When we fail to invest early, children suffer from a range of problems—they are at higher risk for being abused, becoming teen mothers, dropping out of high school and misusing alcohol and illegal drugs. They are less likely to be healthy and more likely to be criminals

Child Abuse $30K – $200K Teen Pregnancy $120K – $138K High School Dropout $250K – $450K Illegal Drug Abuse $250K – $740K Alcohol Abuse $230K – $690K NOTES: The low-end present value figures reflect only tangible costs; the high-end figures add intangible costs. Because each bar includes individual and societal costs that may overlap with others, they cannot be tallied to produce a total. FIGURE 1
The researchers divide the societal costs of each outcome into two categories:
tangible, which covers items such as prison beds that are easier to measure and calcuate in dollars; and
intangible, which includes consequences like a crime victim’s pain and suffering that clearly have costs but must be estimated using more complex methods.
The average per-person tangible costs, as described below, are substantial:
Child Abuse: Societal costs for medical and mental health care and services such as foster care total more than $30,000 for a child who is abused.
Teen Parenthood: When a teenager has a child, the nation pays $120,000 for expenses including medical care, social assistance programs and efforts to deal with higher rates of abuse and neglect among these young parents.
High School Dropout: Adropout costs society $250,000 through lower earnings and benefits.
Illegal Drug Abuse: Treatment, medical care and other societal costs caused by a drug abuser amount to $250,000.
Alcohol abuse: Societal costs for an alcoholic, such as medical problems, car crashes and lost productivity at work, add up to $230,000.
$30,000 Pay Later
An abused and neglected child requires