Guidelines for Ensuring the Quality of Information Disseminated to the Public
A. Administration for Children and Families
[ Full Contents of Guidelines ]
-
Agency Mission
-
Scope and Applicability of Guidelines
-
Types of Information Disseminated by the Agency to the
Public
-
Types of Dissemination Methods
-
Quality Assurance Policies, Standards, and Processes for Ensuring
the Quality of Information Disseminated to the Public
-
Agency Administrative Complaint Procedures
-
Responsibility of the Complainant
-
Responsibility of the Agency
-
Appeals
-
Influential Scientific, Financial and Statistical
Information
The Administration for Children and Families (ACF) is responsible for
administering numerous federal programs: Temporary Assistance to Needy Families
(TANF), child support, child care, Head Start, child welfare and other programs
relating to children and families; services for those with developmental
disabilities and mental retardation, refugee services, and Native American/Tribal
programs. Actual services are provided by state, county, city, and tribal
governments, and public and private local agencies. ACF assists these
organizations through funding, policy direction, and information services.
[ Go to Contents ]
ACF is committed to ensuring that disseminated information meets the standards
of quality set forth in the OMB, HHS and ACF guidelines. It is ACF's policy
to ensure and maximize the quality, objectivity, utility, and integrity of
information that it disseminates to the public. We strive to provide information
that is accurate, reliable, clear, complete, unbiased, and useful. We are
committed to integrating the principle of information quality into every
phase of information development, including creation, collection, maintenance,
and dissemination.
The pre-dissemination review described in the guidelines applies to information
disseminated on or after October 1, 2002. The administrative mechanism for
correction applies to information that the agency disseminates on or after
October 1, 2002, regardless of when the agency first disseminated the
information. This section identifies the types of information covered by
the Guidelines, and also lists the types of information that are exempt.
ACF information subject to the Information Quality Guidelines includes:
-
Statistical information;
-
Studies and summaries prepared for public dissemination to inform the public
about the impact of programs administered by the agency; and
-
Studies and summaries prepared for use in formulating broad program policy.
The following types of information are not subject to the Information Quality
Guidelines:
-
Information relating to ACF programs, archival information, clearinghouses,
and Internet distribution of studies, reports, documents, summaries, and
articles not authored by the agency and not representing the agency's views,
including materials authored and distributed by ACF grantees;
-
Information limited in dissemination to government employees (intra- or
interagency) or agency contractors or grantees;
-
Information pertaining to basic agency operations or management information
produced primarily for internal use;
-
Procedural or policy manuals;
-
Responses to requests for agency records under the Freedom of Information
Act (FOIA), the Privacy Act, the Federal Advisory Committee Act, or other
similar laws;
-
Information relating solely to correspondence with individuals or persons;
and
-
Press releases that support the announcement or give public notice of information
that ACF has disseminated elsewhere.
[ Go to Contents ]
Given the wide variety of programs administered by the Administration for
Children and Families, and the numerous types of information generated by
these programs, it is not possible to offer a comprehensive list of all
dissemination activities conducted by the agency. Consequently, the following
examples have been drawn selectively from a cross-section of ACF programs.
However, it should be noted that not all of the information described below
is subject to the OMB Guidelines.
-
Program Information — descriptions of
programs such as Head Start, child care, child welfare and youth services,
child support enforcement, community services, Temporary Assistance for Needy
Families (TANF), and low-income family assistance programs; budget and funding
information; data on numbers and locales of grantees; types of services supported
through agency programs; and other descriptive information. For example,
the Children's Bureau makes available a variety of materials relating to
basic program information. Fact sheets describing the purpose and funding
level of each of the Children's Bureau's programs are available on the ACF
web site. The Children's Bureau web site also has information of a general
nature relating to child welfare, for instance, information on how to report
child abuse and neglect or how to become a foster or adoptive parent.
Examples of information offered by a typical web site (Administration on
Developmental Disabilities) to the public include: a home page; staff directory;
calendar of major program events; a fact sheet; links to state-based grantees;
updates on various major initiatives; links to national disability organizations
and related disability sites; connectivity to the Developmental Disabilities
Assistance and Bill of Rights Act of 2000, current regulations, program
highlights and outcomes; and a section devoted to frequently asked questions,
where the public can search for answers to their questions or email a question
to the program staff.
The Family and Youth Services Bureau's (FYSB) National Clearinghouse on Families
and Youth (NCFY) disseminates:
-
The Exchange, a periodical focusing on issues of interest to youth
service professionals;
-
FYSB Update, a periodical sharing information about the Bureau's research
and demonstration projects;
-
Technical assistance publications, providing guidance about how to address
specific policy or operational issues;
-
Publications for young people, parents and community members (developed by
FYSB and NCFY); and
-
Publications from all sources on youth issues (including those not developed
by FYSB).
