Multisector longitudinal administrative databases: an indispensable tool for evidence-based policy for maltreated children and their families.

This article describes the need for and the practicality and utility of longitudinal, multisector, and multilevel administrative data to address key issues in child maltreatment prevention and intervention. The goal is not to alert the reader to a new technology, but rather to clarify its potential and overview the process of creating such a database. Changes in technology, including data storage, computational speed, transfer systems, and software advances have made the creation of truly advanced multisector databases vastly easier than was the case even 10 years ago. We argue that this meshes well with the emerging recognition that practice and policy should be evidence based. We are entering a time when child welfare policy can now be informed by a much more complete understanding of who we serve, how they are served over time, what other social service systems they encounter, and what outcomes they commonly experience.