There's pressure to make the prevention of child maltreatment a priority in the US – but it's not because of the government report about the estimated 695,000 victims of child mistreatment in 2010.
Instead, it's due to the economic burden of dealing with the long-term consequences of child abuse that makes a strong case for devoting public resources to the prevention of child maltreatment.
A study published in Child Abuse & Neglect (2012) calculated the public financial cost of child abuse at about $124 billion each year. When broken down, the "productivity loss" plus the expense to the country's criminal justice, education, health care, and welfare systems adds up to a lifetime cost of $210,012 per victim.
The annual price tag of child abuse is comparable to health problems like stroke and type 2 diabetes, leading researchers to conclude that "Child Maltreatment is a serious and prevalent public health problem in the United States, responsible for substantial morbidity and mortality."
So, if the human cost wasn't enough to make child abuse prevention and treatment services a priority, now we also know that we cannot afford the financial costs of failing to fund these critical services.
Instead, it's due to the economic burden of dealing with the long-term consequences of child abuse that makes a strong case for devoting public resources to the prevention of child maltreatment.
A study published in Child Abuse & Neglect (2012) calculated the public financial cost of child abuse at about $124 billion each year. When broken down, the "productivity loss" plus the expense to the country's criminal justice, education, health care, and welfare systems adds up to a lifetime cost of $210,012 per victim.
The annual price tag of child abuse is comparable to health problems like stroke and type 2 diabetes, leading researchers to conclude that "Child Maltreatment is a serious and prevalent public health problem in the United States, responsible for substantial morbidity and mortality."
So, if the human cost wasn't enough to make child abuse prevention and treatment services a priority, now we also know that we cannot afford the financial costs of failing to fund these critical services.
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