Prisons survey inmates about childhood foster care and abuse.
H.R. 9819 — AIDEN (Advancing Integrated Data for Equitable National Child Welfare) · Filed by David Schweikert (R-AZ) · Introduced Jul 21, 2026 · Referred to committee
Your members of Congress
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What it does
The bill tells the Bureau of Prisons to ask all inmates about their childhood. The questions cover foster care, caseworkers, and abuse checks. The prison collects this data and shares it with HHS and states. States must run the same survey with their inmates. States keep getting money from the Department of Justice only if they participate.
Who it affects
Inmates answer questions about their past. Kids and parents in the child welfare system may benefit from better policies.
One thing to notice
States must join the survey to keep getting money. The bill does not say how states will run it or what happens if they refuse.
From the analysis of the bill text, linked under Primary records below.
Where it stands
- Jul 21, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Jul 21, 2026 — Referred to House Committee on the Judiciary · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Words to know
- Bureau of Prisons — The office that runs prisons for the U.S. government.
- foster care — When the government places a child with a family other than their own.
- caseworker — A person who works for a child welfare office and helps families.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (5,163 characters) on Sep 25, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 14,985 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
As of — page rendered 2026-09-25.
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