The cost of child abuse

Landmark Monash University research has put a price on the economic and emotional cost of child abuse.

Child Abuse Prevention Research Australia teamed with Access Economics and the Australian Childhood Foundation to produce 
The Cost of Child Abuse in Australia.

The report said the real cost of child abuse to the Australian community in 2007 was $10.7 billion and could be as high as $30.1 billion, including the monetary value of the pain and suffering that children experience.

It found child abuse and neglect costs ten times more than obesity and the number of cases of abuse may be five times higher than official figures.

Director of Child Abuse Prevention Research Australia Monash Professor Chris Goddard said: "It clearly demonstrates the importance of accountability and transparency. To spend so much and know so little defies belief. There also needs to be greater investment in research and evaluation.

The figures account for the costs associated with protecting and caring for child victims of abuse, including the wages for professional workers such as doctors, nurses, police, social workers, judges, probation officers, teachers and foster carers.

It also includes responding to crime associated with child abuse and neglect, additional government expenditure on educational assistance for victims, poorer long-term labour market outcomes and an estimate of the total cost of the pain and suffering experienced by child victims of abuse.

While there were 36,000 substantiated reports of child abuse and neglect in Australia in 2007, the report estimates that there were approximately 177,000 children abused or neglected and this figure could be even higher.

The report also calculated that the cost to the community of the consequences of abuse over the lifetime of children who were abused for the first time in 2007 is approximately $13.7 billion and could be as high as $38.7 billion, including the monetary value of the pain and suffering that they experience.

"The results of this report highlight the urgent need for a national uniform approach to one of Australia's most serious -- and financially crippling -- problems," Professor Goddard said.