Why Child Abuse Prevention Matters
The Impacts from Child Abuse

SOCIAL IMPACTS
Nearly every social ill that you can identify can connect back to child abuse or neglect on some level. Either directly or indirectly. The National Institute of Justice reports that Child Abuse increases the likelihood of Juvenile arrest by 59% and of adult criminal behavior by 30%. Additionally the National Institute on Drug Abuse reports that two thirds of people in drug treatment were victims of child abuse or neglect.

FINANCIAL IMPACTS
The direct costs of child abuse, which include things such as Child Protective Services, the Courts, family services and special health needs of the children, are estimated to cost $24 billion annually nationwide.

The indirect costs which, include things such as juvenile delinquency, adult criminal behavior, mental illness, substance abuse, special education and public assistance, are estimated to cost $69 billion annually.

PHYSICAL IMPACTS
Many of the financial and social impacts are driven by the physical impacts. In some cases of abuse or neglect it can cause important regions of a child’s brain to fail to form properly, thus impairing their psychological, mental and emotional development.

NOT EVERYONE
Clearly not everyone who is abused deals with the issues listed above. It depends on a variety of factors including personal characteristics of the child (resiliency factor), other supports in their lives, the severity of abuse and the length of abuse just to name a few. However, there are multiple studies that provide clear implication from their findings that there is a connection between child abuse and many other social issues which underscores the need for early intervention in the lives of abused and neglected children.