The Children’s Data Network (CDN) is a data and research collaborative focused on the linkage and analysis of administrative data concerning children. The project, working under active state and university human subject approvals, includes a partnership with the California Health and Human Services Agency (CHHS) and the California Child Welfare Indicators Project (CCWIP) at the University of California at Berkeley, and receives critical infrastructure support from First 5 Los Angeles, the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, and the Heising-Simons Foundation.
The CDN configures records that currently exist in different agency “silos” longitudinally, at a child-level, for entire cohorts of children who were born in California. The resulting population-based, cross-sector data to which we have access can be leveraged to better characterize the public service trajectories, experiences, and outcomes of California’s children over time, develop applied and actionable research, support cost-effective program evaluations, and attend to policy-relevant questions. The overarching goal is to generate knowledge and advance evidence-rich policies that will improve the health, safety, and well-being of children and families in California.
