Statistics

PSSC focuses all efforts on preventing child abuse and neglect. Programs work to strengthen family before harm is done. This is a more effective approach – and a less expensive approach. The statistics below illustrate why child abuse prevention programs make sense.

Child Abuse Rates Are Startling:

Nationally 2002-2003

  • In 2002, an estimated 1,400 children died due to abuse or neglect.
  • ¾ of the children killed were younger than 4.
  • More than 80% of the perpetrators were parents. Other relatives accounted for 7%, and unmarried partners of parents accounted for 3%.  

Pennsylvania , 2003

  • In 2003, 23,602 reports of suspected child and student abuse were received
  • The percentage of total reports of child abuse that were substantiated in 2003 was 19 percent, two percent less than in 2002.
  • Sexual abuse was involved in 56 percent of all substantiated reports, up four percent from 2002.

Philadelphia , 2004

  • Since January 2000, police have investigated the deaths of 39 children killed because of child abuse.
  • But those deaths may be only a part of the picture. The city's Department of Human Services has a higher tally: 55 child abuse deaths, including 11 this year. DHS counts some deaths that don't fit the legal description of homicide. Last year, 1,200 children were physically abused in Philadelphia .

Current Programs Aren't As Effective:

Foster Care:

  • 303,000 children entered the national foster care system in 2002.
  • As of September 30, 2002 , 126,000 children were waiting to be adopted nationally.
  • In 2002 only 53,000 children were adopted from the public foster care system.
  • In Pennsylvania , 4,240 children were in the system in 2002.

Violence:

  • “Those who had been abused or neglected as children were more likely to be arrested as juveniles (26 percent versus 17 percent), as adults (29 percent versus 21 percent), and for a violent crime (11 percent versus 8 percent).”
  • Juvenile record. Previously abused or neglected persons were at higher risk of beginning a life of crime, at a younger age, with more significant and repeated criminal involvement. Among those arrested as juveniles, abused or neglected persons were no more likely to continue a life of crime than other children.
  • Juvenile crime alone costs $4.5 billion—in the state of Pennsylvania alone.
  • A year of incarceration in a Philadelphia city prison costs taxpayers $27,000/person.
  • Juvenile inmates cost $49,000/person in Camden County .
  • An average inmate stay in a PA state prison is four years—at a cost of $112,000. Costs for Pennsylvania prison is about $1.4 billion.

Learning Disabilities:

  • Children who are abused are at risk for brain damage and learning disabilities. “Children with histories of severe physical or sexual abuse have… been found to have signs of subtle structural brain abnormalities on EEGs… abused children show evidence of tiny seizures… These changes can… lead to ongoing problems with learning and remembering new information.”
  • Learning disability costs nationwide were estimated at $23-36 billion in 2000.
  • 12% of the Philadelphia education budget goes to special education.
  • Special education enrollment skyrocketed 66% between 1994 and 2005 in Philadelphia .
  • It costs $50,000 a year to educate one special education student. In the Upper Moreland school district, $11,000 will be spent a month due to transportation costs for one student to go to a Delaware County School .
  • The Upper Moreland school district will spend upwards of $11,000/month to send one student to a Delaware County school.

Drugs:

  • There are clear ties between abuse and high risk behaviors. “Many of these children find that they can artificially induce a more relaxed state by self-medicating with substances such as cigarettes, alcohol and drugs. They may also seek escape chronic feelings of anxiety and depression through overeating or compulsive sexual behavior.”
  • Cigarette smoking risk is doubled in maltreated children.
  • Maltreated children are three times more likely to use alcohol underage and 2-3 times more likely to develop alcohol abuse problems.
  • Abused children are twice as likely to use illicit drugs.
  • Abused children are three times more likely to be promiscuous when teenagers.
  • Addiction costs the U.S. $400 billion a year

Health Problems:

  • Adults who were abused as children are found to have depression, panic problems, urinary disorders, heart problems, chronic pain, liver disease, skeletal fractures, and many other problems.
  • Depression alone costs the U.S. $42 billion/year
  • Sexually abused girls are three times more likely to attempt suicide than non-abused peers. Boys are ten times more likely to attempt suicide.
  • Physically abused children are five times more likely to commit suicide.
  • An alarming number of these suicides are committed by pre-teens
  • Adults abused as children have much higher health care costs. Women who reported abuse have costs $97 greater than peers, sexually abused men and women's costs are $245 more, and if the victim reports experience several types of abuse the figure is $439 more .

Prevention Efforts Work:

  • The state of Michigan estimated that protection services would cost approximately $43 million a year—compared to the $823 million spent on maltreatment and inadequate prenatal care costs.
  • Child abuse prevention programs yield a 19 to 1 cost advantage for tax payers nationally.
 
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