Replicating the Alaska Longitudinal Child Abuse and Neglect Linkage (ALCANLink) Methodology
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Replicating the Alaska Longitudinal Child Abuse and Neglect Linkage (ALCANLink) Methodology

OPRE report number: 2021-252
Published: Nov 30, 2021
Publisher: Washington, DC: Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Human Services Family Support Child Welfare State and Local
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Associated Project

Child Maltreatment Incidence Data Linkages (CMI Data Linkages)

Time frame: 2017–2022

Prepared for:

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation

Clients
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Authors

Jared Parrish

Abigail Newby-Kew

Key Findings
  • In Alaska and Oregon, the cumulative incidence of both states’ measures of child welfare involvement before age 9 were similar in the full birth cohort. However, the Oregon PRAMS cohort underestimates involvement with child welfare to a greater degree than the Alaska PRAMS cohort for each measure. Compared with children in Alaska, a higher proportion of Oregon children were involved with child welfare throughout the project period. This may be particularly meaningful in the first year of life, as 11.0 percent of Oregon children are reported to child welfare before their first birthday, although only 7.6 percent of Alaska children are.
  • The estimated cumulative incidence of child maltreatment among the Oregon PRAMS cohort is consistently (but not significantly) an underestimate of that observed in the full birth cohort. The consistent underestimate of cumulative incidence of reports is observed for each unique type of maltreatment allegation except for sexual abuse. The difference is not statistically significant for any maltreatment type except neglect.
  • To successfully replicate ALCANLink, a strong partnership with at least one stakeholder within the health department is necessary for building relationships, gaining support from additional stakeholders, and ensuring support for navigating and understanding state systems.

This report describes the project the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services (ADHSS) and the Oregon Health Sciences University (OHSU) conducted as part of the Child Maltreatment Incidence Data Linkages (CMI Data Linkages) project. The ADHSS/OHSU project team attempted to replicate an administrative data linkage project, the Alaska Longitudinal Child Abuse and Neglect Linkage project (ALCANLink), to test the external and internal validity of the ALCANLink approach and examine factors that supported or hindered its replication. ALCANLink is a population-based strategy to examine the incidence of maltreatment that integrates those births that were sampled and mothers who subsequently responded to the Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS) survey with child welfare and other administrative data. The ADHSS/OHSU project used the ALCANLink approach in Oregon to estimate the cumulative incidence to first report, screen-in, substantiation, and removals in Oregon and compared the cumulative risk distributions over time with those observed in Alaska.

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