Governments have legal and moral obligations to protect children, yet child abuse and neglect remain widespread and prevention and response systems persistently underfunded. One reason for this under-investment is that that the costs of inaction are often less visible than the immediate costs of child protection services. These wider costs are spread across children and families, health and education systems, social welfare and justice services, labour markets, public revenues and future generations.
An investment case makes these consequences visible by bringing together evidence on the scale of child abuse and neglect, the costs of inaction, a credible solution, the resources required and the benefits of investment. This brief explains how investment cases are developed and used to inform policy, advocacy, planning and budgeting, and introduces two new ISPCAN tools for generating indicative estimates of the economic costs of child abuse and neglect and the potential benefits of prevention.
Five key messages:
The costs of inaction are high: Child abuse and neglect cause lifelong harm and impose substantial costs on families, public services, governments and economies.
Investment can deliver substantial returns: Effective prevention and response can protect children, strengthen human capital, improve the value of existing social expenditure and reduce future costs.
Evidence strengthens advocacy: Investment case evidence can help move ending violence against children from political commitment to costed and financed action.
Integrated action produces wider benefits: The benefits of prevention accrue across health, education, justice, child protection, social protection and the wider economy.
The new ISPCAN tools provide an entry point: Indicative estimates of costs and potential benefits can help countries start investment case discussions, identify evidence gaps and build momentum for more comprehensive analysis and advocacy.
These tools can be downloaded here: Building the investment case for ending violence against children - ISPCAN . Note: These Tools remain under development - feedback is welcomed.
