On September 17, 2026, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), specifically the Office of Community Services (OCS) within the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), published a Federal Register notice initiating a request for public comments. This action centers on proposed revisions to the information collection instruments used for the Diaper Distribution Demonstration and Research Pilot (DDDRP), a program designed to understand and address diaper need among vulnerable families. The notice highlights a strategic effort by OCS to refine its data gathering processes, reduce the burden on participants, and ultimately improve the utility of collected information. Stakeholders and the public have until November 16, 2026, to provide their insights.
Understanding the Diaper Distribution Demonstration and Research Pilot
The DDDRP is a critical initiative aimed at exploring effective methods for distributing diapers to families in need and evaluating the subsequent outcomes for beneficiaries. Since its inception, OCS has collected data to understand the scope of diaper need, the characteristics of the children and caregivers served, and the short-term impacts of receiving diaper assistance. This ongoing data collection is vital for program evaluation, policy development, and ensuring federal resources are effectively deployed to support families facing economic hardship. The program operates under the authority of Section 1110 of the Social Security Act.
Historically, the DDDRP's data collection has relied on a Beneficiary Report, submitted by grant recipients, and a Beneficiary Survey, which captures direct feedback from caregivers. The current proposal represents a significant evolution in OCS's approach to measuring program efficacy and understanding community-level impact.
Proposed Data Collection Revisions
The core of the OCS proposal involves substantive changes to existing surveys and the introduction of a new instrument:
Revised Beneficiary Survey
OCS is proposing a revised Beneficiary Survey, which will now feature two distinct versions: an Enrollment Version and a Follow-up Version.
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Enrollment Version: This updated iteration of the current Beneficiary Survey will continue to gather demographic data on children and caregivers, along with information on caregivers' employment, education, income, and indicators of diaper need. Notably, revisions include the addition of contact information for caregivers, details on children's participation in early learning environments, and diaper-related health indicators. Conversely, certain items deemed less informative or inconsistent with current administration priorities, such as specific diaper sizes, caregiver language, and single-parent status, have been removed. This refinement aims to focus the survey on the most actionable data points.
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Follow-up Version: This is a newly introduced wave of collection designed to track changes over time. It strategically reduces demographic questions to concentrate on repeated measurements of key outcome indicators: employment, education, income, early learning environment participation, diaper need, and diaper health. Contact information will be retained to ensure accurate individual-level data linking across both survey waves, allowing for a longitudinal understanding of beneficiary progress and program impact.
New Organizational Survey
In a significant expansion of its data collection strategy, OCS is introducing an Organizational Survey. This new tool is designed to capture baseline and follow-up data directly from DDDRP grant recipients and their partner organizations. Its purpose is to assess the extent to which participation in the DDDRP has enhanced organizational capacity to serve beneficiaries. This development stems from findings of a recent implementation study that identified essential skills, capacities, and knowledge crucial for successful program execution by grant recipients and partners. By surveying organizations, OCS seeks to understand the broader systemic impact of the program beyond individual beneficiaries.
Unchanged Beneficiary Report
The existing DDDRP Beneficiary Report, which grant recipients submit every six months with information on beneficiary characteristics and outcomes, will remain unchanged. This consistency ensures a stable baseline for comparing new data collected through the revised surveys.
Streamlining Burden and Enhancing Data Quality
A critical aspect of OCS's proposal is a projected 36 percent reduction in the estimated annual burden hours for information collection activities, decreasing from 8,178.89 to 5,185.83 hours. This substantial reduction is a direct result of several deliberate adjustments:
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Beneficiary Survey Optimizations: Six survey questions were removed from the Beneficiary Survey that were either not sufficiently informative or did not align with administration priorities. Furthermore, OCS plans to implement technological improvements such as new skip patterns, looping, and pre-population of questions to reduce the time per respondent by up to 9 minutes. The overall number of beneficiaries surveyed will also be reduced by focusing data collection on those enrolling within a defined one-year period.
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Refined Beneficiary Report Scope: OCS anticipates a reduction in the number of grant recipients and partners required to collect and compile information for the Beneficiary Report. This is attributed to upcoming funding competitions and new programmatic recommendations limiting grant recipients to collaborating with four or fewer partners, a significant change from previous allowances for unlimited partnerships. Consequently, fewer beneficiaries will need to provide information for these reports.
These strategic changes reflect an agency-wide effort to balance the need for comprehensive program evaluation with the practical burden on respondents, ensuring that data collected is both high quality and efficiently obtained.
Implications for Policy and Practice
These proposed revisions signify a concerted effort by HHS and ACF to refine their approach to social program evaluation. By introducing a new Organizational Survey, OCS acknowledges that successful beneficiary outcomes are intrinsically linked to the capacity and effectiveness of the implementing organizations. The move to a two-part Beneficiary Survey (enrollment and follow-up) signals a deeper commitment to understanding longitudinal impacts, moving beyond snapshots to track genuine progress and identify sustained changes in families' circumstances.
The emphasis on reducing respondent burden, while still seeking crucial data, reflects an understanding of the practical challenges faced by both beneficiaries and program administrators. Removing less informative questions and utilizing technological efficiencies aim to foster greater participation and provide more focused, actionable data. This methodical approach to data collection ensures that future policy decisions regarding diaper distribution programs will be informed by more targeted and robust evidence.
This Federal Register notice provides a vital opportunity for public engagement. Comments received will help OCS finalize its data collection instruments, ensuring they are practical, effective, and minimally burdensome, thereby enhancing the overall effectiveness of federal support for families in need.
