Child Visibility Initiative Presents Its Index at Data for Policy 2026 in Barcelona

The Child Visibility Initiative presented the Child Visibility Index Methodology for the first time at the Data for Policy 2026 Conference, held in Barcelona on 8–10 September. The presentation introduced a new diagnostic approach to examining how public systems recognise children and families experiencing vulnerability — and where opportunities for earlier support may be missed.

The framework was presented by Maria Lokteva, Ph.D., and Nailakhanim Rustamova as part of the conference's Governance of/with AI track, opening the methodology to international academic discussion.

Measuring what happens before a crisis

Most existing child-related measurement frameworks assess outcomes such as poverty, deprivation, access to education, health or child protection. These indicators provide essential evidence about children's circumstances, but they do not necessarily explain whether public systems had opportunities to recognise vulnerability before a situation escalated.

The Child Visibility Index approaches this question from a different perspective: what conditions must exist for public systems to recognise children and families early enough for preventive support to become possible?

A child may be registered at birth, receive healthcare and enter education, yet still become disconnected from relevant services as family circumstances change. Information may remain fragmented across institutions, while early signs of vulnerability go unnoticed or are not connected to appropriate support.

Understanding these gaps is central to the Child Visibility Initiative's research.

From individual outcomes to system-level diagnosis

The Index examines three interconnected dimensions of institutional visibility:

• Accessibility: whether children and caregivers can reach essential formal services.

• Recognition: whether children become formally visible to public systems.

• Continuity: whether institutional contact is maintained across key stages of childhood.

Using internationally comparable population-level indicators, primarily from UNICEF's Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS), the Index is designed to identify where these conditions appear strong, weak or fragmented.

The methodology also introduces a second analytical layer: country-specific Pathway Assessment. While the Index identifies potential visibility gaps, this complementary research examines how they emerge within national systems, including institutional responsibilities, service pathways and coordination between organisations.

Importantly, the Index is not intended to rank countries, predict individual family risks or measure the effectiveness of child protection services. Its purpose is to support a more structured diagnosis of the conditions that make prevention possible.

Bringing the methodology into academic discussion

The research was developed by Maria Lokteva, Ph.D., Nailakhanim Rustamova, Elena Tropinova, Ph.D., and Marina Kataya, bringing together expertise in data science, impact research, education, and public systems analysis.

Presenting the framework at Data for Policy marked an important stage in its development. The Index remains a working research instrument, with further methodological validation, sensitivity testing and country-level analysis planned.

Engagement with the international research community provides an opportunity to examine its assumptions, test its limitations and strengthen its practical relevance across different institutional contexts.

For CVI, the broader objective is to contribute evidence that helps public systems move beyond responding to family crises toward recognising vulnerabilities and opportunities for support earlier.

Explore the research

The working paper, The Child Visibility Index: A Data-Driven Framework for Measuring Children's Presence in Public Policy and Administrative Systems, is available on Zenodo.

Read the Working Paper DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.21933908

About Data for Policy 2026

Data for Policy is an international research community and conference series bringing together academics, policymakers, data scientists and practitioners working at the intersection of data, technology and public governance. Its academic network includes the University of Cambridge, while its publishing partnership with Cambridge University Press connects research presented at the conference with the peer-reviewed journal Data & Policy.

The tenth edition, hosted by Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona on 8–10 September 2026, brought together approximately 200 participants from 44 countries to explore how AI, data and emerging technologies are reshaping public institutions, governance and evidence-based policymaking.

Learn more: Data for Policy