Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2012

Abstract

Increasingly, scholars and policymakers are calling for programs that take a preventive approach to child abuse and neglect, rather than our current tendency to respond only after a crisis. There are significant social and economic arguments supporting this shift. The Nurse-Family Partnership, developed by David Olds and discussed in this symposium, illustrates how specific investments in family functioning can lower rates of child abuse and neglect, leading to a host of positive outcomes for children and society, from greater educational attainment to less involvement in the criminal justice system. Thinking about child well-being more broadly, the Nobel laureate James Heckman has demonstrated the relative value of preventive programs, establishing that targeted interventions that enrich a very young child’s environment are more cost effective than investing in schools and far more cost effective than investing in remedial programs for older adolescents and young adults.

Disciplines

Family Law | Law | Maternal and Child Health

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