Governance and Overview

CHILD Advisory Group

Governance Model Statement

The CHILD Data System contains linked individual-level data collected by public entities. These data, although public in the sense that public agencies collect them, are not open for public consumption due to the need to protect and ensure the privacy of those records in the data. To that end, the CHILD Data System maintains and takes great pride in our multi-dimensional governance model that works to ensure excellent data stewardship.

Strict data use agreements are executed between the Case Western Reserve University (Center on Urban Poverty and Community Development) and all data providers that explicitly state the expectations of confidentiality and security. Through the specifications in these agreements, the data providers govern the use of their data.

The CHILD Data system is also governed by the Institutional Review Board at Case Western Reserve University. The Institutional Review Board assures that all data with personally identifiable information (PII) are handled according to the highest standards for data security and protection. They also assure that research conducted using data from the CHILD Data System are in compliance with all federal protections of human subjects, including privacy and risk.

Additionally, the CHILD Data System has an Advisory Group that meets on a quarterly basis to represent the collective interests of public agencies and the community. The group works to ensure that the CHILD Data System adequately meets collective and community expectations of excellent data stewardship along the lines of governance, communication and sustainability.

Overview

The ChildHood Integrated Longitudinal Data (CHILD) System incorporates data from 35 administrative systems to provide information on the experiences and outcomes of children born or living in Cuyahoga County since 1989. When it was first created, the CHILD System included records such as child welfare, public assistance, birth records, home visiting, and publicly subsidized child care. The system expanded to include receipt of well-child care, early childhood mental health services, and exposure to high quality early learning (through the Universal Pre-Kindergarten project). As technology has advanced, the CHILD System has recently expanded to include data concerning older youth, such as public school attendance and proficiency test data, childhood lead exposure, public housing, homeless shelter use, and juvenile justice involvement. Used together, these data can inform planning, monitoring, evaluation, and action to improve services to families in Cuyahoga County, Ohio.

Cuyahoga CHILD System Overview

Overview of Integrated Data Systems

Children's Data Network from That Design Firm on Vimeo.