-
Statistical information — information on numbers of
sub-populations served through ACF programs supported wholly or in part by
Federal dollars (e.g., characteristics and financial circumstances of families
served by TANF; information on program recipients' participation in work
activities; information on the child support caseload; number and characteristics
of children who are victims of child abuse and neglect or who are adopted
from public child welfare systems; number of children served in Head Start;
percentage of Head Start teachers with a college degree; numbers and
characteristics of children served by Runaway and Homeless Youth Programs;
number of children in each State receiving a child care subsidy under the
Child Care and Development Fund.). Each year, the Children's Bureau publishes
a report called "Child Maltreatment," presenting the latest statistics and
trends in child abuse and neglect. In addition, the Children's Bureau publishes
an annual report on "Outcomes in Child Welfare" with information from each
State.
-
Research and evaluation reports focused on social science research
and evaluation pertinent to ACF programs and policy. The web site of each
program within ACF makes the most recent reports available to members of
the research community and the general public. Examples of research and
evaluation reports disseminated include the "1998 National Estimates of the
Number of Boarder Babies, Abandoned Infants and Discarded Infants" and the
final report of the "Third National Incidence Study on Child Abuse and Neglect."
-
Reports to the Congress — Several programs submit annual
reports to Congress in compliance with legislative provisions authorizing
their implementation. For example, the Children's Bureau's report, "Blending
Perspectives and Building Common Ground: A Report to Congress on Substance
Abuse and Child Protection" complies with such a legislative provision. In
August 2000, TANF submitted the Third Annual Report to Congress to comply
with section 411(b) of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity
Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) of 1996. The Family and Youth Services Bureau
submits a biennial report to Congress that describes Runaway and Homeless
Youth (RHY) operations and other activities. After release to Congress, this
report is made available in the public domain. Annual RHY caseload data from
the Runaway and Homeless Youth Management Information System (RHYMIS) are
included in the Report to Congress and provided on request to grantees,
researchers, advocacy organizations, and the general public.
[ Go to Contents ]
Information is disseminated through printed, electronic, and presentation
materials. Dissemination vehicles include brochures and targeted mailings
to State officials, grantees, or others responsible for administering programs;
posting information on the ACF web site; making information available through
clearinghouses and resource centers; presenting and distributing information
at appropriate conferences; and electronically collecting and distributing
aggregated and disaggregated program-related data. Research funded by several
agency programs is also disseminated through peer-reviewed journals.
Research and evaluation reports are disseminated in a number of ways. Reports
with particular policy relevance and findings are distributed directly by
mail to State program directors or other targeted audiences. Information
on newly released reports is also shared with organizations that warehouse
and broadcast information through their own networks (e.g., the Welfare
Information Network and the Research Forum on Children, Families and the
New Federalism). ACF's web site provides information on current research
and evaluation projects, posts reports (or links to reports), and disseminates
information through a listserv. In addition, ACF sponsors research conferences
such as an annual Welfare Reform Research and Evaluation Conference that
attracts State program staff, Federal regional staff researchers in the field
and other organizations interested in ACF programs.
[ Go to Contents ]
At ACF, the quality assurance process begins at the inception of the information
development process. Further, ACF reviews the quality (including the objectivity,
utility, and integrity) of information before it is disseminated and treats
information quality as integral to every step of the development of information,
including its creation, collection, maintenance and dissemination.
The review procedures may vary among programs depending upon the requirements
of the program and the type of information to be disseminated:
-
Statistical Information: Statistical information pertaining to several
programs disseminated by ACF is gathered from State agencies or local grantees.
To assure the quality, integrity and consistency of this information, ACF
staff review and analyze the data, subject the data to electronic validation
procedures such as logic and edit checks, and contact the State or grantee
to seek clarification in case discrepancies arise. States are provided
opportunities to review and revise their information prior to publication
in a federally published document or their placement on the web site. For
example, TANF data collection is subject to edit and consistency checks and
additional statistical analyses through a series of frequency distributions
and cross tabulations to ensure the quality of data. The TANF program shares
compiled information (e.g., work participation rates and High Performance
Bonus data) with the States before publication to ensure accuracy.
-
Surveys: Surveys sponsored by ACF are conducted using methodologies
that are consistent with generally accepted professional standards for all
aspects of survey development, including sample frame development, statistical
design of the survey sample, questionnaire design and testing, data collection,
sampling and coverage errors, nonresponse analysis, imputation of missing
data, weights and variance estimates. ACF surveys follow guidelines and policies
set forth in the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) and other regulations related
to the conduct of government surveys. ACF is committed to demonstrating in
its PRA clearance packages that each draft information collection will result
in information that will be collected, maintained, and used in a way that
is consistent with OMB, HHS and ACF information quality guidelines. For example,
ACF currently is funding a major multi-year longitudinal survey —
the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being (NSCAW) —
designed and implemented by a reputable national research organization. This
project consults with a technical advisory group composed of state officials,
members of the academic community, child welfare professionals and practitioners,
and federal experts in the implementation of this study. Major research and
evaluation studies sponsored by the agency usually rely upon technical advisory
groups or federal experts or both for project guidance.
