- Child abuse - the $5bn tragedy
- By Christine Jackman
- The Herald Sun
- 22/11/2003 Make a Comment
- Contributed by: admin ( 75 articles in 2003 )
CHILD abuse costs Australian taxpayers almost $5 billion a year, a historic national report to be released today shows.
The costs include an annual medical bill of more than $1.3billion to treat injuries caused by abuse, and almost $115 million spent trying to save fatally injured children.
The report, commissioned by the Kids First Foundation, is the first in Australia to calculate the national short- and long-term costs of child abuse and neglect.
Kids First chairman David Wood said the massive figure - equivalent to estimates of the federal budget surplus - demanded immediate leadership from the Howard Government to co-ordinate a national response to the crisis.
"Unlike Bob Hawke's unfulfilled promise that no child will live in poverty, our aim now should be that no Australian child should have to live with abuse," Dr Wood said. "It's a matter of developing the political will to try to work towards that."
The report found child protection programs - including foster placements and other out-of-home support - cost the community $797 million a year. Taxpayers foot an annual bill of $794 million, including police, court and jail expenses to prosecute and punish child abusers.
But the greatest single imposte was the cost of long-term social and human problems caused by child abuse, calculated at $1.9billion annually. That figure included the costs of crimes committed by juvenile delinquents and adult criminals, whose childhood abuse was considered a significant factor in their anti-social behaviour.
Dr Wood said Kids First had commissioned management consultants Keatsdale to prepare the costings independently to ensure the estimates had credibility with politicians and the Treasury bureaucrats.
The costings are based on estimates of 38,700 abused and neglected children. This estimate is generally considered conservative, given state governments receive about 100,000 notifications of child abuse every year.
The report will be presented at the Australasian Asian Conference on Child Abuse and Neglect in Sydney on Monday.
The costs include an annual medical bill of more than $1.3billion to treat injuries caused by abuse, and almost $115 million spent trying to save fatally injured children.
The report, commissioned by the Kids First Foundation, is the first in Australia to calculate the national short- and long-term costs of child abuse and neglect.
Kids First chairman David Wood said the massive figure - equivalent to estimates of the federal budget surplus - demanded immediate leadership from the Howard Government to co-ordinate a national response to the crisis.
"Unlike Bob Hawke's unfulfilled promise that no child will live in poverty, our aim now should be that no Australian child should have to live with abuse," Dr Wood said. "It's a matter of developing the political will to try to work towards that."
The report found child protection programs - including foster placements and other out-of-home support - cost the community $797 million a year. Taxpayers foot an annual bill of $794 million, including police, court and jail expenses to prosecute and punish child abusers.
But the greatest single imposte was the cost of long-term social and human problems caused by child abuse, calculated at $1.9billion annually. That figure included the costs of crimes committed by juvenile delinquents and adult criminals, whose childhood abuse was considered a significant factor in their anti-social behaviour.
Dr Wood said Kids First had commissioned management consultants Keatsdale to prepare the costings independently to ensure the estimates had credibility with politicians and the Treasury bureaucrats.
The costings are based on estimates of 38,700 abused and neglected children. This estimate is generally considered conservative, given state governments receive about 100,000 notifications of child abuse every year.
The report will be presented at the Australasian Asian Conference on Child Abuse and Neglect in Sydney on Monday.
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