Key Informant Survey: Technical Information on Data Repositories Questionnaire

Appendix E

Appendix E

Technical Information on Data Repositories

of Child Maltreatment Perpetrators

Form Approved

OMB NO. ____________

According to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, an agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to a collection of information unless it displays a valid OMB control number. The valid OMB control number for this information collection is 0990-XXXX. The time required to complete this information collection is estimated to average 2 hours per response, including the time to review instructions, search existing data resources, gather the data needed and complete and review the information collection. If you have comments concerning the accuracy of the time estimate(s) or suggestions for improving this form, please write to:  U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, OS/OCIO/PRA, 200 Independence Ave., S.W., Suite 537-H, Washington, D.C. 20201 Attention: PRA Reports Clearance Officer.

Exp. Date ____________

Study of Feasibility of a National Registry of Child Maltreatment Perpetrators

TECHNICAL INFORMATION ON DATA REPOSITORIES
OF CHILD MALTREATMENT PERPETRATORS

This questionnaire focuses on how your agency currently gathers, stores, and shares information on child maltreatment perpetrators.

This study collects data about and from repositories of data on perpetrators of child abuse and neglect. In general, the term “data repository” applies only to the source or sources that are currently used by your State to respond to requests from other in-state or out-of-state agencies about persons who have been found to be responsible for child abuse and neglect. Some States may have more than one repository. Criminal databases are not included. If your State has more than one data repository for child maltreatment perpetrators, a separate questionnaire should be completed for each repository.

In-state or out-of-state requests for data may come from agencies investigating child abuse and neglect or considering hiring a person. The term perpetrator is used to indicate any person whom the child protective services agency has found to be responsible for child abuse and neglect. The person need not have been charged with either a civil or criminal offense.

Please complete the following information before beginning the survey.

Name of Data Repository: ________________________

Agency/department primarily responsible for the content of the repository: _________________ Agency/department primarily responsible for maintaining the repository: ___________________

1. Is the repository:

1. Part of a statewide child welfare information system?

2. A standalone statewide information system on child maltreatment perpetrators?

3. Other:

Please specify: ____

4. Don’t know

2. Is this repository used for:

1. Answering out-of-state inquiries about child maltreatment perpetrators?

___ Yes ___ No ____ Don’t know

2. Providing non-identifiable information on child maltreatment perpetrators (e.g. National Child Abuse And Neglect Data System (NCANDS) or other reporting)

____ Yes ___ No ____ Don’t know

3. If your State were to participate in a National Registry of Child Maltreatment Perpetrators, would this repository be the source of the data?

1. Yes

2. No:

Please provide the name and contact information for

the repository that would be the source of data for a

national repository: _________________________

3. Don’t know

If ALL answers to the above three questions are NO, indicate below and do not complete the remainder of this survey.

___ This repository is not used for any of the above-stated functions

1. REPOSITORY ENVIRONMENT

4. What type of agency or department has technical responsibility for the data repository? (i.e., controls the storage of data in the repository)

   1. State umbrella social services agency

   2. State standalone child welfare agency

   3. State department of justice

   4. State department of information technology (outside of any of the above)

   5. Other:

Please specify: _________________________________

6. Don’t know

4. What type of agency or department has business control over the data in the repository (i.e., controls the data contained in the repository)?

   1. State umbrella social services agency

   2. State standalone child welfare agency

   3. State department of justice

   4. State department of information technology (outside of any of the above)

   5. Multiple agencies:

Please specify: ___________

6. Don’t know

4. Please identify the types of agencies that directly provide data to the repository. (check all that apply)

1. Public child welfare agencies (State and county)

2. Tribal child welfare agencies

3. Private children’s services agencies in the State

4. State and local law enforcement (police, sheriffs’ offices)

5. District Attorneys

6. Courts

7. Others:

Please specify: _______

4. Don’t know

4. Are repository data stored in a relational database?

a. Yes

b. No

c. Don’t know

4. Please identify the agencies that have direct electronic access to the data files stored in this repository. (check all that apply)

a. Public child welfare agencies (State and county)

b. Tribal child welfare agencies

c. Private children’s services agencies in the State

d. State and local law enforcement (police, sheriff’ offices)

e. District Attorneys

f. Courts

g. Others:

