Program Support GenIC - NYTD State Partners and Supplemental Data Survey

National Youth in Transition Database (NYTD) State Partners and Supplemental Data Survey

Formative Data Collections for Program Support

0970 – 0531

Supporting Statement

Part A - Justification

May 2024

Submitted By:

Administration on Children, Youth and Families

Administration for Children and Families

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

4^th Floor, Mary E. Switzer Building

330 C Street, SW

Washington, D.C. 20201

A1. Necessity for the Data Collection

The Administration for Children and Families (ACF) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) seeks approval to conduct an administrative survey to assess how states engage youth to participate in completing the National Youth in Transition Database (NYTD) outcomes survey¹ and to learn what additional data elements that states are voluntarily collecting.

Background

The Foster Care Independence Act of 1999 (Public Law 106-169) establishes the John H. Chafee Foster Care Independence Program (CFCIP), now known as the Chafee Foster Care Program for Successful Transition to Adulthood (Chafee Program), in amendment to section 477 of the Social Security Act. The Chafee Program provides states with flexible funding to carry out programs that assist youth in making the transition from foster care to a healthy and self-sufficient adulthood. The law also requires ACF to develop a data collection system to track the independent living services States provide to youth and develop outcome measures that may be used to assess States' performance in operating their independent living programs. However, because the current set of data collected through NYTD are confined by what is outlined in regulation (45 CFR 1356), gaps exist in what the federal government is able to learn about the young people we serve. The goal of this survey is two-fold: 1. To learn more about partners who state child welfare agencies may be using to administer NYTD outcomes survey collection and inform if data quality may be impacted by the use of third-party partnerships. 2. To capture how many states are collecting supplemental data in addition to the NYTD outcomes data

and better understand how those additional data elements could increase what we know about the experiences and outcomes of young people transitioning to adulthood.

Legal or Administrative Requirements that Necessitate the Collection

There are no legal or administrative requirements that necessitate the collection. ACF is undertaking the collection at the discretion of the agency.

A2. Purpose of Survey and Data Collection Procedures

Overview of Purpose and Use

The purpose of the NYTD Partner and Supplemental Data Survey is to gather feedback from state users on survey administration and third-party partnerships. The information will be used by ACF for internal program purposes to:

• Understand the processes and techniques used by third-party survey administrators

• Learn more about states that currently supplement their NYTD data with additional data elements

• Explore the potential benefits of integrating supplemental NYTD data into current NYTD data analysis.

• Develop technical assistance, guidance and training tools for states who are interested in improving data quality and growing their data collection capabilities.

This proposed information collection meets the following goals of ACF’s generic clearance for formative data collections for program support (0970-0531):

• Delivery of targeted assistance and workflows related to program implementation or the development or refinement of program and grantee processes, and the development and refinement of recordkeeping and communication systems.

• Planning for provision of programmatic or evaluation-related training or technical assistance (T/TA).

• Development of learning agendas and research priorities.

Processes for Information Collection

An initial email will be sent to NYTD Authorized Officials to introduce the survey and schedule an interview date for a zoom or phone call. If there is no response to the first email, a second email will be set with a link for a self-administered survey. A final contact attempt will be made to administer the survey by phone if there is still no response.

Once scheduled, the call or zoom meeting will include a brief introduction, the 10-15 minute survey, and a brief wrap-up. The overall call or zoom should not take more than 20 minutes. If completing the self-administered survey, the estimated time to complete would be about 15 minutes.

A3. Improved Information Technology to Reduce Burden

We will utilize zoom, phone calls and emails as a means of collecting this data.

A4. Efforts to Identify Duplication

The information is not being collected through any other means.

A5. Involvement of Small Organizations

No small business will be involved with this collection, participation is reserved for states with whom we have a pre-existing connection.

A6. Consequences of Less Frequent Data Collection

This is a one-time, low burden collection which will have minimal impacts to state participants.

A7. Special Circumstances

There are no special circumstances for the proposed data collection efforts.

A8. Federal Register Notice and Consultation

Federal Register Notice and Comments

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (Pub. L. 104-13) and Office of Management and Budget (OMB) regulations at 5 CFR Part 1320 (60 FR 44978, August 29, 1995), ACF published a notice in the Federal Register announcing the agency’s intention to request an OMB review of this information collection request to extend approval of the umbrella generic with minor changes. The notice was published on January 28, 2022, (87 FR 4603), and provided a sixty-day period for public comment. ACF did not receive any comments on the first notice. A second notice was published, allowing a thirty-day period for public comment, in conjunction with submission of the request to OMB. ACF did not receive any comments on the second notice

Consultation with Outside Experts

This is an exploratory collection and have only considered the expertise of internal subject matter experts.

A9. Tokens of Appreciation for Respondents

No tokens of appreciation for respondents are proposed for this information collection.

A10. Privacy of Respondents

Information collected will be kept private to the extent permitted by law. Respondents will be informed of all planned uses of data, that their participation is voluntary, and that their information will be kept private to the extent permitted by law.

Information will not be maintained in a paper or electronic system from which data are actually or directly retrieved by an individuals’ personal identifier.

A11. Sensitive Questions

There are no sensitive questions in this data collection.

A12. Estimation of Information Collection Burden

Burden Estimates

The survey will be sent to NYTD Authorized Officials in states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico (52 potential respondents). The facilitated survey is expected to take no more than 20 minutes and the self-administered survey is expected to take about 15 minutes. We have provided burden estimates based on 52 potential respondents and a maximum of 20 minutes per response.

Cost Estimates

The cost to respondents was calculated using the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) job code for Counselors, Social Workers, and Other Community and Social Service Specialists [21-1000] and wage data from May 2023, which is $26.64 per hour. To account for fringe benefits and overhead the rate was multiplied by two which is $53.28.

https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_stru.htm

Instrument	Total Number of Respondents	Total Number of Responses Per Respondent	Average Burden Hours Per Response	Total Burden Hours	Average Hourly Wage	Total Annual Cost
NYTD Partner and Supplemental Data Survey	52	1	.333	17.3	$53.28	$921.74

A13. Cost Burden to Respondents or Record Keepers

There are no additional costs to respondents.

A14. Estimate of Cost to the Federal Government

The total cost for the data collection activities under this current request will be $1304.

A15. Change in Burden

This is for an individual information collection under the umbrella formative generic clearance for program support (0970-0531).

A16. Plan and Time Schedule for Information Collection, Tabulation and Publication

Following approval from OMB, we will send out introduction emails to state contacts to schedule survey administration. Follow-up efforts will continue as needed. We anticipate survey administration to take place over about one month.

A summary report will be finalized by summer 2024. This report will be for internal planning purposes.

A17. Reasons Not to Display OMB Expiration Date

All instruments will display the expiration date for OMB approval.

A18. Exceptions to Certification for Paperwork Reduction Act Submissions

No exceptions are necessary for this information collection.

1 Administration of the NYTD Youth Outcomes Survey is approved under OMB #0970-0340.

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