Child Abuse

89% of likely Democratic caucus participants and 64% of likely Republican caucusgoers say they would be more likely to vote for a presidential candidate whose candidate’s agenda on children includes plans to help reduce and prevent child abuse and neglect.

The Challenge

• In 2005, there were 39,752 reported cases of child abuse.
• 14,016 Iowa children were confirmed as abused in 2005.
• The mean number of placements of children in foster care in Iowa has increased over the last five years.
• It takes an average of more than 2 days after a report of child abuse in Iowa for an investigation to begin, and it takes an average of 31 days between the start of an investigation to when a child receives services.
• Child abuse and neglect contributes to numerous other social problems such as poverty, crime, and alcohol and drug abuse.
• For every federal dollar spent on treating victims of child abuse, we spend only one penny on prevention.  A recent study showed that American taxpayers spend $258 million every single day on the direct and indirect costs of child abuse, or $1,461.66 each year by every family. However, families pay only $1.06 for prevention.
• This places an enormous burden on the child protection agencies in the states, many of which are under-funded and understaffed.  Social workers have unreasonably high caseloads, inadequate supervision, and a serious lack of medical and legal support.  Staff turnover is staggering.

The Solutions

• Home visits help reduce child abuse and helps the economy – Fifteen years of research on home visiting at-risk mothers, beginning during pregnancy, resulted in less welfare, less child abuse and neglect, less maternal and juvenile arrests, and a longer time between subsequent pregnancies.  Investment in 2½ years of home visits costs $7,000 while the estimated return to society is $28,000.
• Parent education programs have been shown to reduce child abuse – Parent training aimed at child-rearing competence and stress management have been proven to reduce risk factors associated with physical child abuse
• Proven therapeutic treatments to abused and neglected children can minimize the long-term effects of abuse.

Health Care

91% of likely Democratic caucus participants and 49% of likely Republican caucusgoers say they would be more likely to vote for a presidential candidate whose campaign’s agenda on children includes helping ensure that every child in Iowa and the United States has access to quality affordable health care.

The Challenge

• 44,000 Iowa children (more than 6% of the child population) have no health insurance.
• 14% of Iowa ’s two year-olds have not been immunized.
• 210,000 Iowa children (more than 29% of the child population) are covered by some type of government health care
• Parents of many children in the Hawk-i child health program do not have any insurance themselves.
• Uninsured children don’t get the health care they need when they need it.  Compared to insured children, they are less likely to see a doctor and dentist regularly, less likely to be immunized, and less likely to be in good health.
• Though the number of children without insurance had fallen in recent years, it has begun to climb again. According to the US Census, the percentage of uninsured children has risen by 58% since 2002. Beyond that, the number of children covered by private insurance has fallen, and reliance on public programs for coverage has increased. Any downturn in the state's budget outlook could mean Iowa will have to reduce benefits, increase family cost-sharing, change eligibility and/or implement enrollment caps for Iowa’s health insurance programs.

The Solutions

• Immunizations save money, improve children’s health throughout their lives, and provide substantial economic benefits – The Centers for Disease Control estimates, for every dollar spent on childhood immunizations, between $6 and $30 are saved in direct medical costs from diseases prevented.
• Insuring all children, as well as adults, will improve the economy – The potential economic value to be gained in better health outcomes from continuous coverage for all Americans is estimated to be between $65 and $130 billion each year.
• If having health insurance was a certainty, family fears about paying for health care and meeting basic needs like buying groceries and paying rent would be alleviated.
• If everyone had insurance coverage, the continued viability of rural community health services and facilities would be more secure because of greater financial stability of insurance-based funding.

After-School

77% of likely Democratic caucus participants and 49% of likely Republican caucusgoers say they would be more likely to vote for a presidential candidate whose campaign’s agenda on children includes an expansion of after-school opportunities.

The Challenge

• In Iowa, 29%, or 158,115 children are unsupervised after school. 
• In Iowa, 70% of children under six have mothers in the workforce and 77% of children between 6 and 17 live in households where both parents work.
• On school days, the hours from 3-6 PM are peak hours for:
  • kids to smoke, drink, do drugs, and have sex,
  • innocent kids to become crime victims,
  • 16 and 17 year olds to be in a car crash,
  • teens to commit crimes.

• The amount of slots in after-school programs available today meets only half the demand among elementary and middle school parents.
• 60% of voters are concerned that there will not be new after-school programs and some existing programs may have to reduce their services or close their doors if no new federal funds are allocated.
• Mayors surveyed in 86 cities reported that only one-third of children needing after-school care were receiving it.

The Solutions

• After-school programs are a cost-effective federal investment.  Studies have found that effective after-school programs can yield a benefit-to-cost ratio to taxpayers and crime victims of 2 to 5 dollars for every dollar spent. Quality after-school programs can reduce future welfare, crime, and education costs by $80,000 to $120,000 per participant.
• After-school programs help kids achieve in schools.  Students who participate in extracurricular activities have better grades, feel greater attachment to school, have lower truancy rates and reach higher levels of achievement in college, as documented by a 17-year study that followed 1,800 6th graders in 10 Michigan schools through high school and college. Students in a statewide program in California improved their standardized test scores (SAT-9) in both reading and math by percentages almost twice that of other students. The after-school participants also had better school attendance.
• After-school programs keep kids safe and out of trouble.  Teens who do not participate in after-school programs are nearly three times more likely to skip classes than teens who do participate. They are also three times more likely to use marijuana or other drugs, and they are more likely to drink alcohol, smoke cigarettes and engage in sexual activity. Incidents of vandalism, stealing, violent acts and arrests were 50% lower among students in after-school programs in 12 high-risk California communities.

 Pre-Kindergarten

Attending Head Start, pre-kindergarten or other center-based preschool programs is linked with higher emerging literacy scores in 4-year-olds.

The Challenge

• Nearly 50 percent of all kindergarten teachers report that at least half of their students come to school with problems that hinder their success.
• The overall quality of early care and education in the U.S. is mediocre to poor regardless of the level of family income.  Existing programs need to improve, and new programs need to be held to higher standards of quality.

• In Iowa, pre-kindergarten education for 3 and 4 year olds costs more than tuition at Iowa’s public universities making it unaffordable for many families.
• Landmark brain research confirms that a child’s earliest years shape lifelong learning capacity and behavior.
• Only 12% of 3-year-olds and 21% of 4-year-olds in Iowa attend pre-kindergarten education assistance through state and federally funded early childhood programs.

The Solutions

• Pre-Kindergarten Education Programs Lead to Better Future Educational Performance – Low-income children who attend preschool perform at higher levels than those who do not. Children attending high-quality programs had one or more of the following outcomes: lower special education rates, lower grade retention rates, higher achievement test scores, higher high school graduation rates, and higher post secondary enrollment rates.
• Pre-Kindergarten Education Programs Help the Economy Thrive – The average benefits from a universally accessible preschool education program at ages 3 and 4 to be at least $25,000 per child, substantially more than the costs. The estimated cost- per-child (mixing half day, school day, and full day programs) is $8-$17K for two years.