Please specify: _______

h. Don’t know

4. How are data in the repository electronically accessed?

a. Through a private network

b. Through the Internet

c. Both

d. Neither

e. Don’t know

2. CONTENTS OF THE DATA REPOSITORY

4. Are the data in this repository statewide (including all counties and jurisdictions)?

1. Yes

2. No

Please explain: ________

3. Don’t know

11. What is the scope of the data in this data repository? (check all that apply)

    1. All child welfare automated case information

    2. Child maltreatment perpetrators regardless of legal action

    3. Child maltreatment perpetrators who have been convicted of civil offenses

    4. Child maltreatment perpetrators who have been convicted of criminal offenses

    5. Alleged child maltreatment perpetrators

    6. Other:

Please specify: ______________

7. Don’t know

11. How many years of data does this repository have on child maltreatment perpetrators?

1. Less than one year

2. 1–4 years

3. 5–9 years

4. 10–14 years

5. 15 or more years

11. Are data included from Native American or Alaska Native tribes in the State?

    1. Yes, all tribes

Please specify: ________

2. Yes, certain tribes only

Please specify: ________

3. No

4. There are no tribal governments or jurisdictions in my State

5. Don’t Know

11. What proportion of all persons determined to be child maltreatment perpetrators would you estimate are in this repository?

1. All or nearly all

2. Most

3. About half

4. Less than half

5. Don’t know

11. Which of the following data elements does this repository include for all child maltreatment perpetrators? (check all that apply)

    1. Name of child maltreatment perpetrator

    2. Alternative perpetrator names

    3. Unique perpetrator identifier

    4. Last known address

    5. Date of birth

    6. Age

g. Sex/gender

h. Race/ethnicity

i. SSN

j. Type of substantiated maltreatment

k. Date(s) of disposition

l. Relationship to child victim

m. Status of any legal proceedings

n. Zip code of last known address

o. County of last known address

p. Other:

Please specify: ____________

11. Of the data elements identified above, how accurate would you estimate the data are on all child maltreatment perpetrators in this repository? (This question is not asking about missing information but is asking how accurate are the data contained in the data repository.)

1. Very accurate (better than 95 percent)

2. Somewhat accurate (90 to 95 percent)

3. Somewhat inaccurate (70 to 89 percent)

4. Very inaccurate (less than 70 percent)

5. Don’t know

11. Of the data elements identified above, what percent of data on the child maltreatment perpetrators in the repository would you estimate are missing?

1. Less than 5 percent

2. 5–9 percent

3. 10–14 percent

4. 15–19 percent

5. 20 or more percent

6. Don’t know

11. Which of the following data elements does the repository maintain on all victims of child maltreatment? (check all that apply)

1. Name of victim child

2. Alternative names (aliases)

3. Last known address

4. Date of birth or age

5. Sex/gender

6. Race/ethnicity

7. Date of incident

8. Type of maltreatment

9. Date(s) of disposition

10. Relationship of perpetrator to child victim(s)

11. Information regarding the assigned agency/worker

12. Whether the child was placed in foster care as a result of the maltreatment

13. Status of any legal proceedings

14. Unique child identifier

15. Other:

Please specify: ____________

16. Don’t know

11. Of the data elements identified above, how accurate would you estimate the data are on child victims in this repository? (This question is not asking about missing information but is asking how accurate is the data contained in the data repository.)

1. Very accurate (better than 95 percent)

2. Somewhat accurate (90 to 95 percent)

3. Somewhat inaccurate (70 to 89 percent)

4. Very inaccurate (less than 70 percent)

5. Don’t know

11. Does the repository include any of the following additional information? (check all that apply)

a. Name and contact information of agency or individual that made the initial report of alleged maltreatment

b. Name and contact information of the person who conducted the child protective services investigation

c. Name and contact information of the agency that submitted the data to the repository, if different from person listed above.

