Home Visiting: The Potential for Cost Savings from Home Visiting Due to Reductions in Child Maltreatment

Evidence-based home visiting shows potential to prevent maltreatment, which has significant societal costs. To calculate potential savings stemming from negative outcomes, the cost of program delivery and intervention must be understood in relation to outcomes.

Casey Family Programs collaborated with Mathematica to conduct a comprehensive cost study of evidence-based home visiting programs participating in the federally funded Supporting Evidence-Based Home Visiting (EBHV) Initiative. Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago contributed to data collection and analysis for this effort. Grant funding from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation also provided support for the study.

This brief presents the results of this cost study, the research evidence on evidence-based home visiting’s impact on the prevention of maltreatment, and the most current estimates of the individual lifetime and societal costs of maltreatment. Taken together, this brief presents a compelling picture of why high quality home visiting programs may be worth investing in to not only improve outcomes for at-risk children and families but also to save money over time.