Understanding Judicial Decision-Making and Hearing Quality in Child Welfare: Descriptive Study of Child Welfare Courts

CIP Administrator Follow-Up Telephone Interview Guide

OMB Control # 0970-0356 and Expiration Date: 06/30/2021

INTRODUCTION:

Hello [insert interviewee name], this is [insert your name] with [insert affiliation]. I’m calling for our scheduled telephone interview to ask you some additional questions based on your survey responses about child welfare practice in your state [if applicable also add: … and your CIP self-assessment report about hearing quality and judicial decision-making activities in your state].

Is this still a good time for us to talk?

If NO: What time would work better? Okay, I will give you a call back then. Thanks! Goodbye.

If YES: Great, I appreciate your time. Let’s get started …

INFORMED CONSENT:

First, I’d like to read an informed consent statement, which you also received by email. It may be helpful for you to follow along with the statement as I read as it includes standard language we are required to state.

You are invited to participate in a telephone interview about your responses on the survey you recently completed and/or the information you provided in the CIP self-assessment report submitted to the Children’s Bureau. The interview will focus on your survey responses and your CIP projects on hearing quality and how judges make decisions. The information collected in this interview will help us plan for a future study or studies that will examine the factors associated with judicial decision-making and hearing quality in child welfare cases, and the influence those factors may have on judges’ reasonable efforts decisions and case outcomes. The study is funded by the Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation (OPRE) and the Children’s Bureau and is being conducted by James Bell Associates, the American Bar Association Center on Children and the Law, and Co-Principal Investigators Drs. Alicia Summers and Sophie Gatowski.

This collection of information is voluntary and will be used to help us understand which sites may be appropriate for a future research study or studies that will examine hearing quality and judicial decision-making in child abuse and neglect cases. Public reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 30 minutes per interview, including the time for reviewing instructions, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing the interview. 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 number and expiration date for this collection are OMB #: 0970-0356, Exp: 06/30/2021. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden to Anne Fromknecht; fromknecht@jbassoc.com.

You may refuse to take part in this research or end the interview at any time without penalty. You are free to decline to answer any particular question for any reason. There are no foreseeable risks involved to your participation in the interview. Although you may receive no direct benefit from participating in this research study; you will be contributing to the broad body of knowledge regarding what works to improve child welfare court practice. Your responses will help us learn more about child welfare practices in your state and understand which potential sites are appropriate for participating in future research about how hearing quality factors affect judicial decisions and outcomes in child welfare cases. Your name or other personally identifying information will not appear in any report of the information provided in the interview so your responses to this interview will remain private to the extent permitted by law. However, the name of your state may be associated with responses you provide and included in a report prepared for OPRE and the Administration for Children and Families.

A member of our study team will join the interview to take notes. We would like to record our discussion so we can refer to it when writing up our notes. No one besides our research team will listen to the recording. If you want to say anything that you do not want recorded, please let me know and I will be glad to pause the recording. Interview recordings will be transcribed and entered into a qualitative data analysis program (Dedoose) for review. We will destroy the recording once project reports are released. Your answers will be stored in a password protected electronic database and will only be accessible to the research team. The information you provide during this interview will be used to help the researchers understand child welfare court practice to inform a study of hearing quality and judicial decision-making and may be shared within OPRE and the Administration for Children and Families (ACF). ACF will use the data to inform future research and planning. Information from this study may be securely shared with qualified researchers to help guide future research and support program improvement.

If you have questions or any concerns about the interview or study, you may contact Co-Principal Investigators Dr. Alicia Summers and Dr. Sophia Gatowski or Project Director Anne Fromknecht using the contact information emailed to you in the written consent statement.

Do you agree to participate in the interview?

 Yes  No

May we record the interview?

 Yes  No

Thank you. As we begin the interview, it may be helpful for you to have your CIP self-assessment in front of you in case you would like to refer to it.

[SPECIFIC QUESTIONS WILL BE TAILORED BASED ON REVIEW OF THE CIP SELF-ASSESSMENT REPORT AND SURVEY RESPONSES (E.G., INTERVIEWS WILL BE TAILORED TO GATHER INFORMATION AS NEEDED].

GENERALLY, TELEPHONE INTERVIEW QUESTIONS WILL ADDRESS THE FOLLOWING:

1. Provide an opportunity to expand upon the information about hearing quality and judicial decision-making project(s) described in the CIP self-assessment report. Example:

Could you please tell me more about your [insert project]?

2. Clarify any item related to judicial decision-making and hearing quality activities in a state that was not fully understood, or was missing, from the CIP self-assessment report. Example:

I’m not sure I fully understand [insert issue needing clarification] -can you tell me more about that?

3. Learn about any projects specific to reasonable efforts findings. Example:

Does your state have any projects that are focused on reasonable efforts findings? If yes, can you please tell me more about those projects? PROBES: How long have those projects been operating? In how many counties or judicial districts are the projects operating?

4. Clarify any item related to child welfare court practices in a state that was not fully understood, or was missing, from the online survey responses. Examples:

You estimated that X% of your counties hold reviews more frequently than every 6 months. Can you tell us more about those counties that are holding reviews more frequently than every 6 months? PROBE: Where are those counties located – are they urban or rural?

You estimated that X% of your counties hold pre-hearing conferences before initial hearings in child welfare cases. Can you tell us more about those counties that are using pre-hearing conferences? PROBES: Where are those counties located – are they urban or rural? Can you describe the pre-hearing conference process for me (e.g., who is in attendance? Is a report produced from the conference that is then submitted to the judge before the hearing? Is a report produced from the conference included in the court file?)

5. Ask about any missing information important to understand variation in child welfare court processes that was not provided in the self-assessment reports or online survey responses. Example:

Our team reviewed the CIP self-assessment reports for specific information to help us determine which states might be potential research study sites. Some of that information was not included in your report (or if it was, it wasn’t at the level of detail we need for our purposes). Can you tell me about [insert missing information issue(s)]?

6. Obtain information about procedures for getting permission and remote access to audio/video recordings of child welfare hearings and to the court’s case management information system for case file review. Example:

Our research methods will require getting audio/video recordings of a sample of child welfare hearings for remote (off-site) coding. We will also need remote (off-site) access to the court’s case management information system to code the court case files associated with the same sample of child welfare hearings. What is the process for getting access to or granting permission for these activities?

PROBE: What will be required in order to gain access? Who do we need to reach out to? How long would it typically take to get permissions (e.g., what would be an estimated timeline from requesting access to being granted permission)?

7. Learn abut the sites interest in participating in a future research study. Example:

In the survey, you indicated your interest in serving as a study site. Would you still be interested in serving as a study site should your state (or sites within your state) meet the research selection criteria?

PROBE: What will be required in order to get approval to serve as a study site? Who do we need to reach out to? How long would it typically take to get permissions (e.g., what would be an estimated timeline from requesting approval to gaining approval)?

CONCLUDING THE INTERVIEW:

Those are all of the questions I have for you. Do you have any questions about the project that I can answer?

Thank you so much for your time. The information you have given me will be invaluable to informing future research efforts.

Have a great rest of your day, goodbye.

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