Total Estimated Cost of Child Abuse and Neglect in the United States

Child abuse and neglect are preventable, yet each year in the United States, close to one million children are confirmed victims of child maltreatment. An extensive body of research provides promising and best practices on what works to improve child safety and well-being outcomes and reduce the occurrence of child abuse and neglect. These efforts are essential as child abuse and neglect have pervasive and long-lasting effects on children, their families, and the society. Adverse consequences for children’s development often are evident immediately, encompassing multiple domains including physical, emotional, social, and cognitive. For many children, these effects extend far beyond childhood into adolescence and adulthood, potentially compromising the lifetime productivity of maltreatment victims (Daro, 1988). It is well documented that children who have been abused or neglected are more likely to experience adverse outcomes throughout their life span in a number of areas: • Poor physical health (e.g., chronic fatigue, altered immune function, hypertension, sexually transmitted diseases, obesity); • Poor emotional and mental health (e.g., depression, anxiety, eating disorders, suicidal thoughts and attempts, post-traumatic stress disorder); • Social difficulties (e.g., insecure attachments with caregivers, which may lead to difficulties in developing trusting relationships with peers and adults later in life); • Cognitive dysfunction (e.g., deficits in attention, abstract reasoning, language development, and problem-solving skills, which ultimately affect academic achievement and school performance); • High-risk health behaviors (e.g., a higher number of lifetime sexual partners, younger age at first voluntary intercourse, teen pregnancy, alcohol and substance abuse); and • Behavioral problems (e.g., aggression, juvenile delinquency, adult criminality, abusiv