DALLAS (WBAP/KLIF News) — Child abuse cases in North Texas could be costing both taxpayers and the economy a lot of money.
According to the Centers for Disease Control, the lifetime cost to care for a mistreated child is $124 billion. The Dallas Children’s Advocacy Center, those costs begin to add up immediately after a child is abused.
“[The child] then goes to school and is expected to focus on math and reading,” said Kristen Howell with DCAC. “Well the truth is, she’s not. She’s thinking about safety and shame.”
Howell says that has a cumulative effect, negatively affecting a child’s ability to succeed in school and in turn become a productive member of society.
She says in Dallas County alone, there are roughly 20,000 reported child abuse cases each year, leading to thousands of hours of therapy and thousands more forensic interviews.
“If you don’t wrap around services around a child who’s been abused early on, if you don’t stop that abuse, and if you don’t help the system change, they have cancer, they have heart disease,” Howell said. “They have chronic illness that is very, very expensive.”
The organization says in order to help bring down widespread child abuse, the community needs to actively advocate against it.
“The advocacy center cannot run unless people in the community say that it’s important,” Howell said. “The truth is, it affects all of us economically and morally.”
