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<H2>A no-risk investment </H2>
<P class=byline><SPAN class=up><SPAN class=name><A
href="http://www.spokesmanreview.com/news/bylines.asp?bylinename=Shawn%20Vestal">Shawn
Vestal</A></SPAN> • Staff writer</SPAN><BR>Published April
16, 2007</P><!---------Code for Big Ads-------------------><!---------End Code for Big Ads------------------->
<P><SPAN>C</SPAN>hild abuse is costing you money.</P>
<P>It is doubtlessly crass to put it like that. After all, the human costs paid
by abuse victims are heartbreaking and lifelong, not merely expensive in social
and financial terms. </P>
<P>But a growing body of research shows that money spent to prevent child abuse
is a good investment – reducing the eventual costs of crime, health care and
remedial education, while helping children grow up to earn more and pay more
taxes.</P>
<P>"We know that if we can reduce the child abuse and neglect rates, there's
going to be a number of benefits to the society," said Steve Aos, associate
director of the Washington State Institute for Public Policy. "We also know
there's an immediate benefit to the child not being abused."</P>
<P>One analysis of early childhood programs suggests that for every dollar
spent, the state could reap more than $3 in benefits down the road – essentially
tripling its money. A new report from The Brookings Institution shows even
higher returns for a variety of pre-kindergarten programs for poor children.</P>
<P>A 2005 study by the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, evaluating some of
the same research, concluded that spending on early childhood programs resulted
in annual rates of return between 7 percent and 16 percent. While estimates can
vary depending on circumstances and methodology, experts say the general
direction of the research is unquestionable.</P>
<P>"Here the literature is clear: Dollars invested in (early childhood
development) yield extraordinary public returns," the Federal Reserve Bank
report says.</P>
<P>In terms of developing a skilled work force, the report says, spending on
childhood programs is a better bet than propping up businesses with tax cuts or
other subsidies.</P>
<P>"In the name of economic development and creating new jobs, virtually every
state in the union has a history of subsidizing private businesses," the report
says. "Previous studies have shown that the case for these subsidies is
short-sighted and fundamentally flawed."</P>
<P>Research has established that children who are abused or neglected are at
greater risk for a range of consequences, from stunted brain development to poor
performance in school to a greater likelihood of drug abuse to lifetime earnings
that fall tens of thousands of dollars below their peers'.</P>
<P>All of those consequences can have lifetime effects for the abused child and
ripple effects for society. Abused children are more likely to become criminals,
and crime costs everyone a lot of money. Abused kids are more likely to develop
problems with mental illness and poverty, requiring social services. They're
more likely to need expensive special education or indigent hospital
services.</P>
<P>Quantifying this impact can be difficult. A national group of police chiefs
and others who work to reduce crime estimates the annual cost to the country of
child abuse at roughly $80 billion. Chris Blodgett, director of child and family
research at Washington State University-Spokane, said the social-costs argument
is just another way to encourage everyone to get involved in fighting child
abuse. "If you can't be persuaded emotionally, if you can't be persuaded
morally, can we persuade you on the basis of your own self-interest?" he
said.</P><SPAN class=subhead>Human investment</SPAN><BR>
<P>In 2004, Aos helped conduct a survey of hundreds of studies of child
intervention programs at the behest of the Washington Legislature. An economist,
Aos said the report was not unlike preparing investment advice – trying to
pinpoint which programs had the greatest return for taxpayers and at-risk
families.</P>
<P>Aos said state governments need information like this to know how to best
spend taxpayers' money. Putting it in stock market terms, he said, the report
indicates, "There's money to be made. There are good investments out there."</P>
<P>Some of the highest returns come from programs that get involved with
families as early as possible – even before birth. A program known as the Nurse
Family Partnership for Low-Income Women identifies pregnant women who have a
variety of red flags for future child abuse, ranging from poverty to a history
of abuse. Nurses begin visiting the women six months prior to birth, and visit
