Summary: Reports of child abuse soared from 60,000 in 1974 to more than 2.6 million in 1990. The federal government gives the states billions of dollars annually to deal with the aftermath of child abuse, but targets only a meager sum for abuse prevention--an imbalance Congress could help remedy by authorizing adequate reimbursement to the states when they carry out effective prevention programs. For example, federal payments to states for foster care for abused children totaled more than $1.8 billion in 1991 whereas federal funding for prevention and treatment is less than $60 million annually. Child abuse prevention programs, however, have been shown to be effective. A recent evaluation of a nurse home-visiting program showed that high-risk teen mothers who did not receive services were far more likely to abuse their children. Other studies suggest that prevention programs also alleviate other problems linked with abuse, such as learning disabilities and chronic health conditions. One estimate pegs the cost of lost productivity of adults who were victims of severe child abuse at as much as $1.3 billion annually. Many programs GAO visited are struggling to survive because they rely on multiple short-term funding sources.
