Building Research Capacity in Child Welfare in Canada: Advantages and Challenges in Working with Administrative Data

Trocmé, Nico; Esposito, Tonino; Fallon, Barbara; Chabot, Martin; Delaye, Ashleigh

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-05858-6_25

Cited by 5 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 42 publications

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“…In CPW agencies, the extraction of information from administrative data places no additional labor on child welfare workers and can be a cost-effective means of retrieving incidence data (Jud et al, 2015). In some jurisdictions, administrative data can be linked to other related data such as justice or welfare data, creating large samples that allow for child maltreatment to be examined at a population level (Brownell & Jutte, 2013;Drake & Jonson-Reid, 1999;Trocmé et al, 2019;Vaithianathan et al, 2017). In addition, these datasets allow for longitudinal data analysis of contact with multiple systems over time and enable researchers to study distinct subgroups throughout the life course (Hurren et al, 2017).…”

Section: Strengthsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Consequently, comparisons between regions using administrative data are limited due to definitional variability, legalconstructs and service provision ( Buckley & Whelan, 2018;Furey & Canavan, 2019). While initially viewed as a cost-effective method of retrieving incidence data, there are greater costs incurred when linking and analyzing the data: this requires specialized analytic support, personnel, and financial resources to transform administrative datasets to use for research purposes (Fallon et al, 2017;Hurren et al, 2017;Trocmé et al, 2019).…”

Section: Weaknessmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Examining the Prospects for Developing a National Child Maltreatment Surveillance System in Ireland

O’Leary

Lyons

2021

Int. Journal on Child Malt.

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The Irish Government pledged to reducing the prevalence of child maltreatment under the WHO Regional Committee for Europe plan on reducing child maltreatment. As a first step towards a rights-based and public health approach to maltreatment prevention, the WHO plan recommends making child maltreatment more visible across the region, with better surveillance through the use of national surveys that use standardized, validated instruments. We review the policy context, present current Irish data holdings, and outline some of the complexities reported in the literature concerning various surveillance methods in the context of the proposal to establish and maintain a surveillance system for CM in Ireland. Conclusions highlight the need for Ireland to adopting an approach to surveillance as soon as it is feasible. The paper outlines how such a programme is necessary to address the current absence of evidence on which prevention policies can be developed and to compliment the current child protection system. Drawing on a review of current methods in use internationally, we outline options for an Irish child maltreatment surveillance programme.

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Section: Strengthsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Weaknessmentioning

confidence: 99%

Examining the Prospects for Developing a National Child Maltreatment Surveillance System in Ireland

O’Leary

Lyons

2021

Int. Journal on Child Malt.

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“…Accurately estimating the prevalence of child protection system involvement and the risk factors surrounding it can inform policy and practice decision making that is oriented to prevention and early intervention to minimize negative impacts on a substantial portion of the population. However, there are notable gaps in what the data has been able to demonstrate regarding the childhood prevalence of involvement with child protection systems in Quebec and across Canada more generally [4,26,54]. Despite the significant impact of child protection involvement on children, families, and communities, Canada lacks a robust body of child protection data nationally, particularly because there is not a national-level, representative data set in the country [55].…”

Section: Context Of the Present Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The implications of child protection involvement for society more broadly are also significant: studies examining the cost of child abuse and neglect suggest an order of billions of dollars per year may be spent when considering social services, health, education, employment, judicial, and personal costs [22][23][24][25]. However, a child protection intervention paradigm that prioritizes intervening for children's safety rather than intervening to support children and families can ignore opportunities for preventative services [26]. One way to identify opportunities for reducing child protection intervention is to describe, at a population level, the cumulative risk of child protection involvement across the developmental stages of childhood.…”

Section: Introduction 1importance Of Understanding Child Protection I...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Using administrative data from Quebec spanning the years 2000 to 2017 and a life table analysis approach, we determined an estimate of the childhood prevalence (age 0-17 years) of reported maltreatment, confirmed reports, substantiated reports, and out-of-home placement. With these analyses, we aim to (a) provide a clearer picture of the situation in Quebec such that preventative policymaking and practice may consider the cumulative, long-term risk of child protection involvement [26], (b) provide a template for other Canadian jurisdictions that could support cross-jurisdictional analysis, and (c) encourage concerted efforts at the pan-Canadian level to use child protection administrative data to support longitudinal analysis of the scope of child protection across Canada. By beginning to estimate the prevalence of involvement with child protection in this province, we can obtain a fuller view of the extent of this experience and illustrate questions for further research.…”

Section: Introduction 1importance Of Understanding Child Protection I...mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Childhood Prevalence of Involvement with the Child Protection System in Quebec: A Longitudinal Study

Esposito

Caldwell

Chabot

et al. 2022

IJERPH

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The goal of this study, the first of its kind in Canada, was to estimate the child lifetime prevalence of child protection involvement in Quebec. Using administrative and population data spanning 17 years, we performed a survival analysis of initial incidents of child protection reports, confirmed reports, confirmation of a child’s security or development being compromised, and placement outside the home for one day or more. We found that before reaching the age of 18 years, over 18% of children were reported to child protection at least once, one in every ten children (10.1%) in the province had a report that led to the finding of their security or development being compromised, and over 5% were placed outside the home. We found that neglect was a primary concern in close to half (47.6%) of cases. By using a full population dataset, we obtained a more accurate prevalence estimate than studies using synthetic cohort life tables. These findings only captured initial incidents of involvement with child protection, meaning this study does not show the extent of recurrent involvement for some children. The findings reflect prior results showing that neglect is common in initial child protection involvement but less pervasive than has been shown in incidence studies, suggesting that recurrent child protection involvement is more driven by neglect than initial incidents are.

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Rates of out-of-home care among children in Canada: an analysis of national administrative child welfare data

Pollock,

Ouédraogo,

Trocmé

et al. 2024

Health Promot Chronic Dis Prev Can

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Introduction As a part of the public health approach to child welfare, data about children placed in out-of-home care are needed to assess population trends, understand drivers of social and health inequities, and examine outcomes for children and families. We analyzed administrative data from Canada to describe the population of children in out-of-home care, and estimate and compare rates of out-of-home care by province/territory, year, sex/gender, age group and placement type. Methods We conducted a cross-sectional analysis of point-in-time data from all provinces and territories for the period 2013/2014 to 2021/2022. We used frequencies and percentages to describe the population of children (and youth up to age 21 years) in out-of-home care and estimated overall and stratified rates and rate ratios. Results An estimated 61 104 children in Canada were in out-of-home care on 31 March 2022. The national rate of out-of-home care was 8.24 children per 1000 population. Rate variations by province/territory were substantial and changed over time. Rates were highest among males and children aged 1 to 3 and 16 to 17 years. Foster homes were the most common type of placement, although kinship homes accounted for an increasing share. Conclusion This analysis demonstrated that administrative data can be used to generate national indicators about children involved in the child welfare system. These data can be used for tracking progress towards health and social equity for children and youth in Canada.

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Building Research Capacity in Child Welfare in Canada: Advantages and Challenges in Working with Administrative Data

Cited by 5 publications

References 42 publications

Examining the Prospects for Developing a National Child Maltreatment Surveillance System in Ireland

Examining the Prospects for Developing a National Child Maltreatment Surveillance System in Ireland

Childhood Prevalence of Involvement with the Child Protection System in Quebec: A Longitudinal Study

Rates of out-of-home care among children in Canada: an analysis of national administrative child welfare data

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