City and County officials, healthcare workers and child advocacy groups gathered together on the Missoula County Courthouse lawn on Wednesday for the kickoff of Child Abuse Prevention Month. 

Deborah Frandsen of Jon Tester's office relayed a message from the senator, while City Police Chief Mark Brady, Sheriff T.J. McDermott, and Missoula County Attorney Kirsten Pabst all addressed the law enforcement aspects of child abuse.

UM's Dr. Bart Klika from the school of social work spoke about how prevention can save not only countless dollars, but the lives of abused children.

"Researchers have estimated that the costs associated with treating the consequences of treating child abuse and neglect top out at about $210,000 per child," Klika said. "If we just talk about the 1,400 kids who experience abuse and neglect in 2013, they've incurred a lifetime cost of over $297 million. For every dollar that we invest in evidence-based home visitation programs such as he Nurse family Partnership, we can expect anywhere between a five to nine dollar return on our investment."

The gathering was presented by the Parenting Place.

Complete audio from Child Abuse Prevention Gathering

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