The costs of a public health infrastructure for delivering parenting and family support

Objectives: To estimate the costs of building a public health infrastructure for delivering a population-wide evidence-based multilevel system of parenting interventions to strengthen parenting; reduce risk for child maltreatment and coercive parenting practices; and reduce the prevalence of early child behavioral and emotional problems. Methods: Using data from 9 South Carolina counties, this study examines the costs to service agencies of training a wide range of providers. Using data on the number of children and families served, the paper estimates the total costs of training providers sufficient to treat all children and families in a hypothetical community. Results: The costs of the universal media and communication component totaled less than $1.00 per child in the population. The costs of training service providers to deliver at other intervention levels were quite modest ($11.74 on a per child basis). Conclusions: This study shows that a population-wide system of efficacious parenting programs aimed at reducing child behavioral and emotional problems and promoting effective parenting is quite feasible. Rough estimates suggest that these costs could be recovered in a single year by as little as a 10% reduction in the rate of abuse and neglect. (c) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.