Instrument 10 -- Interview Guide for Service Provider FUP Leads

^{Instrument 10}: Interview Guide for Service Provider FUP Leads

Before we begin, I want to tell you a few things about this study and your participation in it. Please feel free to ask me any questions you might have. We will also email you a copy of this information.

A team of researchers from the Urban Institute and Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago is working with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families (ACF) and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to learn about how communities are using the Family Unification Program (FUP) to serve youth. We are not evaluating your agency or its programs. The information we gather will be used to inform efforts by ACF and the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to improve the administration of the program.

As part of this process, we are talking with representatives from public housing agencies that received FUP vouchers in 2018, along with their child welfare agency, Continuum of Care, and service and referring agency partners, to learn more about their FUP services for youth.

We will ask you some questions about the [PHA name] FUP program, including questions about your collaboration with community partners, ways in which serving youth may differ from serving families, and successes or challenges you may have encountered serving youth, along with lessons learned.

A pair of researchers will conduct the discussion, which will take about 60 minutes. We may contact you after the interview to ask for clarification. Your participation in this discussion is voluntary.

We will share what we learn about your Family Unification Program with ACF as part of our evaluation activities. All the information you provide will be kept private to the extent permitted by law.

With your permission, we will audio record the interview so that we have an accurate record of what is said. However, we will not audio record if you do not want it to be recorded. One of the researchers will be taking detailed notes, but will not include your name.

DO YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS ABOUT THE STUDY OR TODAY’S DISCUSSION?

MAY WE PROCEED WITH THE DISCUSSION OF YOUR FUP PROGRAM?

If you have questions or concerns about the study, please contact:

Michael Pergamit Mark Courtney

Urban Institute Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago

202-261-5276 773.702.1219

mpergamit@urban.org markc@uchicago.edu

If you feel that your rights have been violated or that you have not been treated fairly, contact:

The Institutional Review Board Coordinator

Everett Madden

Urban Institute

2100 M Street NW

Washington DC 20037

Phone: 202-261-5632

The Paperwork Reduction Act Statement: This collection of information is voluntary and will be used to evaluate the effectiveness of the Family Unification Program. 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. The OMB number and expiration date for this collection are OMB #: 0970-XXXX, Exp: XX/XX/XXXX. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden to Michael Pergamit at mpergamit@urban.org.

The Institutional Review Board Coordinator

Everett Madden

Urban Institute

2100 M Street NW

Washington DC 20037

Phone:

202

-

261

-

5632

2100 M Street NW

Washington DC 20037

Discussion Guide for Service Provider FUP Leads

On-Site Conversation

Introduction

We are interested in your collaboration with [PCWA name] and any collaboration you may have with [PHA name] and [CoC lead organization name] in serving youth receiving FUP vouchers. We know that you may work with other child welfare agencies and housing agencies or CoCs, but we would like to focus on these. Also, we know that you may also serve families receiving FUP vouchers, but we would like to just focus on youth for our conversation today.

Do you have questions before we continue?

Do you consent to be recorded?

[If consented to recording] I am going to turn on the tape recorder now, and we can get started.

Now please tell me about yourself and your organization.

• What is your position at the organization?

  • Please describe your primary responsibilities.

• How much of your time do you spend on FUP?

• Are you the main staff person who is responsible for the FUP program?

  • If not, who else is responsible? What is/are their role(s)?

• What are the main activities of your organization?

• What services does your agency provide to help FUP youth?

  • Do you provide services to both youth and families receiving FUP vouchers?

Service Partnership Development

Now let's talk a bit about your partnership with [PCWA name] and other service partners involved in administering FUP and related services.

• Please describe your relationship with [PCWA name]?

[If a substantial relationship exists, ask the following]

• How long have you had this relationship?

• When did you begin partnering to provide services for FUP youth?

  • Was it your agency that approached [PCWA name], or did [PCWA name] approach you or did someone else approach you?

• Why did you enter this partnership? What are your goals for the partnership?

• Do you have an Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) or a contract in place with [PCWA name] that includes language around providing services to youth with FUP vouchers?

  • If yes: What are you required to do? What is [PCWA name] required to do?

  • How, if at all, do you update your MOU to reflect changing activities?

• What other public agencies or private organizations does your agency partner with to serve youth who receive FUP vouchers? Please describe the roles of each of these partners.

  • Probe: Do you work directly with [PHA name]? If yes, in what capacity?

• Probe: What is the nature of your partnership, if any, with [CoC name] in serving FUP youth?

• How formal are these partnerships (i.e., is there a contract or MOU established)?

Service Coordination with Partners

Now we'd like to discuss your coordination with the agencies and organizations that are partners on the local FUP program to provide services to FUP youth: [PHA name], [PCWA name], and [CoC lead organization name].

• How do you coordinate services for FUP youth with these partner agencies?

  • Probe: PCWA/PHA/CoC lead organization

• Do you have a point of contact at these partner agencies/organizations to address issues around FUP for youth?

  • If not: Would having a single point of contact be helpful?

• Has your organization assigned a point of contact for partner agencies to reach out to with questions about serving FUP youth?

• How and how often do you typically communicate with partner agencies/organizations?

  • Does your organization have regular meetings with these partners?

    • If no: Do you think it would be helpful to meet regularly? Why?

    • If yes: Please describe those meetings.