1. Other:

Please specify: ____________

2. None of the above

3. Don’t know

3. MAINTAINING DATA ON THE REPOSITORY

11. How often are data submitted to this data repository?

a. As created (real-time)

b. Daily

c. Weekly

d. Monthly

e. Less than once a month

f. Don’t know

11. Have data submitted to the repository been validated?

a. Yes

b. No (Skip to Q25)

c. Don’t know (Skip to Q25)

11. Are submitting agencies notified of invalid or incomplete submissions and asked to resubmit corrected data?

a. Yes

b. No

c. Don’t know

d. Not applicable

Please explain: ____________

11. Do you expunge or purge data regularly?

a. Yes

b. No (Skip to Q27)

c. Don’t know (Skip to Q27)

11. What is the length of time after the maltreatment date or disposition date that data are expunged or purged?

a. Less than 5 years

b. Between 5 and 10 years

c. Between 11 and 20 years

d. More than 20 years

11. Under what conditions are data expunged or purged from the data repository (check all that apply)

    1. Successful challenge to being determined a perpetrator of child maltreatment

    2. Successful challenge to being designated as a perpetrator of child abuse and neglect on the repository

    3. Passage of a certain amount of time since the person was determined to be a perpetrator of abuse and neglect 

    4. All children involved in the abuse and neglect incident have reached a certain age

Indicate age: _________

5. All children in the home are 18 years of age or older

6. Perpetrator of child abuse and neglect was acquitted of criminal charges related to abuse and neglect

7. Death of the perpetrator

8. Other:

Please list: _________

4. FUTURE NATIONAL REGISTRY OF CHILD MALTREATMENT PERPETRATORS

There is discussion of creating a National Registry of Child Maltreatment Perpetrators. It is anticipated that if such a registry were created, States would provide only limited information on substantiated child maltreatment perpetrators. The data under discussion currently include only the name and State of the person. Please consider the following questions with regard to using such a registry. Your answers to the following questions will be reported in the aggregate. No State-specific data will be reported.

11. If your State were to participate in a National Registry of Child Maltreatment

Perpetrators, which data source would your State use?

1. Statewide child welfare information system

2. Other:

Please specify: _________________________

3. Not applicable

4. Don’t know

11. Which of the following data elements do you anticipate your State would be able to provide if the State decided to participate? (check all that apply)

1. Name of child maltreatment perpetrator

2. Alternative names (e.g. married names, aliases)

3. Last known address

4. Date of birth or age

5. Sex/gender

6. Race/ethnicity

7. Type(s) of substantiated maltreatment

8. Date(s) of disposition

9. Relationship to child victim(s)

10. Status of any legal proceedings

11. Other:

Please specify: _________________

12. Don’t know

11. If a National Registry of Child Maltreatment Perpetrators was created, the following persons could be included. Please indicate if your State has the technical capacity to submit data following the criteria below.

	Yes	No	Don’t know
Child maltreatment perpetrators who have been found by the CPS agency to have been responsible for child abuse or neglect	___	___	___
Child maltreatment perpetrators who have been found to be responsible at the highest level of child maltreatment finding under State law	___	___	___
Child maltreatment perpetrators who are 18 years or older at the time of the reported incident	___	___	___
Child maltreatment perpetrators who have been notified per State law or policy of the designation of being a perpetrator in the data repository	___	___	___
Child maltreatment perpetrators whose findings are not under appeal or review	___	___	___

11. From an operational perspective, how often could your State submit data to a National Registry of Child Maltreatment Perpetrators?

1. Once a year

2. Twice a year

3. More frequently than twice a year

4. As often as requested

5. Don’t know

11. Would it be easier to:

1. Submit unduplicated data with minimal information per child maltreatment perpetrator

2. Submit one record on each child maltreatment perpetrator for each finding of having maltreated a child (duplicated information)

3. Either is fine

4. Don’t know

11. Would it be easier to:

1. Submit only updates to existing data, including additions and deletions

2. Resubmit the whole file with a number of years of data

3. Either is fine

4. Don’t know

11. What might be the benefits to participating in a future National Registry Child Maltreatment Perpetrators?

11. What might be the barriers to participating in a future National Registry of Child Maltreatment Perpetrators?

11. Would the potential benefits of participating in a National Registry of Child Maltreatment Perpetrators outweigh the potential problems?

1. Yes

2. No

3. Don’t know  

11. Please provide any additional feedback regarding the establishment of a National Registry of Child Maltreatment Perpetrators.

Technical Information on Data Repositories 10
on Child Maltreatment Perpetrators