Cross-Center Evaluation: Collaboration and Communication Survey – Center staff

PURPOSE: This survey will be used to understand the extent to which factors that support collaboration among Centers and with federal staff exist and whether they improve over time. It will be administered to select Center staff and federal partners in project years 2 and 4.

OMB #: 0970-0XXXX

Expiration Date: XX/XX/XXXX

PAPERWORK REDUCTION ACT OF 1995 (Pub. L. 104-13) STATEMENT OF PUBLIC BURDEN: This collection of information will be used to understand the extent to which factors that support collaboration among Capacity Building Centers and with federal staff exist and improve over time. Public reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 13 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 subject to the requirements of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, 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. If you have any comments on this collection of information, please contact Chereese Phillips, Chereese.Phillips@acf.hhs.gov.

Evaluation of the Child Welfare Capacity Building Collaborative

Collaboration and Communication Survey

Thank you for considering participation in this survey! The Children’s Bureau funded James Bell Associates (JBA) and ICF to conduct a cross-center evaluation of the Capacity Building Collaborative. As part of that evaluation, this survey is an opportunity to learn about how the Center for States, Center for Tribes, Center for Courts, and federal staff work together.

We realize how limited your time is; the survey should take approximately 13 minutes to complete. Your participation in the survey is voluntary. You may refuse to take part in the evaluation or exit the survey at any time. You may decline to answer any question you do not wish to answer. There are no risks involved in participating in the survey. While you will not receive any direct benefits from participating in this survey, your responses will help us learn more about how the Centers and federal staff work together.

Your survey responses will be stored in a password-protected electronic database. Only JBA team members will be able to access survey data. Your name or any other personally identifying information will not appear in any report. Your survey responses will remain private to the extent permitted by law. Your individual responses will not be shared with members of the Collaborative or the Children’s Bureau. Results may be presented by Center or by the demographic characteristics of respondents (e.g., their role, years working with the Collaborative), however, only if the data represent 5 or more individuals to prevent identification of individuals. Survey data will be kept by JBA through MONTH YEAR.

If you have questions or concerns about the survey or the evaluation, you may contact Project Director Jim DeSantis at DeSantis@jbassoc.com.

Please select your choice below. You may print a copy of this consent form for your records. Clicking on the “Agree” button indicates that:

• You have read the above information;

• You voluntarily agree to participate;

• You are 18 years of age or older.

• Agree

• Disagree

Section 1: Demographics

What is your primary role? (Select one)

[NOTE: This question will not appear for Federal Staff]

• Federal Staff (e.g., FPOs, Central Office, Regional Office, including contract staff)

• Leadership (e.g., Center Directors, Deputy Directors, Senior Managers/Supervisors, Management and senior management teams)

• Center Staff (Staff who work on universal, constituency/targeted, and tailored services development and delivery. As well as data staff and staff who work with CB in program areas, child welfare data, and research projects)

• Knowledge Management Staff (Staff who work primarily on knowledge management services)

• Tailored Services Staff (Staff who work primarily on the development and delivery of tailored services. This includes staff who are assigned as the primary contact for a state, all liaisons, and tailored services supervisors)

• Universal and Constituency/Targeted Services Staff (Staff who primarily work for the Center on the development and delivery of universal and constituency/targeted services. All US/CS staff including writers, dissemination staff, instructional designers, project managers, CG leads)

• Consultant (Topical experts who are assigned as the primary contact to specific states including evaluation coaches and Capacity Building Coaches)

• Evaluation (Members of the evaluation team)

How long have you been a part of the Capacity Building Collaborative? Please count time spent working on previous rounds of the Capacity Building Collaborative.

[NOTE: This question will not appear for Federal Staff]

• Less than 1 year

• 1–2 years

• 3–4 years

• 5 years or more

What level of service planning, developing, or delivery do you work in? Please select all that apply.

[NOTE: This question will not appear for Federal Staff]

• Universal

• Constituency/Targeted

• Tailored

• Other

• If other, please describe: (open ended response)

What percent of your time do you estimate you spend working on the Capacity Building Collaborative?

[NOTE: This question will not appear for Federal Staff]

• Less than 25%

• 25%-49%

• 50%-74%

• 75% or more

[Please scroll down to section 2]

Section 2. Collaboration and Communication Across Centers

Please think about your opinions of how the Centers work together overall when answering the following questions.

Dimension	Items from last round	Asked of Centers	Asked of Federal Staff	Strongly disagree	Disagree	Neither agree nor disagree	Agree	Strongly agree	Not Applicable
Shared goal	The Centers understand how and when they will collaborate.	x	x
Shared resources	The Centers work together in a coordinated manner to avoid duplication of efforts.	x	x
Shared resources	The processes that the Centers use support effective collaboration.	x	x
Shared resources	I have the time needed to effectively work with other Centers.	X
Communication flows	The Centers communicate openly and clearly with one another.	x	x
Communication flows	The Center Directors regularly communicate information on general progress and changes to all members of the Collaborative.	x
Communication flows	I am informed as often as I should be about what goes on in the Centers.	x	x
Communication flows	I am aware of opportunities to collaborate with staff and/or consultants at the other two Centers on all areas that are relevant to my work.	x
Holding/authorizing environment	I have relationships with people from the other two Centers who can inform my work.	x
Holding/authorizing environment	My Center’s leadership facilitates effective collaboration with other Centers when needed.	x

Please answer the following open-ended questions.

In your opinion, why is collaboration needed among the Centers?

__________________________________________________________________________

What makes collaboration among the Centers successful? __________________________________________________________________________

What challenges have you experienced when the Centers are collaborating?

__________________________________________________________________________

In your opinion, has collaboration occurred among the Centers when it was not needed?

• Yes

• No

[If yes is selected] Please describe why you think collaboration among the Centers occurred when it was not needed.

__________________________________________________________________________

Do you have suggestions to strengthen the collaboration among centers?

__________________________________________________________________________

[Please scroll down to section 3]

Section 3. Collaboration with Federal Staff

The questions below refer to federal staff, which includes FPOs, central office staff, regional office staff, and CFSR Units. Please think about your opinions of how the Centers and federal staff work together overall when answering the following questions.

Dimension		Asked of Centers	Asked of Federal Staff	Strongly disagree	Disagree	Neither agree nor disagree	Agree	Strongly agree	Not Applicable
Shared goal	The Centers understand how and when they will collaborate with federal staff.	x	x
Shared responsibility	When the Centers and federal staff work jointly with a jurisdiction, their areas of responsibility are clear and understood.	x	x
Shared resources	The processes that the Centers use support effective collaboration between Center and federal staff.	x	x
Shared resources	I can devote the time necessary to work effectively with federal staff.	x
Shared resources	I can devote the time necessary to work effectively with the Centers.		x
Communication flows	The Centers communicate openly and clearly with federal staff.	x	x
Communication flows	Center Directors regularly communicate information on general progress and changes to federal staff.	x	x

Please answer the following open-ended questions.

In your opinion, why is collaboration needed among the Centers and federal staff?

__________________________________________________________________________

What makes collaboration among the Centers and federal staff successful? __________________________________________________________________________

What challenges have you experienced when the Centers and federal staff are collaborating?

__________________________________________________________________________

In your opinion, has collaboration occurred among the Centers and federal staff when it was not needed?

• Yes

• No

[If yes is selected] Please describe why you think collaboration occurred among the Centers and federal staff when it was not needed.

__________________________________________________________________________

Do you have suggestions to strengthen the collaboration among Centers and federal staff?

__________________________________________________________________________

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