H.R. 9819: AIDEN (Advancing Integrated Data for Equitable National Child Welfare)

This bill would require the Attorney General to give certain federal offenders a survey asking about their childhood experiences with child welfare intervention. The goal is to collect information about whether they had contact with child welfare systems as minors, and if so, what kinds of concerns were involved and what happened afterward.

What the survey would ask

The survey would ask offenders in federal custody whether they remember any child welfare intervention when they were children, such as involvement at home, school, or through law enforcement. If they do, it would ask about:

• the reason for the intervention, such as abuse, neglect, substance exposure, or domestic violence;
• the kind of intervention, such as caseworker visits, in-home services, foster care, or juvenile detention;
• if the child entered foster care, how the case ended, such as reunification, guardianship, adoption, or aging out;
• what support services the child received while in foster care, if any;
• if the child did not enter foster care, how the case was resolved.

When the survey would be given

For people entering federal custody after the bill takes effect, the survey would be given during intake. For people already in federal custody, the survey would need to be distributed within 180 days after enactment, as long as they were in custody before the 90-day mark after enactment.

Privacy and notice

The Attorney General would have to tell each person, when giving the survey, that the information will be protected from disclosure in the report in a way that identifies them personally. The survey would also need to show that this notice was given.

Reporting requirements

The Attorney General would have to send an annual report to the Children’s Bureau at the Department of Health and Human Services summarizing the survey results. That report could not include personally identifiable information about offenders or any other individuals named in the survey.

The Children’s Bureau would then send an annual report containing the information it received to each state’s governor. The bill says states may use this information as an evidence source when reviewing how child welfare agencies plan cases and provide support services.

State requirements tied to DOJ grants

Starting in the first fiscal year after enactment, states would have to do something similar for people in state custody if they want to remain eligible for certain Department of Justice grant programs. Specifically, a state would need to:

• create and distribute a survey substantially similar to the federal one; and
• send a non-identifying report of the collected information to the Children’s Bureau.

Overall effect

In practical terms, the bill would create a new data-collection system linking information about offenders’ childhood child welfare involvement with federal and state correctional systems. It would not change criminal penalties or child welfare standards directly, but it would require federal and participating state systems to gather and share anonymized information for policy review.

Relevant Companies

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