TANF and Child Support Moving Forward: Further Incorporating Family Input

OMB NUMBER: 0970-0531

EXPIRATION: DATE 09/30/2025

Questionnaire about Family Input Resources

Questionnaire for Implementation Team Lead

January 2023

Public Burden Statement

According to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, an agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, a collection of information unless it displays a valid OMB control number. The valid OMB control number for this information collection is 0970-0531. The time required to complete this information collection is estimated to average 15 minutes per response, including the time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden, to the following address: jholdbrook@mathematica-mpr.com. Do not return the completed form to this address.

Introduction

Welcome to the Questionnaire about the Family Input Resources!

This questionnaire is part of a study sponsored by the Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation (OPRE) in the Administration for Children and Families at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The goals of this study are to (1) understand how TANF, child support, and other human services programs gather and use input from the families they have served, currently serve, or could serve for program improvement; (2) identify ways for TANF and child support programs to incorporate family input for program improvement; and (3) identify the successes and challenges these programs face in gathering and using family input.

This questionnaire is not part of any HHS monitoring or auditing activities. All individual responses will be kept private. The results of the questionnaire will be used for research purposes only.

It will take approximately 15 minutes to respond to this questionnaire; this includes the time it will take to read instructions, gather resources, and search existing data sources, as needed. We will ask you to complete this questionnaire monthly during the pilot testing period.

Your participation in this questionnaire is voluntary. Please feel to skip any question or stop the questionnaire at any time. You can skip a question by scrolling past it without selecting an answer. You can submit your questionnaire early by using the next arrow to skip sections and hitting “submit.”

Please note that a high level of response to this questionnaire is critical for the study. Our findings will help improve the Family Input Resources and make it easier for families to have a voice in program improvement efforts in TANF and child support programs across the country.

We will incorporate findings from this study into public documents, based on information collected through this questionnaire and other data collection activities. In these documents, we may identify your program as a contributor to the study, but we will not include the names of individual respondents in any reporting. Personally identifiable information will not be used to retrieve survey records or data and will not be disclosed publicly.

If you consent to participate in this questionnaire, please click ‘next’ to begin.

For more information

If you have any questions or concerns about the questionnaire, please contact the Mathematica study team at jholdbrook@mathematica-mpr.com or the OPRE project officer, Lisa Zingman at Lisa.Zingman@acf.hhs.gov.

Thank you in advance for your assistance in completing this questionnaire and for your participation in this important study.

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Survey Questions

Our focus is to learn from your experiences using the Family Input Resources this past month.

Program information

1. In what stage of the program improvement process is your team? Please select the response that best represents your team’s focus over the past month. [Select one only]

   • Learning about the current program environment

   • Identifying opportunities for improvement

   • Developing strategies or solutions to implement

   • Implementing a strategy or solution

   • Collecting feedback about the new strategy or solution

   • Analyzing feedback about the new strategy or solution

   • Refining strategies or solutions based on feedback

2. Are you or anyone on your site’s implementation team currently working with families as part of your program improvement effort?

   • Yes  CONTINUE TO Q3

   • No  SKIP TO Q5

   • Unsure  SKIP TO Q5

3. In the past month, what went well about engaging families for their input in your program improvement process?

   • [OPEN TEXT FIELD]

4. In the past month, what challenges did you encounter in engaging families for their input in your program improvement process?

   • [OPEN TEXT FIELD]

Resources referenced

For context, when we say Family Input Resources, we are referring to the collection of guidance, tools, and resources that the study team provided to engage families and improve their experience in the program moving forward.

5. Did you reference the Family Input Resources in the last month?

   • Yes  CONTINUE TO Q6

   • No  SKIP TO Q12

6. Did you reference any of the following sections or tools in the last month? Please select yes or no for each section and tool in the list.

Resource section	Yes	No
Sections
Section 1 Orientation to Elevating Family Input in TANF and Child Support Programs: Resources for Program Staff, Leaders, and Families
Section 2 Why Engage Families in Your Program Improvement Efforts?
Section 3 What Do We Mean by Program Improvement?
Section 4 An Introduction to Family Engagement in Program Improvement
Section 5 Building and Maintaining Trust with Families
Section 6 Preparing for Change
Section 7 Getting Started on Gathering and Using Family Input
Section 8 Integrating Family Input Throughout Program Improvement
Section 9 Sharing Power with Families to Drive Continuous Improvement
Section 10 Family Input Toolbox
(Tool) Engaging families in a program improvement phase (examples by depth and phase)
(Tool) Identifying the Right Family Engagement Approach for Your Program’s Goals
(Tool) Child Support Program: What Families Engaging in Program Improvement Might Need to Know
(Tool) Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Program: What Families Engaging in Program Improvement Might Need to Know
(Tool) Survey Tips for TANF and Child Support Programs
(Tool) Focus Group Tips for TANF and Child Support Programs

7. Reflecting on all of the resources you referenced in the past month, how useful were those resources to you?

   • Not useful

   • Somewhat useful

   • Useful

   • Very useful

8. What did the resource(s) help you and/or your program do? Please try to name specific sections or tools, if possible.

   • [OPEN TEXT FIELD]

9. What, if anything, did you like about the resources you referenced? Please try to name specific sections or tools, if possible.

   • [OPEN TEXT FIELD]

10. What, if anything, did you dislike about the resources you referenced? Please try to name specific sections or tools, if possible.

    • [OPEN TEXT FIELD]

11. How likely is it that you would recommend the resources you referenced to someone else in the human services field?

    • Definitely not

    • Probably not

    • Probably

    • Definitely

If no resources were referenced

12. Why did you not reference the Family Input Resources in the last month?

[SUBMIT]