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Inter-agency indicators of out-of-home-care placement by age 13–14 years: A population record linkage study.
- Source :
-
Child Abuse & Neglect . Jul2019, Vol. 93, p91-102. 12p. - Publication Year :
- 2019
-
Abstract
- Cross-agency administrative data can improve cost-effective triage systems for child protection and other human service delivery. To determine the minimum set of cross-agency indicators that could accurately classify placement in out-of-home-care (OOHC) before age 13–14 years. Participants were 72,079 Australian children (mean age = 13.16 years; SD = 0.37; 51.4% male) and their parents, for whom linked administrative records spanning the years 1994–2016 were available for analysis within the 'New South Wales Child Development Study'. First, a series of logistic regression analyses were conducted to examine associations between cross-agency (health, justice, education) risk indicators and membership of the sub-cohort of 1239 children who had an OOHC placement prior to age 13–14 years, relative to (1) the sub-cohort of 55,473 children who had no previous contact with child protection services, and (2) the sub-cohort of 15,367 children who had been reported to child protection services but had no record of OOHC placement. We then explored the classification characteristics associated with a smaller combination of risk factors, and the utility of specific familial risk factors, for classifying membership of the OOHC subgroup. A combination of six risk indicators evident before OOHC placement can classify children placed in OOHC with approximately 95% accuracy, and the presence of at least four of these risk indicators provides excellent specificity (99.6%). A combination of risk factors observable in administrative datasets held by multiple government agencies may be used to target support services to prevent entry into OOHC for children from vulnerable families. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 01452134
- Volume :
- 93
- Database :
- Academic Search Index
- Journal :
- Child Abuse & Neglect
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 136712622
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2019.04.013