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User Support

Special Data Requests (SDRs)

The National Data Archive on Child Abuse and Neglect (NDACAN) seeks to increase the utilization of its holdings through a process called Special Data Requests. Special Data Requests (SDRs) are ad hoc analyses of selected NDACAN datasets which NDACAN completes for researchers who may not be able to manipulate whole datasets.

To submit a Special Data Request, please download the Special Data Request Form (Word) complete the form (i.e. describe the output that you need), and email the completed form as an attachment to NDACANsupport@cornell.edu. An NDACAN Statistician will respond. Special Data Requests undergo a review and approval process which assures that NDACAN is able to complete the analysis. Special Data Requests undergo a different review and approval process depending on whether they are an SDR involving Children's Bureau data (JPEG) or an SDR involving non-Children's Bureau data (JPEG). Please note that NDACAN cannot perform any Special Data Requests that involve the following exclusion criteria.

Exclusion Criteria

NDACAN will automatically reject any special data request that could threaten data confidentiality or that is overly complex and would require an inordinate amount of staff time.

This includes, but is not limited to, the following exclusion criteria:

  • No small counts (i.e., fields less than 10)
  • No small counties (i.e., counties less than 1,000)
  • No information on the workforce (e.g., caseworker ID number, supervisor ID number, etc.)
  • No data elements that are unavailable for release to the public (e.g., date of birth, perpetrator ID number, etc.)
  • Nothing more than a simple cross-tab (e.g., first foster care placement by race/ethnicity by state, etc.)

NDACAN will work with data requestors to formulate a special data request that avoids rejection based upon the exclusion criteria. Alternatively, eligible data requestors may choose to order whole dataset(s) through NDACAN's website, following the dataset-specific instructions provided online.

Page Updated: May 18, 2023