Costs for physical and mental health hospitalizations in the first 13 years of life among children engaged with Child Protection Services

Amanda L. Neil · Maina Kariuki · Kristin R. Laurens · Ilan Katz · Felicity A. J. Harris · Vaughan J. Carr +1 more

14 citations0/0 files storedChild Abuse & Neglect

No readable copy stored yet — this record is metadata only.

No open-access location is known for this record yet.

Literature note Cite in a project Citation map

Child Welfare and Adoption Child Abuse and Trauma Child and Adolescent Health

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Longitudinal data on health costs associated with physical and mental conditions are not available for children reported to child protection services. OBJECTIVE: To estimate the costs of hospitalization for physical and mental health conditions by child protection status, including out-of-home-care (OOHC) placement, from birth until 13-years, and to assess the excess costs associated with child protection contact over this period. PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING: Australian population cohort of 79,285 children in a multi-agency linkage study. METHODS: Costs of hospitalization were estimated from birth (if available) using Round 17, National Hospital Cost Data Collection (2012-13; deflated to 2015-16 AUD). Records of the state child protection authority determined contact status. Data were reported separately for children in OOHC. Hospital separations were classified as mental disorder-related if the primary diagnosis was recorded in ICD-10 Chapter V (F00-F99). RESULTS: Hospital separations were more common in children with child protection contact. Physical health care costs per child decreased with age for all children, but were significantly higher for children with contact. Mental health costs per child were always significantly higher for children with contact, with marked increases at 3 ≤ 4 years and 8 ≤ 9 years. Point estimates of annual costs per child were always highest for children with an OOHC placement. The net present value of the excess costs was $3,224 per child until 13- years, discounted at 5 %. CONCLUSIONS: Children in contact with child protection services show higher rates and costs for physical and mental health hospitalizations in each of their first 13 years of life.

Paper brief

Loading…

Cite this work

Citation unavailable for this work.

BibTeX RIS CSL-JSON

No public copy is stored for this record, so only the metadata is cited.

Citations in this library

Citation map →

Stored only when both papers are in the corpus — 14 citations exist upstream.

References

2008Burden and consequences of child maltreatment in high-income countries 2007Age of onset of mental disorders: a review of recent literature 2012The economic burden of child maltreatment in the United States and implications for prevention 2005Defining maltreatment according to substantiation: distinction without a difference?2008Time to Leave Substantiation Behind 2015The burden of child maltreatment in China: a systematic review 2015The burden of child maltreatment in the East Asia and Pacific region 2018The economic burden of child sexual abuse in the United States

Explore the map →

Papers that cite the same references — the relational fallback while embeddings are still backfilling.

Imported from OpenAlex (CC0) — nothing here is generated.