regularly for two years thereafter, providing parent coaching, health advice and
monitoring.</P>
<P>The program reported among the highest financial benefits of any program that
Aos and his colleagues at the WSIPP studied in 2004. At an average cost per
child of about $9,000, researchers estimated a benefit of more than $17,000, to
the child and to society.</P>
<P>"We should be moving more on early childhood education," said Julia Isaacs, a
scholar at the Brookings Institution who wrote a study titled "Cost-Effective
Investments in Kids." "Most other countries do more."</P>
<P>Said Isaacs, "It seems in this country we're reluctant to spend (government)
money lower than age 5."</P>
<P>Generally, programs that focused on home visitation by nurses and parent
coaching had the best rates of return – benefit-cost ratios of between 2-to-1
and 3-to-1. The estimates vary among programs, and differences in research
methodologies make the numbers less than exact.</P>
<P>Not all programs fared so well in the research Aos surveyed. Early Head
Start, for example, had a particularly low benefit-cost ratio – losing about 75
cents for every dollar spent. However, he noted that the program does help
children; it just does so in a very costly fashion.</P>
<P>"It's an approach that doesn't seem particularly promising to me, when you
look at the research and the numbers," Aos said.</P>
<P>The national group Fight Crime: Invest in Kids, consisting of law enforcement
officials, social services experts and others, said research about child-abuse
prevention offers hope, but public funding for effective programs is
lagging.</P>
<P>"The evidence is now conclusive: it is possible to prevent most abuse and
neglect in high-risk families," according to a 2003 report from the group. But
the report concludes, "Local, state and federal governments are failing to make
the investments necessary to prevent child abuse and
neglect."</P><BLOCK><BLOCK></BLOCK></BLOCK></DIV>
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<H4 class=top>About this project</H4>
<P class=teaser>An area-wide effort to protect and nurture our community's
children.</P><!--<h4>Capstone event</h4>
<p class="teaser"><a href="http://www.thechamber.net/cgi-bin/foxweb.dll/wlx/cal/wlxprofile?caleid=3699&cc=SPOKANE">Register for lunch with Bob Watt</a>, Boeing Company Vice President of Government Relations and Global Corporate Citizenship. Watt will share his perspective on the connection between healthy children and healthy communities in a lunch at 11:30 a.m. on Friday, April 13, at The Davenport Hotel's Grand Pennington Ballroom. Cost is $35.</p>
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<H4 class=top><A href="http://www.spokesmanreview.com/ourkids/chats/">Upcoming
chats</A></H4>
<UL>
<UL>
<LI class=chat><A title="event detail"
href="http://www.spokesmanreview.com/ourkids/chats/transcript/?ID=75">Economic
impact</A> (4/19)
<LI class=chat><A title="event detail"
href="http://www.spokesmanreview.com/ourkids/chats/transcript/?ID=76">Attachment
and bonding</A> (4/27)</LI></UL></UL>
<H4><A href="http://www.spokesmanreview.com/ourkids/calendar/">Upcoming
events</A></H4>
<UL>
<UL>
<LI class=event><A title="event detail"
href="http://www.spokane7.com/events/?ID=35815">National Missing Children's
Day Exhibit</A>
<LI class=event><A title="event detail"
href="http://www.spokane7.com/events/?ID=36305">Free Pinwheel</A>
<LI class=event><A title="event detail"
href="http://www.spokane7.com/events/?ID=36304">Our Kids Our Business
Pinwheels Display</A>
<LI class=event><A title="event detail"
href="http://www.spokane7.com/events/?ID=35822">Coffee for Child Abuse
Awareness</A>
<LI class=event><A title="event detail"
href="http://www.spokane7.com/events/?ID=36659">Pinwheels
Display</A></LI></UL></UL>
<H4>Downloads</H4>
<P class=teaser style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 3px">Use the pinwheel logo for your own
events and correspondence.</P>
<UL>
<LI class=pinwheel><A
href="http://www.spokesmanreview.com/ourkids/images/pinwheel_logo.jpg">Hi-resolution
.jpg</A></LI></UL>
<P class=teaser style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 3px">Download, print and color a
pinwheel.</P>
<UL>
<LI class=pinwheel><A
href="http://www.spokesmanreview.com/ourkids/docs/coloring_page.pdf">Printable
.pdf</A></LI></UL>
<H4>Project partners</H4>
<UL>
<LI class=website><A href="http://www.inlander.com/">The Inlander</A>
<LI class=website><A href="http://www.khq.com/">KHQ</A>
<LI class=website><A href="http://1510kga.com/">1510 KGA-The Mark Fuhrman
Show</A>
<LI class=website><A href="http://www.krem.com/">KREM</A>
<LI class=website><A
href="http://www.kxly.com/">KXLY</A></LI></UL></DIV></DIV></DIV>
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