Essentials for childhood

UCPC state plan for the primary prevention of child maltreatment and adverse childhood experiences

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Safe, stable, and nurturing relationships and environments are essential to prevent child maltreatment and to assure children reach their full potential.
Because child abuse and childhood trauma are a large and complex social problems, Utah Coalition for Protecting Childhood (UCPC) will use a collective impact approach. Collective impact is the commitment of a group of key stakeholders from different disciplines and sectors to a common agenda or purpose.

Benefits of prevention

Child maltreatment is not just a personal problem. It comes at a high financial cost to our state and weakens our community.
  • Cut Costs to the State: Each substantiated case of child maltreatment costs an estimated $830,928 over the victim’s lifetime.
  • Improve Mental Health: 80% of child maltreatment victims met the criteria for at least one psychological disorder by age 21.
  • Improve Academic Performance::Victims of child maltreatment are 25% more likely to experience low academic achievement.
  • Reduce Teen Pregnancy: Child maltreatment victims are 25% more likely to become pregnant during their teenage years.

According to the CDC, child maltreatment is "any act or series of acts of commission or omission by a parent or other caregiver (e.g., clergy, coach, teacher, etc.) that results in harm, the potential for harm, or threat of harm to a child1."

There are four major types of child maltreatment or abuse: physical abuse, child neglect, sexual abuse, and emotional abuse2.

  • According to the Utah Child Fatality Review Committee, in 2012, 12 children died from child abuse or neglect-related causes3.
  • Homicide was the fifth leading cause of death for children ages 1 to 14 in 20104.
  • Utah was the first state to enact legislation classifying domestic violence in the presence of a child or children as a crime of child abuse5.
  • From 2003-2008, 147 Utah children were directly exposed to an intimate partner-related homicide and 78% of these children were under six years of age6.
  • According to Kids Count, in 2011, Utah ranked 10th in the number of children confirmed by Child Protective Services as being victims of child maltreatment7.
See the data

Effects of child maltreatment

The effects of child maltreatment vary depending on the circumstances, characteristics, and environment of the child. Negative health outcomes for adults exposed to adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) as children are much higher for those not exposed to ACEs. ACEs are events in childhood that can be considered stressful or traumatic and include physical, verbal, or sexual abuse, as well as family dysfunction (such as an incarcerated, mentally ill, or substance abusing family member; domestic violence; or absence of a parent because of divorce or separation).

More than half (63.1%) of Utah adults reported that they had experienced an adverse childhood experience.

There is a link between ACEs and child maltreatment and later physical, psychological, and behavioral consequences as well as societal costs. It can stunt development of the child’s brain which may lead to psychological problems which can lead to risky behavior as the child ages. Child maltreatment is estimated to have a lifetime cost of $831,000 per child victim. If the maltreatment leads to death, it is estimated to cost $16.6 million per child. Physical, sexual, or emotional abuse or neglect are all Adverse Childhood Experiences.

References

  1. Child Maltreatment: Definitions
  2. Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act. U.S. Code 42 USC 5101 et seq; 42 USC 5116 et seq.
  3. Utah Child Fatality Review Committee
  4. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, WISQARS module.
  5. Whitcomb, D, Children and Domestic Violence: The Prosecutor’s Response
  6. Domestic Violence Fatalities in Utah, 2020.
  7. http://datacenter.kidscount.org/data/acrossstates/Rankings.aspx?ind=6221.
  8. Utah Division of Child and Family Services, Annual Report 2012.
  9. The Economic Burden of Child Maltreatment in the United States and Implications for Prevention.