Implementing the Hello Baby Prevention Program in Allegheny County Methodology Report

This report summarises the development and implementation of the Hello Baby program which is supported by a predictive risk modelling (PRM) tool, built and deployed by the Centre for Social Data Analytics. Hello Baby is a new universal tiered program designed to prevent harm and protect children, introduced as a pilot program by the Allegheny County Department of Human Services in September 2020. The County will use the PRM tool to establish eligibility for higher intensity services, alongside self-referral and professional referral. The methodology provides background to the introduction of Hello Baby, explains the selection of the PRM tool as an eligibility pathway, describes how historical data was used to train and validate the PRM tool and explains how the tool will be used as part of the implemented Hello Baby program. Additional documentation about the Hello Baby program including ethics reports and FAQs is found on the Allegheny County website.

Citation:
Vaithianathan, Rhema; Diana Benavides-Prado and Emily Putnam-Hornstein. Implementing the Hello Baby Prevention Program in Allegheny County. Centre for Social Data Analytics. Auckland, New Zealand. September 2020.