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SALT LAKE CITY -- A recent study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention highlights just how much money child abuse costs in the long run.
Researchers have determined the combined lifetime costs of child abuse add up to $210,012, per victim. That's if the victim survives.
A lot of financial factors are added into these numbers. For instance, the average victim will have to deal with $32,648 in childhood healthcare costs, as well as $10,530 for adult health care.
- $32,648 - childhood health care
- $10,530 - adult medical
- $144,360 - productivity losses
- $7,728 - child welfare
- $6,747 - criminal justice
- $7,999 - special education
Researchers estimate victims will have to pay $7,728 in child welfare costs.
Criminal justice expenses for abuse victims are estimated at $6,747.
Victims are more likely to receive special education than kids who are not maltreated. Those costs add up to $7,999. The study also shows people with documented histories of abuse or neglect earn nearly $5,000 less than others.
But how much does it cost if the abuse victim dies? Researchers say the lifetime cost per death is over $1.2 million, mostly in productivity losses.
Judging by the estimated 579,000 cases of child maltreatment in 2008, combined with the 1,740 deaths that happened that year, researchers estimate the lifetime economic burden reaches $124 billion for victims that year.
All this shows the need for improved abuse prevention programs, they say. Researchers believe the benefits of effective programs outweigh the costs.
