There is an economic case for supporting parent-infant relationships, particularly in more vulnerable families.
Many family interventions during the first 1001 days have been shown to deliver greater return on investment. This is because:
- It is relatively easier and more effective to act early (prevention is better than cure)
- The families with the greatest need for specialist early intervention tend to make the greatest gains from it
- Early action leads to accumulated savings by preventing other services being required later in the child’s life
- Effective early intervention improves the child and family’s participation in the economy
James Heckman has shown that money spent on interventions at this stage of the life course brings the greatest dividends.
A number of publications have estimated the costs of ‘late intervention’ in children’s lives. For example, mental health problems in children and young people are associated with excess costs estimated at between £11,030 and £59,130 annually per child. These costs fall to a variety of agencies (e.g. education, social services and mental health and include the direct costs to the family of the child’s illness). [1]