Supporting Transition from Out of Home Care to Adulthood: Linked Data Is Central to The Compass Social Impact Bond

In: International journal of population data science: (IJPDS), Band 5, Heft 5

Abstract

The COMPASS program supports young people to successfully transition from Out of Home Care to adulthood. COMPASS is a social impact bond partnership between Victorian government, not-for-profit organisations and investors. COMPASS uses linked data in every phase from design, to implementation, to outcome measurement.
IntroductionStudies demonstrates that young care leavers experience significantly poorer outcomes than their peers. COMPASS is a preventative program progressivelyproviding 200 care leavers with access to housing and individualised support. The Centre for Victorian Data Linkage (CVDL) developed the Victorian Linkage Map (VLM) in 2016, linking 20 plus health and human services datasets with births and deaths data. Linked data provides a critical evidence base for COMPASS.
Objectives and ApproachThe presentation describes application of linked data for COMPASS design, implementation and measurement. Linked data cohort analysis of post-care service use of 6000 young people informed the program design. Linked data also provides the basis for a stratification tool to measure the complexity profile of referrals. Health, housing and justice payable outcomes are measured by comparing relative performance of participants with a matched control group using linked data.
ResultsImplementation of COMPASS has highlighted the value of linked data in service design and measurement of payable outcomes. It has also highlighted the challenges of using linked data in a real-world environment, including the need for thorough documentation and testing of specifications, calculations and processes.
Conclusion / ImplicationsThe use of linked data for COMPASS provides a model for evidence-based service design and tests the use of linked data for robust and sustainable outcome measurement. The lessons from COMPASS are applicable to other social impact bonds and service implementation and outcome measurement more broadly.