“Healthy Families Dallas” succeeding to prevent, reduce child abuse in DFW

There are several programs in DFW which are succeeding to prevent and reduce child abuse/neglect.

For example, Healthy Families Dallas, part of Healthy Families America, has achieved success in the inner city by assisting families at high risk for perpetrating child maltreatment. Working with other agencies, such as the Exchange Clubs in Dallas, health and nurse practioners visit homes and teach parents one-on-one how to properly raise children.

According to TexProtects, which has been instrumental in lobbying for reforms to protect children in Texas, Healthy Families spends only $3,000 per family per year to prevent child abuse, while the state of Texas spends $34,000 annually per family after a child is abused or neglected.

They propose that if the State would invest just $360 million to increase funding for Healthy Families initiatives – before maltreatment even becomes an issue – then the investment would prove to be a cost savings to the state within one to four years, let alone the good it would do for children and families.

TexProtects claims that for every dollar we spend on treating child maltreatment victims, if we would spend seven to nine cents to prevent victimization, we would then save millions of dollars dealing with the after-effects, plus save thousands of lives and the futures of children at risk.

We agree!

The Dallas-based agency suggests offering prevention programs such as Healthy Families Dallas to approximately 120,000 Texas families to make a measureable impact.

Why would any legislator not agree to try this proven approach?