Appendix A Example letter of support from Office of Family Assistance/Office of Child Support Enforcement

Appendix A.
Example Letter of support from Office of Family Assistance (OFA)/Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE)

OMB Control No: 0970-0531

Expiration date: 9/30/2025

Letter of support for the Moving Forward study from [Office of Family Assistance (OFA)/Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE)], Administration for Children and Families (ACF)

Dear [Name of the State Director of the TANF/child support program],

The Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation (OPRE) in the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) at the U.S Department of Health and Human Services is funding an important study on programmatic and policy changes made by [TANF/child support] programs in response to the COVID-19 Pandemic. This study will document changes that [TANF/ child support] programs made during the pandemic and describe the changes that are likely to continue as time goes on. The goal of this study is to learn about the lasting innovations that may inform and improve [child support/ TANF] programs in the future.

[State Program] was selected to be part of this study because of the new and noteworthy approaches that your state has been implementing in response to the disruptions caused by the COVID-19 Pandemic.

We hope that you will participate in this important study. Your participation will consist of completing a short web-based questionnaire about the changes your agency may have made in response to the pandemic, followed by a one-hour interview with you and key staff that you would like to include in the interview. Additionally, some programs will be asked to participate in additional data collection activities, including interviews with local office managers, supervisors, and frontline workers and interviews with program participants. The study team will make every effort to minimize State burden when collecting the information required to address the research objectives.

To conduct this study, OPRE has contracted with Mathematica and its subcontractor, MEF Associates. They will be reaching out to you shortly to confirm your participation this study. Your participation is a critical component of this important study and will help advance knowledge about how states adapted to challenges prompted by the pandemic. In the interim, please don’t hesitate to contact me (at [add email]), the study’s Project Director (Rebekah Selekman at rselekman@mathematica-mpr.com), or the OPRE Project Officer (Lisa Zingman at lisa.zingman@acf.gov) if you have any questions.

Thank you for your assistance,

[Name]

[Title]

[Organization]