-
Analytic Reports and Policy Studies: Reports submitted by grantees
and contractors for projects funded by ACF are subject to internal reviews
by several agency officials for quality, objectivity, and accuracy. Federal
experts from within and outside of the Department often monitor interim and
final reports of projects with crosscutting implications.
Information contained in analytical reports and policy studies is based on
estimates derived from reliable administrative data and external data sources.
All data sources are identified. All analytic reports and policy studies
are reviewed by technically qualified staff to ensure valid, complete, unbiased,
objective and relevant analysis. Analytic reports and policy studies considered
to be more technically complex are also reviewed by subject matter experts
outside of the originating organizational component to provide additional
perspective and expertise.
-
Policy documents are cleared through ACF and Departmental clearance
procedures, including review by the Office of the General Counsel (to assure
proper legal interpretation), as well as review by numerous other knowledgeable
officials. In some cases, a technical advisory group convened for a specific
project may review and comment on a report prior to its release. For example,
the Office of Family Assistance (OFA) has developed intra-Departmental procedures
for assuring the quality of disseminated information. The Office of the General
Counsel, key OFA staff, and other offices review significant policy documents,
where appropriate, and the documents are cleared by the Office Director before
issuance. All ACF regulations and reports to Congress are subject to review
and clearance under both ACF and Office of the Secretary's clearance processes
in addition to other reviews.
Policy for Correcting Errors:
If an error is detected in the agency's reports and publications before mailing,
it is corrected. If these materials have already been mailed, ACF issues
a special notification to the recipients or includes an errata sheet with
the subsequent publications. Errors in materials in the agency's web site
are corrected online.
[ Go to Contents ]
ACF has developed administrative mechanisms to allow affected persons to
seek and obtain correction of disseminated information that does not comply
with OMB, HHS and ACF guidelines.
External complaints about information disseminated can be made in the form
of written correspondence. The Chief Information Officer (CIO), is the ACF
official designated to receive and resolve complaints regarding information
that does not comply with either the OMB guidelines or the agency's guidelines.
The CIO's address is: Chief Information Officer, Deputy Assistant Secretary
for Administration , Administration for Children and Families, Aerospace
Building, 6th Floor, 370 L'Enfant Promenade SW, Washington, D.C. 20447. Feedback
and complaints may be sent electronically to
InfoQuality@acf.hhs.gov.
-
Responsibility of the Complainant
To seek a correction of information disseminated by the agency, individuals
should follow the procedures described below:
-
A complaint or request for review and correction of information shall be
in written hard copy or electronic form;
-
It shall be sent to the agency by mail or electronic-mail (e-mail);
-
It shall state that an information quality request for correction is being
submitted.
The complaint shall contain
-
A detailed description of the specific material that needs to be corrected
including where the material is located, i.e., the publication title, date,
and publication number, if any, or the website and web page address (URL),
or the speech title, presenter, date and place of delivery;
-
The specific reasons for believing the information does not comply with OMB,
HHS or ACF guidelines and is in error and supporting documentation, if any;
-
The specific recommendations for correcting the information;
-
A description of how the person submitting the complaint is affected by the
information error; and
-
The name, mailing address, telephone number, e-mail address, and organizational
affiliation, if any, of the individual making the complaint.
Complainants should be aware that they bear the "burden of proof" with respect
to the necessity for correction as well as with respect to the type of correction
they seek.
-
Responsibility of the Agency
Based on a review of the information provided, the agency will determine
whether a correction is warranted and, if so, what action to take. The agency
will respond to the requestor by letter or e-mail. The agency's response
will explain the findings of the review and the actions that the agency will
take, if any. The response will consider the nature and timeliness of the
information involved and such factors as the significance of the correction
on the use of the information and the magnitude of the correction. The response
will describe how the complainant may request reconsideration. The agency
will respond to all requests for correction within 60 calendar days of receipt.
If the request requires more than 60 calendar days to resolve, the agency
will inform the complainant that more time is required and indicate the reason
why and an estimated decision date.
-
Appeals
If the individual submitting the complaint does not agree with the agency's
decision (including the corrective action, if any), the complainant may send
a written hard copy or electronic request for reconsideration within 30 days
of receipt of the agency's decision. The appeal shall state the reasons why
the agency response is insufficient or inadequate. Complainants shall attach
a copy of their original request and the agency response to it, clearly mark
the appeal with the words, "Information Quality Appeal," and send the appeal
to the specific agency appeals address.
The agency official who resolved the original complaint will not have
responsibility for the appeal. The agency will respond to all requests for
appeals within 60 calendar days of receipt. If the request requires more
than 60 calendar days to resolve, the agency will inform the complainant
that more time is required and indicate the reason why and an estimated decision
date.
[ Go to Contents ]
The Guidelines apply to certain statistical information disseminated by ACF
in view of the potential substantial impact on important public policies.
Since statistical information for major ACF programs such as foster care,
child abuse and neglect, TANF, etc., are provided by States, ACF will work
closely with the States to assure the completeness, reliability, and integrity
of the data and the transparency of methodology and analytical techniques.
Last revised: December 13, 2006
