Last year there were 11,000 referrals to juvenile court in Connecticut, representing enough children to fill more than 22 average-sized public schools. Most of these children have been repeatedly exposed to trauma and a majority have unmet mental health needs. Trauma exposure includes domestic violence, sexual abuse, physical and emotional maltreatment, community violence, natural disasters, and traumatic loss.
Although many youth exposed to trauma do not experience ongoing concerns, the prevalence of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms among justice-involved youth is very high. Exposure to trauma and the resulting PTSD symptoms and other reactions have been linked to lifelong problems with interpersonal functioning, cognitive functioning, substance abuse, and mental health concerns including PTSD, anxiety, depression, eating disorders, and conduct disorders. The lifetime societal costs associated with child maltreatment have been estimated at $210,012 per child.
[For more of this brief, published December 15 2015, go to http://www.chdi.org/index.php/...riefs/issue-brief-43]
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