Child Abuse & Neglect

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Child Abuse & Neglect Prevention

Support AB 543 (Ma) to extend the duration of the state’s the Nurse-Family Partnership program, in order to allow more time to raise funds to finance this home-visiting program and allow the program to be funded with federal, not just private, dollars.

Child abuse and neglect increase the risk that kids will grow up to commit violent crimes. The best available research indicates that, based on confirmed cases of abuse and neglect in just one year, close to 5,000 children in California will grow up to become violent criminals as a result of the abuse and neglect they endured as kids.

By investing in evidence-based home-visiting/in-home parent coaching programs such as the Nurse-Family Partnership, we could substantially cut abuse and neglect and reduce future arrests of both mothers and their children. Children of mothers in the Nurse-Family Partnership program had 48 percent fewer substantiated reports of abuse or neglect. And by the time the children reached age 15, they had 59 percent fewer arrests than the children of mothers left out of the program. The Washington State Institute for Public Policy found that this program saved taxpayers and crime victims, on average, over $18,000 for every child served.

In 2006, the Governor signed into law SB 1596 (Runner), which established the Nurse-Family Partnership program to provide grants for voluntary nurse home-visiting programs for expectant first-time mothers, their children, and their families. The measure authorized the State Treasury to accept private donations into a special account to pay for the program and provided that the account shall cease to exist if there are not sufficient funds deposited to the account by 2009. No private funds have yet been raised for this account.

AB 543 (Ma) would extend the duration of the state’s NFP program and allow the program to be funded with federal, not just private, dollars. In light of the Obama Administration making federal investments in home-visiting a high budget priority—through its 10-year, over $8 billion budget proposal—extending the program and expanding the kinds of allowable funding sources is justified in order to create more opportunities to provide NFP to families in need.