Failing to address child abuse could cost Texas much more than it would save in budget cuts, a staff member testified to the Legislative Budget Board yesterday, in another dispatch from our Clarity in Choices Department. Below are some highlights from that testimony, and our round-up of news on children and policy issuesthis week.
Yesterday, our policy director Jodie Smith told state leaders about the real costs of a proposal to nearly do away with funding for child abuse prevention in Texas. An excerpt:
Failure to invest in prevention, early intervention, and effective services for children who have experienced abuse or neglect will not only lead to poorer child outcomes, it will increase the long-term costs to the public. … According to an analysis by Prevent Child Abuse America, child abuse and neglect cost Americans an estimated $103.8 billion in 2007 alone. …In Texas, the direct cost of child abuse and neglect to the child welfare, judicial, law enforcement, mental health, and hospital system was estimated at just over $1 billion annually in 2007. The indirect cost due to heightened juvenile and adult criminal justice involvement, special education, mental and physical healthcare, substance abuse, and lost productivity to society was over $5.2 billion. … Current prevention funding represents less than 1% of the combined direct and indirect cost of child abuse and neglect.
Some of the most effective prevention programs are estimated to save states thousands of dollars for each child served. Texas can see benefits like these, but it will require doing more to bring down rates of child abuse and neglect. The first step should be a commitment to maintaining existing prevention funding—and the realization that nothing should come before children's basic safety.
News and Reports Weekly Round-Up
Child and Maternal Health
9.9.10 Statewide Smoking Ban Being Prepped for Next Legislative Session (Fort Worth Star-Telegram)
9.9.10 Obesity More Expensive than Ever (NPR Planet Money blog)
9.8.10 Fetal Alcohol Disorders Costly to Children, Taxpayers (Houston Chronicle)
9.8.10 How Texas Can Address Obesity, Physical Activity, and Nutrition (Legislative testimony)
9.8.10 Prevent the Senate from Gutting Prevention (Huffington Post)
9.8.10 First Lady Asks Congress to Join Childhood Obesity Fight (New York Times)
9.7.10 In Feast of Data on BPA Plastic, No Final Answer (New York Times)
More Health News...
Child Protection
More Protection News...
Family Financial Security Headlines
9.9.10 Senator: Request for More Benefit Workers May Be Too High (Austin American-Statesman)
9.8.10 State Makes Progress on Food Stamp Backlog (Austin American-Statesman)
More Financial Security News...
Juvenile Justice Headlines
9.6.10 Vigilance Needed on TYC Reforms (San Antonio Express-News editorial)
More Juvenile Justice News…
Child Mental Wellbeing Headlines
9.8.10 Big Cuts Looming for Mental Health Care (San Antonio Express-News)
9.2.10 Funding for Early Childhood Intervention (Legislative testimony)
9.2.10 Child's Ordeal Shows Risks of Psychosis Drugs for Very Young (New York Times)
More Mental Health News...
More About Kids
9.9.10 New Website Promotes a Balanced Approach to Balancing the Texas Budget (Texas Forward)
9.8.10 From Our Clarity in Choices Department (State of the Children blog)
9.6.10 Legislators Push Aid to Middle Schoolers (Houston Chronicle)
More News About Kids…
