Lifetime cost of child abuse and neglect, per child

["john murray" <psychometre@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Imprisonment in JJ and adult prisons:

NSW Australia shows 85% of children detained in JJ have 3 or more abuse 
notifications CPS (previous to 1st offence)- 18% actually wards of the State 
(crown wards) at $175,000 per annum each JJ detention (let alone court- 
police- crime-victim costs).

Between 32-42% female prisoners (NSW and Victoria respectively) had been in 
CPS ‘care’ as children. (not known yet adult male prisoners) UK research 
(House of Parliament 1997) 45% juvenile prisoners and 25% adult prisoners. 
80-90% of all prisoners report being abused as children.

NSW State wards 5 times over represented in JJ sex offender programs.

Victoria- 85-90% of all Aborigines seeking Legal Aid from Aboriginal Legal 
Service had been in State care as children (stolen generations) 90-95% in 
NSW. (1970-80’s figures)

Drug abuse and mental illness, suicide, intergenerational abuse, lack of 
educational attainment, recipients of social service payment, recipients of 
public housing, and life outcomes- all overrepresented for kids who have 
been in care + repeat victimisation, early adolescent pregnancies, school 
expulsions and social exclusion (see all UK Social Exclusion Unit  reports 
for fine print of ‘children looked after by local authorities)

The SEU’s latest report “runaways” is their biggest doozy yet, while stating 
that local authority kids run away at elevated rates, they don’t actually 
state that these kids make up 100,000 of the report 120,000 runaways per 
annum.

Then there are the costs of ‘administering’ these kids (and burying them)

who's good at maths- Look at the -Multiple Service Usage- report from New 
Orleans for some guidleines- ideas on this type of research- a handful of 
old drunk men, but very very interesting and very very costly

Cheers
John



From: bill higgins <bill_higginsus@yahoo.com>
Reply-To: CHILD-MALTREATMENT-RESEARCH-L@cornell.edu
Is this really a question of science - or speculation?
  How does one quantify the life costs of child abuse?
Lost employment - additional stress - health care?

I would interested to hear thoughts from the group.

B. Higgins



--- Peggy Polinsky <ppolinsky@parentsanonymous.org>
wrote:
 > Hi Everyone,
 > I have an old statistic from the University of
 > Minnesota (Fact Find,
 > University of Minnesota, Center for Early Education
 > and Development, 1990)
 > that says the estimated lifetime cost to society is
 > more than $2 million for
 > each abused child.  I have tried to verify this
 > information, but cannot
 > locate the source.
 > Does anyone know how I can get more information
 > about this lifetime cost
 > figure?
 >
 > Margaret (Peggy) L. Polinsky, MSW, PhD
 > Director of Research
 > Parents Anonymous(r) Inc.
 > 675 West Foothill Blvd., Suite 220
 > Claremont, CA 91711
 > Tel:  909-621-6184, Ext. 213
 > Fax: 909-625-6304
 > E-mail: ppolinsky@parentsanonymous.org
 >



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