except that you may feel uncomfortable providing some information. No one from your agency will know if you decide to complete the time study or not.
If you have any questions about the time study, please do not hesitate to contact MDRC. You can reach MDRC by calling 1-xxx-xxx-xxxxx or emailing xxxxxxx@mdrc.org.
THE PAPERWORK REDUCTION ACT OF 1995 (Pub. L. 104-13)
Public reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 1.5 hours 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. The OMB control number for this collection is 0970-0505 and it expires xx/xx/xxxx.
Please read and respond to the statement below.
I have read the introduction and understand that the information I provide will be kept private to the extent permitted by law and used only for research purposes. My responses will be combined with the responses of other staff and no individual names will be reported.
□ I agree with the above statement and will complete the time study
□ I do not agree with the above statement and will not complete the time study
Note: This time study will be administered to child support enforcement staff who may have control group members on their caseload and PJAC workers who have PJAC members on their caseload. Administrative staff, attorneys, child support establishment staff, and other staff will not be asked to complete the staff activity worksheet.
We are asking you to track how you spend your time over the course of two weeks on some broad activities using the attached worksheet. If you prefer keeping track of your time on paper, you can complete the worksheet below and email it to XXX. This will help us understand how you spend time serving NCPs and CPs, and help us assess the costs of various activities. This is not an audit. We are simply interested in getting a rough idea on the kinds of activities on which you spend your time.
For each day during the two weeks of TBD, please keep track of how much time you spend working on each of the following activities:
A. Enforcement Activities
Case Maintenance. Monitoring payment performance, reviewing arrearages, updating employer information and issuing withholding notices, sending reminder notices, and other maintenance activities.
Locate. Investigating contact information, referring to locate services, and attempting to contact parents. Note that time spent doing these activities for non-paying cases will be recorded separately from time spent for other purposes.
Case Conferences/Negotiation Meetings. Conducting case conferences or negotiations (in person or telephonically) for non-paying cases and for other purposes.
Developing Case Action Plans. Developing/ reviewing case action plans.
Modifications. Reviewing and processing modification requests.
Enforcement of Non-paying Cases. Determining ability to pay, taking enforcement actions (e.g., license suspension, liens), preparing cases for contempt, appearing at hearings, and other enforcement activities.
B. Other Activities
Administration. Training, staff or team meetings, and other activities.
State MIS. Entering information and documenting case activities in state data system Note: time spent entering information for the evaluation and conducting random assignment should be recorded in B.12: “Research-related activities.”
Referrals. Referring to other services such as: employment, mediation, domestic violence, parenting time, legal services, education, mental health, substance abuse, and other services.
Order Establishment. Interviewing applicants and processing paperwork to establish child support cases.
Paternity. Gathering information and processing paperwork to establish paternity.
Research-related activities. Collecting information about the noncustodial parent and their child support case required for random assignment, entering information for the evaluation in the MIS and conducting random assignment, meeting with the research team and OCSE, conducting calls with the research team and OCSE, completing this time study, and other research-related activities.
Other. Conducting any activities that do not fall into one of the above categories; if you use this category, please provide a brief explanation.
C. Leave
Leave. Time off for holiday, vacation, doctor’s appointments, lunch, breaks, and other leave.
The total time for each day should be the same as the total time you worked. For example, if you worked eight hours in a day, then you should record a total of eight hours across the activities for that day. You should include all of the things you do as part of your job, including meeting with parents, attending staff meetings, doing paperwork, making telephone calls, and traveling to court. If you did not work on a particular day, or took time off during the day (e.g., for a doctor’s appointment), please record those hours on the last line. Note: time in any category can be rounded to 15-minute (quarter hour) increments. If you handle multiple tasks in a given meeting (e.g., help with a modification request and develop a case action plan), feel free to divide your time across the different activity categories.
It would be best if you fill out the form at the end of each work day, so that your activities are still fresh in your mind. After we have collected the completed forms we may contact you with follow up questions.
Time Spent in Week (Hours)
Site: ________________________________ Staff name: ______________________________ Week of: _______________________
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A: Enforcement Activities |
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Monitor payment performance |
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Review overpayments, distributions |
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Conduct debt calculations |
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Update employer info/ issue withholding notices |
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Maintain child support files/ other case maintenance |
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2. Locate Services |
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Attempt to locate/contact NCPs for non-paying |
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Attempt to locate/contact NCPs for other reasons |
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Attempt to locate/contact CPs for non-paying NCPs |
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Attempt to locate/contact CPs for other reasons |
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3. Case Conferences/ Negotiation Meetings |
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Conduct case conference with CPs for non-paying cases |
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Conduct case conference with NCPs for non-paying cases |
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Conduct case conference with CPs and NCPs (together) for non-paying cases |
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Conduct case conference with CPs for other reasons |
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Conduct case conference with NCPs for other reasons |
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Conduct case conference with CPs and NCPs (together) for other reasons |
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4. Developing Case Action Plans |
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Developing case action plans |
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5. Modifications |
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Review modification requests |
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Process modification requests |
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6. Enforcement of Non-paying Cases |
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Determine ability to pay |
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Develop case action plan/negotiations (e.g., license reinstatement, arrears compromise) |
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Take enforcement actions due to non-payment (e.g., offsets, liens, suspensions) |
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Prepare case for contempt; interact with attorney |
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Appear at hearing |
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Other activities related to non-payment cases |
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B. Other Activities |
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7. Administration |
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Attend staff trainings |
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Attend staff meetings |
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Other administration |
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8. State MIS |
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9. Referrals |
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Employment services |
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Mediation/dispute resolution |
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Domestic Violence |
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Parenting time |
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Legal services |
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Education |
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Mental health/ substance abuse |
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Other services |
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10. Order Establishment |
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11. Paternity |
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12. Research-Related |
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13. Other Activities |
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C. Leave |
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14. Leave |
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Lunch, breaks |
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Holiday, vacation, medical, other leave |
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Other Description: ______________________________________________________________________________________________
Other Description: ______________________________________________________________________________________________
Other Description: ______________________________________________________________________________________________
PJAC Staff Time Study
Your
participation in this information collection is voluntary. 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. The OMB control number for this collection is
0970-0505 and it expires xx/xx/xxxx.
If you have comments regarding this collection of information,
including suggestions for reducing this burden, please send them to
Cindy Redcross, 200 Vesey Street 23rd Floor
New York, NY 10281; Attn: OMB-PRA (0970-0505).
File Type | application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document |
Author | Barbara Collette |
File Modified | 0000-00-00 |
File Created | 2021-01-14 |