How much does it cost a society to look away from the suffering of it's children?

Costs to SocietyIn a 1992, a state-level analysis of the costs associated with child maltreatment and its consequences was undertaken in Michigan. "These costs were then compared to the costs of providing child maltreatment prevention services to all first time parents. The costs of child abuse were estimated at 823 million dollars annually. These costs include those associated with low birthweight babies, infant mortality, special education, protective service, foster care, juvenile and adult criminality, and psychological services. The costs of prevention programming were estimated to be 43 million dollars annually. This yields a 19 to 1 cost advantage to prevention."

http://www.findcounseling.com/journal/child-abuse/abuse-neglect.html