AIDEN (Advancing Integrated Data for Equitable National Child Welfare)

New child-welfare survey for offenders

If enacted, the Attorney General would give every federal offender a survey about any child welfare contact when they were a minor. The survey would ask whether the offender knew of interventions, what conditions were alleged (for example, physical, sexual, emotional abuse, substance exposure, or domestic violence), what type of intervention occurred (caseworker visits, in-home services, foster care, juvenile detention, or other), and how cases were resolved or what supports were received. Offenders committed more than 90 days after enactment would get the survey during intake. Offenders committed before that 90-day date would get the survey within 180 days and it would be marked as distributed to existing prisoners. Surveys would include a notice that annual reports will not include personally identifiable information and offenders would confirm receipt. The Attorney General would send a yearly deidentified report to the Children's Bureau, and the Children's Bureau would give each State an annual, aggregated summary in formats like AFCARS, NCANDS, and NYTD. Beginning in the first fiscal year after enactment, States would need to use a substantially similar survey and submit deidentified reports to the Children's Bureau to be eligible for certain Department of Justice grants.