Child Welfare Birth Match: Timely Use of Child Welfare Administrative Data to Protect Newborns

Procedures to identify and serve high-risk infants in three jurisdictions (New York City, Maryland, and Michigan) are explored. Utilizing existing technology, these procedures, referred to as birth match, offer a timely, low-cost, intervention squarely based on current legal premises to increase the protection of newborns and very young children who were born to a parent with a prior termination of parental rights or has a child currently in out of home care. This procedure demonstrates the real time use of administrative data to influence child welfare decisions.