Why Invest in Child Abuse Prevention
Prevention is Key
"Suppose you are standing next to a river, and you see someone drowning as she floats downstream. You jump into the river and pull her ashore. As soon as you've done that, you see another person in trouble, again floating downstream, and you rescue him as well. Every time you've saved one person, you see another, and another. After you've dragged another drowning body out of the river, you're thoroughly exhausted and you know you don't have the energy to save one more person which is when it hits you. The best way to save the most is to go upstream and figure out what is causing everyone to fall into the river to begin with.”
Child Abuse is costing you money! Using conservative estimates, Texas spends more than $6 billion annually to deal with the aftermath of abuse including the problems linked through research to child abuse such as:
- Juvenile Delinquency
- Long-Term health problems
- Unemployment
- Mental Health Issues
- Substance Abuse
- Crime
- Teen Pregnancy
- Poverty
This does not include additional immeasurable emotional costs to the innocent children.
Research has shown that child abuse significantly costs employers in time lost for work, loss of productivity, and employer-paid health insurance costs given the long-term medical and psychological problems that are linked to child abuse.
Child Abuse is a vicious cycle that is best reduced by investing dollars in quality prevention and early intervention programs. Waiting until after abuse occurs is too late as the devastating impact has already occurred.
Texas ranks 50th in the amount of money spent on prevention programs with only 5 out of every 1,000 children receiving prevention services, compared to the national average which is almost nine times higher at about 44 out of every 1,000 children.