[Federal Register: July 14, 2003 (Volume 68, Number 134)]
[Notices]
[Page 41595-41596]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr14jy03-73]
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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
Agency Information Collection Activities: Submission for OMB
Review; Comment Request
Periodically, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services
Administration (SAMHSA) will publish a summary of information
collection requests under OMB review, in compliance with the Paperwork
Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. Chapter 35). To request a copy of these
documents, call the SAMHSA Reports Clearance Officer on (301) 443-7978.
The Family Treatment Drug Court Evaluation--New--The Substance
Abuse and Mental Health Administration's (SAMHSA) Center for Substance
Abuse Treatment (CSAT) will conduct an evaluation of Family Treatment
Drug Courts. The Family Treatment Drug Court Evaluation will examine
the effectiveness of family treatment drug courts in four settings:
Suffolk County, New York; Washoe County, Nevada; San Diego County,
California; and Santa Clara County, California. The study will employ a
multi-method, quasi-experimental research design to investigate several
key child welfare outcomes for family treatment drug courts as compared
to traditional case processing, including whether the time to
permanency for children is different in a family treatment drug court
program than in traditional case processing.
In addition, the study will investigate rates of reunification and
termination of parental rights; types, frequency, and length of out-of-
home placements; and child welfare recidivism. The study will
investigate the key mediators of program success, including the effect
of family treatment drug courts on treatment access, treatment
completion, parent motivation, and family well-being, among other key
mediators.
The project consists of an outcome evaluation that includes
administrative data collection and client interviews with a sample of
treatment and comparison participants. The target population for the
family treatment drug court consists of substance abusing parents who
have a current child abuse or neglect case. The outcome evaluation will
document whether family treatment drug courts are more effective than
traditional court settings in decreasing the time needed to reach
permanent placements for children; increasing the frequency of
successful parent-child reunifications and decreasing the frequency of
terminations of parental rights; decreasing the time children spend in
foster care; and reducing child welfare recidivism. An intent-to-treat
sampling model will be used for the treatment groups at each site
during a 2-year recruitment window. Comparison groups will be recruited
in two of the four sites; no comparison group will be used in San Diego
and Santa Clara because the counties have implemented a system-wide
reform. Interview data will be sought from all persons included in the
administrative datasets in Suffolk and Washoe Counties, and from a
sample of individuals included in the San Diego and Santa Clara County
administrative datasets.
Interview participants will take part in a baseline interview
within one month of their dispositional hearing and three follow-up
interviews. Follow-up One will take place six months later, Follow-Up
Two will take place 12 months after baseline, and Follow-Up Three will
take place 18 months after baseline. The interview tool will assess
participants' perceptions of the services they are receiving and their
interactions with the court, treatment, and child welfare systems;
their understanding of what they need to do in order to be reunified
with their children; and their feelings of empowerment and control over
the process. Each interview will last approximately one hour.
Administrative data, including child welfare and treatment data, will
be collected up to 24 months after baseline to ascertain the type,
frequency, and timeliness of services received and to capture the
crucial child welfare outcomes of interest, including the timing and
type of permanency plans for children, the length of time children
[[Page 41596]]
spend in foster care, and subsequent involvement in the child welfare
system.
The following table summarizes response burden for this project.
There will be fewer 18-month interviews due to the length of the study
recruitment window; only those individuals who enter the study in the
first half of the recruitment window will have the full 18-month
follow-up.
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Number of Responses per Burden per Total burden
Instrument respondents respondent response (hrs) hours
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Initial telephone contact....................... 596 1 0.17 101
Baseline........................................ 596 1 1.5 894
6-month follow-up............................... 596 1 1 596
12-month follow-up.............................. 596 1 1 596
18-month follow-up.............................. 447 1 1 447
3-month tracking call........................... 596 1 0.08 48
9-month tracking call........................... 596 1 0.08 48
15-month tracking call.......................... 447 1 0.08 36
Quality assurance calls......................... 110 1 0.17 19
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Total....................................... 596 .............. .............. 2,785
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3 Year annual average....................... 596 .............. .............. 928
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Written comments and recommendations concerning the proposed
information collection should be sent within 30 days of this notice to:
Allison Herron Eydt, Human Resources and Housing Branch, Office of
Management and Budget, New Executive Office Building, Room 10235,
Washington, DC 20503; due to potential delays in OMB's receipt and
processing of mail sent through the U.S. Postal Service, respondents
are encouraged to submit comments by fax to: 202-395-6974.
Dated: July 7, 2003.
Anna Marsh,
Acting Executive Officer, SAMHSA.
[FR Doc. 03-17698 Filed 7-11-03; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4162-20-P