Editorial: How Badly Do We Undercount Chronic Maltreatment, and How Much Should Clinicians Care?

Child maltreatment is both common1-4 and costly5,6 for children, communities, and society. Recent estimates suggest that roughly 1 in 8 American children will experience confirmed maltreatment,4 and the average lifetime cost per maltreatment victim is in excess of $210,000.5 This is the farthest thing from news for those who work in the child welfare system. But for those of us-whether adolescent and child psychiatrists, demographers,...