How Australia can invest in children and return more presents the opportunity for wise investments in evidence-based early intervention to radically change outcomes for Australian children and young people.
This report reveals that Australian governments are spending $15.2 billion each year on high-intensity and crisis services for problems that may have been prevented had we invested earlier and more wisely.
How Australia can invest in children and return more is one of the first Australian studies to analyse the cost of intervening late in areas that affect children and young people’s quality of life.
The report provides a baseline analysis of late intervention spending in Australia. It uses publicly available Australian data to calculate annual government expenditure on late intervention services for children and young people aged 0-24.
The partnership that delivered the report was initiated by CoLab – Collaborate for Kids (a partnership of the Minderoo Foundation and Telethon Kids Institute). The analysis was led by the Early Intervention Foundation and co-authored with The Front Project. It draws on the Early Intervention Foundation’s method and approach to measuring the cost of late intervention in England and Wales.
