Background
The number of children and young people experiencing serious issues in Australia, including placement in out of home care, is alarming and increasing.
The purpose of this report is to:
- reveal how much Australian governments spend every year because children and young people have reached crisis point
- highlight the opportunity of earlier and wiser investment in children to improve the lives of young Australians while reducing pressure on government budgets.
Five organisations from the business, philanthropy, not-for-profit and research sectors have come together to identify and explain the human and economic cost to Australia of not stepping in early to support children and young people experiencing difficulties.
We believe there is a missed opportunity to prevent or reduce the severity of the difficulties children and young people are experiencing before they become harder and more expensive to resolve – resulting in children and young people being hospitalised for mental health difficulties, presenting at homelessness services, or entering the child protection system.
We find that Australia spends $15.2bn every year because children and young people experience serious issues that require crisis services.
Yet the opportunity exists to prevent the suffering of young Australians presenting to these services while, at the same time, reducing pressure on government budgets.
