Topic Guide – Parent/Family Mentors

Replication of Recovery and Reunification Interventions forFamilies-Impact Study (R3-Impact)

Instr.9_Topic Guide - Mentors

Topic Guide – Parent/Family Mentors

OMB: 0970-0616

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R3-Impact Mentors Topic Guide

Introduction. We are from the research firm [Abt Associates/Child Trends] and we are conducting the [STUDY NAME] evaluation. The study is overseen by the Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation (OPRE), in collaboration with the Children’s Bureau, in the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). As part of the evaluation, we are conducting an implementation study to learn how counties implementing [PMP or START] are approaching their work.

As part of this study, we are talking with mentors to learn more about how [PMP/START] is being delivered in your community. During our conversation, we will ask questions to understand more about your community, your agency / organization, and how [PMP/START] is being implemented in your community, including partners involved in implementing the program, factors influencing implementation of [PMP/START], and your thoughts about how well the program is working.

Before beginning our discussion, we want to thank you for agreeing to talk with us today. We know you are busy and we appreciate the valuable time you are spending with us today. The interview will take about 90 minutes. Your participation is voluntary, and there are no penalties for choosing not to take part in the interview. You can refuse to answer any questions or stop the interview at any time. Our aim is to learn from your insights and experience. There are no right or wrong answers. Your answers will be kept private to the extent permitted by law. The information you provide will not be shared with other staff at your agency or organization. Your name will not be listed in any published reports, and comments will not be attributed to you. Instead, your answers will be combined with answers provided by other people in your same role that we interview across the country for this study. However, because of the relatively small number of agencies/organizations participating in the study, there is a possibility that a response could be correctly attributed to you. Your data will only be used for research purposes. The legal authority for this project is 42 U.S.C. § 1310a and Public Law 115-271. For System of Records Notice (SORN) information, please see the SORN number 09-80-0361, “OPRE Research and Evaluation Project Records.

We would like to record this discussion with a digital recorder so we can listen to it later when we write up our notes to make sure we captured everything accurately. No one besides our research team and the transcription vendor will listen to the recording. If you want to say anything that you don’t want recorded, please let us know and we will be glad to pause the recorder. Do you have any objections to being part of this interview or to us recording our discussion?

This collection of information is voluntary and will be used to understand programs that provide peer mentoring for parents involved in the child welfare system. Public reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 90 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 #: XXXX, Exp: XXXX. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden to Kimberly Francis (Abt Associates); kimberly_francis@abtassoc.com.

Do you have any questions before we begin?



  1. Respondent Information

  • Name, title, organization/affiliation, length of involvement with the organization and with the program

  • Overall role/job responsibilities

      • Description of role

      • Understanding of responsibilities



  1. Program Structure (CFIR Domain: Individuals)

  • Mentor motivation and experience

      • Reasons for becoming a mentor

      • Lived experience that qualifies them for mentor role

        • When child welfare case closed

        • Length of time in recovery

      • How mentor learned of position

      • Process for applying for mentor position

        • Barriers experienced

        • Support and guidance received

  • Mentor support and supervision

      • Supervision schedule (group and one-on-one meetings)

      • Perceptions of process, timing and content of mentor onboarding

        • Training on intervention

        • Training on organizational policies and culture

        • Training on strengths-based, parent centered approach

        • Training/support around retraumatization, boundaries and maintaining recovery first;

        • Extent to which mentor feels prepared and supported in working with parents with different experiences than their own (e.g., severe mental health, incarceration history, language/cultural background, drug of choice, sexual abuse maltreatment charges);

        • Training on disproportionality in the child welfare system and the root causes

        • Knowledge of culturally specific services in the community

        • Barriers to process/improvements needed

      • Satisfaction with supervision received

      • Additional needs or goals not addressed by supervision

      • Caseload size, including challenges associated with maintaining appropriate caseload sizes / numbers of “active” parents

      • Access to opportunities for advocacy, additional training, and credentialing (e.g., Peer Support Specialists, Certified Recovery Mentor, Peer Wellness Specialist)

      • Satisfaction with pay and supervision



  1. Program Services (CFIR Domain: Innovation, Process of Implementation)

  • Parent outreach

      • Process and timeline for first successful outreach to parent

      • Frequency and format of ongoing parent outreach

      • Approaches for engaging unresponsive parents

      • Perspective on benefits and challenges of different communication formats (in person/Zoom/phone/text)

  • First meeting between parent and mentor

      • Typical process, timeline, and format

      • Communication with caseworker prior to first meeting

      • Perspective on ideal timing of first meeting

      • Facilitators of timely first meeting

      • Barriers to timely first meeting

    • Development of individualized plan for parents (including use of Motivational Interviewing)

      • Role of parent in developing the plan

      • Incorporation / consideration of the family’s in-home safety plan

      • Process for documentation

  • Connection to treatment and recovery services

      • Coordination with treatment team

      • Parent role in choosing treatment option or recovery path

      • Connection to recovery supports (group and individual supports such as such as developing recovery rituals, ensuring access to any relevant medications and continuing care for SUD and physical and mental health needs).

      • Challenges in connecting parents to appropriate treatment and recovery services

        • Availability of culturally specific treatment and recovery services

        • Availability of treatment and recovery services appropriate for CW-involved parents

  • Connection to other social services

      • Most common service needs

      • Challenges meeting most common service needs

      • Coordination with service providers, including concrete supports, workshops or courses (e.g., budgeting / grocery shopping, parenting classes), transportation, etc.

  • Connection to child welfare system

      • Coordination with caseworker

      • Attending family planning meetings with child welfare or other service system meetings

      • Opportunities to educate and share personal experience within the child welfare system

  • Direct support to parents (e.g. accompaniment to family decision making meetings/ appointments/court appearances, assistance filling out applications)

  • Application of lived experience to mentoring interactions

      • Examples of applying lived experience in child welfare to mentoring, including system navigation and case engagement

      • Examples of modeling healthy recovery lifestyle and parenting

  • Retention and completion

      • Parent strengths and facilitators of success in the program

      • Engagement and reengagement strategies

      • Barriers to parents’ completion of program milestones

      • Strategies to mitigate barriers

  • Performance and evaluation

      • Use of data for service planning

      • Successes and challenges tracking data

  1. Operational Challenges and Successes

      • Ways the program has met/exceeded or fallen short of its goals

      • Challenges the program has encountered and how they were overcome

      • Areas for improvement

      • Advice for people with lived experience about working in peer recovery mentoring roles in child welfare

      • Advice for organizations implementing similar interventions





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File Typeapplication/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document
AuthorHannah Betesh
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File Created2023-08-18

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