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The Impact of Place-Based Services on Child Maltreatment: Evaluation Through Big Data Linkage and Analytics

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Neighborhoods, Communities and Child Maltreatment

Part of the book series: Child Maltreatment ((MALT,volume 15))

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Abstract

There is a clear evidence that place is one factor associated with rates of child maltreatment and that rates of child abuse differ between different neighbourhoods and communities. Although there are few place-based initiatives (PBIs) focused specifically on child maltreatment, there is an increasing policy and research interest on PBIs that address a range of problems for children and families in disadvantaged communities. Evaluating the effectiveness of these initiatives is extremely challenging, both methodologically and ethically, but one potential way forward is to use linked administrative data to track outcomes of children and families. This chapter discusses the opportunities and challenges for the use of administrative data linkage in the evaluation of PBIs. The chapter is informed by interviews with 12 Australian experts on the use of ‘big data’ in public policy.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Two of the experts discussed a related topic—the Robo debt incident in Australia which involved the use of big data but was not related to evaluation or place-based initiatives. Their responses are included in Low-Choy et al. (2022, forthcoming).

  2. 2.

    This chapter builds on two previous in-depth analyses. The first considered the views of experts on the challenges and opportunities of ‘big data’, with particular focus on the interactions among privacy, trust and data sharing issues (Rose et al. 2022, forthcoming). The second considered the opportunities and dangers of big data in service provision, structured around the RoboDebt controversy affecting tens of thousands of social welfare recipients (Low-Choy et al. 2022, forthcoming).

  3. 3.

    For example, The South Australian Early Childhood Data Project: https://health.adelaide.edu.au/betterstart/research/

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Social Policy Research Centre (SPRC), University of New South Wales, Kensington, NSW, Australia

    Ilan Katz

  2. Arts, Education and Law, Griffith University, Brisbane, QLD, Australia

    Judy Rose & Samantha Low-Choy

  3. School of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Griffith University, Indooroopilly, QLD, Australia

    Ross Homel

Authors
  1. Ilan Katz
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  2. Judy Rose
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  3. Samantha Low-Choy
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  4. Ross Homel
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ilan Katz .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Social Work, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA

    Kathryn Maguire-Jack

  2. The Bob Shapell School of Social Work, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel

    Carmit Katz

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Katz, I., Rose, J., Low-Choy, S., Homel, R. (2022). The Impact of Place-Based Services on Child Maltreatment: Evaluation Through Big Data Linkage and Analytics. In: Maguire-Jack, K., Katz, C. (eds) Neighborhoods, Communities and Child Maltreatment. Child Maltreatment, vol 15. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-93096-7_3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-93096-7_3

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-93095-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-93096-7

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