ABSTRACT

Despite these shocking statistics, we are still putting in massive financial resources in terms of picking up the pieces after a troubled parent leads to a

troubled child. The result is health care costs, youth offending costs, child welfare costs, medical costs and juvenile justice costs. Far less money is spent on prevention (known as ‘invest to save’). Yet, with far more therapeutic and supportive intervention for parents and children, an enormous amount of suffering could be prevented and massive financial savings could be made. Massive savings have been quantified by world leading financiers such as James Heckman (2011), if we only invest in child well-being. Moreover, the resilience studies show again that what is needed is intervention by thoughtful caring adults.