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. 2024 Jun 16;9(2):2404.
doi: 10.23889/ijpds.v9i2.2404. eCollection 2024.

Linkage of administrative family court care proceedings and hospital records for mothers in England: linkage accuracy and cumulative incidence of family court care proceedings after a first live birth

Georgina Ireland  1 , Linda Wijlaars  1 , Matthew Jay  1 , Qi Feng  1 , Katie Harron  1 , Claire Grant  2 , Ruth Gilbert  1
Affiliations

Linkage of administrative family court care proceedings and hospital records for mothers in England: linkage accuracy and cumulative incidence of family court care proceedings after a first live birth

Georgina Ireland et al. Int J Popul Data Sci. .

Abstract

Introduction: Linkage of public law family court care proceedings (CP) data to all women giving birth in NHS hospitals in England allows calculation of the cumulative incidence of CP involvement for mothers with first children born.

Objectives: To assess linkage accuracy and determine the 10-year cumulative incidence of CP after a first live birth (FLB) for population subgroups.

Method: NHS England linked records for mothers in Cafcass (Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service) involved in CP (2007-2021) to all mothers with a delivery in England using Hospital Episode Statistics (HES: 1997-21). We calculated match rates and assessed indirect evidence of potential false positive and missed links. We used survival analyses to estimate cumulative incidence of CP within 10 years overall and for five-year maternal age groups at first live birth.

Results: Of 120,937 mothers involved in CP, 6.6% (n = 8,010) were excluded due to missing postcode or date of birth, or age <15 or >50. Of the remaining 112,927 mothers, 92,891 (82.8%) were linked to a HES delivery record. Match rates were lowest for mothers with an ethnic minority background, older at first case, or residing in Greater London, but improved over time.Of 3,572,737 mothers with a FLB, 38,462 had CP involvement. The cumulative incidence of CP at 10 years from FLB was 1.31% (95% Confidence Interval [CI]; 1.29-1.32) overall and highest in mothers aged 15-19 years (6.79%, 95% CI: 6.69-6.89) and those living in the most deprived areas (2.47%, 95% CI: 2.43-2.51).

Conclusion: One in 77 of all mothers and one in 15 aged less than 20 at first live birth were involved in CP within 10 years. Linkage error may underestimate the incidence of CP for mothers in London or with an ethnic minority background.

Key points: Overall, 82.8% of women recorded as a mother in Cafcass care proceedings were linked to a hospital delivery record.Match rates were lowest for mothers with an ethnic minority background, older age at first child, or residing in Greater London.1.3% of all mothers (1 in 77) with a first birth were involved in care proceedings within 10 years and 6.8% (1 in 15) of mothers aged <20 at first live birth.

Keywords: administrative data; care proceedings; data linkage; family court; health data.

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Conflict of interest statement

Statement on conflicts of interest: Nothing to declare

Figures

Figure 1: Data flow and linkage process between administrative datasets from Cafcass, the Personal Demographic Service and Hospital Episode Statistics
Figure 1: Data flow and linkage process between administrative datasets from Cafcass, the Personal Demographic Service and Hospital Episode Statistics
Figure 2: Results of data extraction from Cafcass and HES delivery records and linkage of Cafcass to HES, the Delivery Cohort and the First Live Birth Cohort
Figure 2: Results of data extraction from Cafcass and HES delivery records and linkage of Cafcass to HES, the Delivery Cohort and the First Live Birth Cohort
Figure 3: Kaplan-Meier estimates of cumulative incidence of care proceedings at 5 and 10 years after a first live birth, with 95% confidence intervals, between 1<sup>st</sup> April 2007 and 31<sup>st</sup> December 2021
Figure 3: Kaplan-Meier estimates of cumulative incidence of care proceedings at 5 and 10 years after a first live birth, with 95% confidence intervals, between 1st April 2007 and 31st December 2021
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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