About the Minn-LInK Project

Minn-LInk Logo

The Minn-LInK project is housed at the Center for Advanced Studies in Child Welfare (CASCW), in the School of Social Work at the University of Minnesota. Minn-LInK was developed in response to the recognition that some of the most vulnerable children and families were likely served in multiple systems, yet there was no method in place to form broader pictures of multi-system involvement. The Minn-LInK project provides researchers, practitioners, educators, administrators, and policymakers a rare opportunity to understand the experiences of children and families who are served by multiple systems. Minn-LInK projects are developed and carried out with a cross-system perspective in mind – linking longitudinal data from multiple systems to answer questions about the effects of policies, programs, and practice on the well-being of children and families in Minnesota.

See How Minn-LInK Uses Integrated Data

Download a visual poster of Minn-LInK

View Minn-LInK Research Briefs

Watch this Children’s Data Network Video

to understand how integrated data can be used by researchers, policymakers, and professionals to promote child well-being.

Minn-LInK Datasets

Currently Minn-LInK houses data from the Minnesota Departments of Education (MDE), Human Services (DHS), and Corrections (DOC). Additional data may be integrated with data housed by Minn-LInK (e.g. vital statistics records from the Minnesota Department of Health.)

Figure 1.

Key

bluemlkey Data housed by Minn-LInK
bluemlkey Data upon request

Acronyms

All data is from Minnesota state agencies.

DOC Department of Corrections
MDE Department of Education
DHS Department of Human Services
MARSS Minnesota Automated Reporting Student System
SSIS Social Services Information System
SCAO State Court Administrator’s Office
MNCIS Minnesota Court Information System
DIRS Disciplinary Incident Reporting System
MCA Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments
GED General Educational Development

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. SMA1338489.

Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

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CASCW's Minn-LInK Doctoral Fellowship Program

With the support from a grant awarded in 2013 by the National Science Foundation, CASCW has created a fellowship program for PhD students interested in data intensive research on child well-being.
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Minn-LInK Users

Data Sources