Increasing Parent Survey Response Rates Using Assertive Outreach Methods with Post-Permanency Families

Background/Purpose: Many families formed through adoption and/or guardianship benefit from targeted interventions to support parents and children. However, after legal permanency has been achieved, multiple barriers exist that prevent families from receiving assistance. For example, post-permanency support services are generally lacking in communities; families are not necessarily engaged in social services; and families who need assistance are difficult to identify before problems escalate. To assist families facing post-permanency challenges and to provide supports to preserve adoptive and guardianship families, the National Quality Improvement Center for Adoption and Guardianship Support and Preservation (QIC-AG) is developing and evaluating models of support and intervention to achieve long-term, stable permanency in adoptive and guardianship homes. As part of this project, a state in the Northeast developed a survey and utilized an assertive outreach methodology to identify post-permanency families that may need assistance.  This paper focuses on the assertive outreach method of the survey that contributes to the knowledge base on how to outreach to adoptive families and how to increase survey response rates.

Methods:  Researchers and child welfare administrators developed a survey that contained multiple validated measures assessing family wellbeing, child wellbeing, adoption services offered and adoption services that might be needed. The survey was pilot tested with parents who provided feedback in an online focus group with researchers. The research team then identified various parts of the state to administer the survey so that assertive outreach was manageable.  In the first area, 51 families were identified who had adopted through the public child welfare system and 455 families were identified in the second area.  The assertive outreach method involved first sending a letter to families introducing the survey.  Then, five different attempts were made to reach families: 1) email outreach; 2) paper copies mailed; 3) an additional email attempt; 4) an email and paper attempt; and 5) a final email outreach.  Families who indicated they needed assistance were contacted by case managers for support.  Parents were provided an incentive for survey completion.

Results: Parents who participated in the pilot testing reported that they appreciated the opportunity to answer the survey and that the length of the survey was acceptable. With the full implementation of the survey, each of the five contacts made to families increased the response rates.  In the first round, 55% of families responded, and in the second round, 49% of families responded. In general, the second email attempt tended to increase response rates at a higher rate than paper surveys.

Conclusions/Implications: Adoptive parents and/or guardians are generally willing to complete surveys, and surveys are likely a useful tool to locate and engage parents. However, multiple contacts may be needed to increase survey response rates. Response rates increase rapidly between the first and third contact attempts, but plateau between the fourth and fifth contact attempts. Surveys administered electronically tend to yield a higher response rate.  Information from this study suggests that parents can be reached through surveys and assertive outreach methods can be used to encourage parent participation.