      • Probe: mode, topics, frequency

  • What topics do you typically communicate about?

  • Please describe any other communication, beyond regular meetings, that you have with partner agencies/organizations on providing services to FUP youth.

• Do you think there should be more communication, less communication, or is the amount about right? Why?

• Do any partner agencies/organizations provide training to staff at your organization around providing services to FUP youth?

• If yes: Please describe the training.

• If no: Would this type of training be helpful? What topics would be helpful to cover?

• How successful overall would you describe your organization's relationship with your partner agencies/organizations?

• Please describe any factors that have contributed to successful collaboration.

• Please describe any barriers to collaboration that have come up and how you have dealt with them.

• What else, if anything, do you think you could do to improve relationships?

Referral and Application

Now we'd like to learn more about any involvement you have in referring youth for FUP vouchers and helping them obtain them.

• Do you identify youth who may be FUP-eligible and refer them to [PCWA name]?

[If yes, ask the following]

• How does your organization identify FUP-eligible youth?

  • Is there a standard prescreening process?

  • Do you use an assessment tool? What tool is it? How does the tool identify FUP-eligible youth?

  • What characteristics do you look for?

    • Probe: child welfare engagement; highest-need homeless youth

• How many referrals of FUP-eligible youth has your organization sent to [PCWA name]?

• (If not all referrals are sent to the PCWA) Which referrals are not sent?

• What are most common reasons they are not sent?

  • Probe: Voucher availability

• (If provide family referrals) Does your organization ever have to decide whether to refer youth or families for FUP? If so, how do you make that decision?

• Does your organization ever opt to refer youth to a housing program other than FUP?

  • If yes: Please describe the other program(s) and why you at times refer youth to them instead of FUP.

• What types of assistance, if any, does your organization provide with the housing application and voucher process? (e.g. gathering documentation, filling out the form). Which staff provide these services?

• What, if anything, do you do to help youth with the application?

• What, if anything, do you do to help youth whose applications for FUP are denied?

Voucher Award

• Does someone from your organization typically attend the youth's voucher briefing once they are awarded the voucher? Why or why not?

Finding and Securing Housing

Next, we have some questions about the process by which youth search for housing and lease up after being awarded a FUP voucher.

• What, if any, help does your organization provide youth in their housing search?

  • Probe: provide assurances to landlord, help with moving expenses

  • (If also serve families) How does this differ from assistance provided to families receiving FUP vouchers?

• Do youth receive assistance in their housing search from your partner agencies/organizations?

  • If yes, which partners?

  • If yes, how, if at all, does your organization coordinate housing search assistance with partners?

• What, if any, special support do you or your partner agencies target toward youth who are parenting?

• Do youth who do not receive FUP vouchers also receive housing search assistance through your organization?

• What proportion of youth who receive FUP vouchers lease up? What are some of their most significant barriers to leasing up?

• Does your organization provide any counselling after lease-up? If yes, please describe what you provide.

  • What proportion of youth typically receive this support?

  • (If serves families) How does this support compare to what you provide to families receiving FUP?

  • How, if at all, is this support coordinated with partner organizations/agencies?

Other Supportive Services

We'd also like to know what other supportive services you and other agencies provide to youth who have leased up.

• What, if any, supportive services does your organization provide directly to youth who have leased up with a FUP voucher?

  • Probe: basic like skills information including help with credit problems or money management, assistance with healthcare access, counselling on compliance with lease, job counselling and help with job search, educational and career advancement counselling and support, cash assistance for essential expenses

  • When are these services typically provided?

    • Probe: Frequency, length of time, regularity

• Do partner agencies/organizations provide any additional supportive services after youth lease up with FUP? If yes, please describe those services.

• What, if any, special support do you or your partner agencies target toward youth who are parenting?

• How, if at all, does your organization coordinate post-lease-up supportive services with partner organizations?

• How often, if at all, do staff at your organization contact youth after lease-up? For what reasons?

• Are there additional services that youth need after lease-up that your organization or partners do not provide? If yes, please describe these services.

Post-FUP Transition

• Does your organization provide (or plan to provide) assistance to youth before or after their FUP voucher expires? If yes, please describe this assistance.

Funding FUP Administration

• What are your funding sources for supportive services for FUP youth?

• How, if at all, does your budget constrain your ability to provide the services you think FUP youth need?

Data

Now we'd like to hear about how your process for tracking client information.

• Do you track what services you provide FUP youth in a data system?

[If track client data, ask the following]

• What type of data system do you use to record client data for the FUP program?

• What types of information do you track? (probe: services received, dates received, progress on dimensions of independent living)

  • (If serves families) How does this differ, if at all, for families referred to or in the FUP program?

• How do you use the information you collect?

Community Context

Please tell us some more about how the community context you work in affects how you serve FUP-eligible youth.

• How has the local housing market affected your ability to help youth meet their housing needs?

• Please describe the social services landscape. How widely available are other social services that FUP youth need?

Reflections

As we approach the end of our conversation, we'd like to ask you to reflect on your experience with FUP for youth and provide any recommendations you may have.

• What advice, if any, do you have for other organizations about serving FUP youth?

• Are there any changes to the program that would help agencies better serve youths' needs?

Closing

Thank you for taking the time to talk with me today.

Is there anything that I did not ask about that you think I should know about your experience FUP youth?

Do you have any final questions for me about the study, or about the research team?