Exploring Experiences of Child Disadvantage Using the Life Course Dataset

Shahd Al-Janabi, ABS
Kate Lancaster, ABS
Tara Reisinger, ABS
Peta Darby, Australian Bureau of Statistics

The integration of data has the potential to reduce future experiences of disadvantage by allowing for evidence-based responses at the earliest possible life stage. One current Australian data integration program is the pilot Life Course Data Initiative, which is led by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) and funded by the Targeting Entrenched Disadvantage package. This four-year program seeks to link administrative data in a careful and responsible way to enhance the longitudinal picture of child-wellbeing and outcomes. This presentation will (1) provide an overview of the way in which the ABS aims to use the dataset to investigate the width and depth of child disadvantage, in addition to understanding the paths, predictors, and protective factors; (2) explore strategies for consulting with stakeholders to test different ways of summarising, simplifying, and communicating the findings; and (3) discuss different approaches to providing outputs of a broad interest, including by way of presenting statistics at a national and community level, and through a composite indicator of child disadvantage. The pilot can provide a roadmap to creating and using integrated data to inform understandings of, and decisions relating to, the delivery of support to children at risk of experiencing disadvantage.

Keywords: Children, Adolescents, and Youth, Inequality, Disadvantage and Discrimination, Linked data sets , Data visualisation

See extended abstract.