The Development of Algorithmically Based Decision-Making Systems in Children’s Protective Services: Is Administrative Data Good Enough?

Abstract

Abstract Big data techniques are being used in children’s protective services to develop algorithmically based decision support systems (DSSs) to identify the most vulnerable children and introduce early and preventive services. These techniques use administrative data from multiple public agencies but are most reliant on data from children’s protective services. Using key principles from representation theory, and drawing from the author’s research, data from children’s protective services are considered in terms of the extent to which they represent and can be interpreted to provide a faithful representation of the phenomenon of child maltreatment. The aim is to address the question of whether children’s protective services data are good enough to develop accurate and practically useful DSS.