Family Integrity

Year: 2009

  • Child Abuse Death Rate Is Killing Us

    MEDIA RELEASE

    11 March 2009

    Child Abuse Death Rate Is Killing Us

    Family First NZ says that the police announcement of a homicide investigation into the death of Taupo five-week-old Jayrhis Ian Te Koha Lock-Tata is a tragic reminder that the rate of child abuse deaths has continued at the same rate as before the flawed anti-smacking law and we are failing to identify and tackle the real causes.

    “While good families are being investigated and thrown under suspicion because of the extremist anti-smacking law, child abuse has continued at the same rate and the same old underlying issues of drug and alcohol abuse, family breakdown and dysfunction, the presence of non-biological adults in the house, low maternal age, poverty and single parenthood continue to be downplayed,” says Bob McCoskrie, National Director of Family First NZ.

    “Before Bradford’s anti-smacking law was passed, there were an average of 7 child abuse deaths per year since 2000. Since the anti-smacking law was passed 20 months ago, there has been 12 child abuse deaths.”

    The ‘roll of horror’ of child abuse deaths includes 2 year old Jhia Te Tua, 16 month old Sachin Dhani, 22-month-old Tyla-Maree Flynn, 3 year old Nia Glassie, Ten-month-old Jyniah Te Awa, Two-month-old Tahani Mahomed, 3 year old Dylan Rimoni, 7-year-old Duwayne Pailegutu, 16-month-old Riley Osborne, 3-year-old Cherish Tahuri-Wright, and now little Jayrhis.

    “NZ’ers are sick of our leaders ‘fluffing’ around the real issues of child abuse,” says Mr McCoskrie.

    Family First has a 5 point Action plan to tackle child abuse – www.stoptheabuse.org.nz

    ENDS

    For More Information and Media Interviews, contact Family First:

    Bob McCoskrie – National Director

    Mob. 027 55 555 42

  • More new babies taken from mothers

    http://www.stuff.co.nz/4864585a11.html

    More new babies taken from mothers

    Custody orders have doubled in five years

    By REBECCA PALMER – The Dominion Post | Monday, 02 March 2009

    Dozens of newborns are being taken from their mothers every year because of fears for their safety.

    Child, Youth and Family took 66 at-risk babies less than a month old into its care last year and 15 of them were taken the day they were born.

    In more than half of the cases, older brothers and sisters were already in care, figures provided to The Dominion Post under the Official Information Act show.

    The number of custody orders involving newborns has more than doubled in the past five years. In the 2003-04 year, 32 were taken into state care.

    Those taken last year include the newborn daughter of convicted baby-killer Tania Witika, who gave birth in Christchurch. CYF obtained custody when it heard she was pregnant.

    The horrific death of Witika’s daughter Delcelia, 2, in 1991 was one of the worst child-abuse cases to go before New Zealand courts. She and her partner at the time were each sentenced to 16 years’ jail for Delcelia’s torture and death.

    The rise in newborn custody orders coincides with a doubling in care and protection notifications involving babies still in their mothers’ wombs. Last year Child, Youth and Family received 215 notifications from people worried about the welfare of unborn children, compared with 96 five years earlier.

    Nearly half the alerts came from health professionals. Police, family members, courts, schools and others also reported concerns.

    Social Development Ministry chief executive Peter Hughes said the agency had been working to create an environment in which abuse and neglect were not tolerated. “In recent years, we have made significant progress in raising awareness of family violence and this is reflected in the increase in the number of notifications.”

    He said no child was taken from its parents unless concerns were of “an extreme nature”. They could include history of family violence, mental health problems, addiction, neglect and previous abuse of children. “Removal of children at such a young age is the last resort.”

    Children’s Commissioner Cindy Kiro agreed improved awareness was a big factor behind the increased numbers. “It’s part of a bigger pattern of increasing notifications, particularly off the back of high-profile cases like Nia Glassie.” Nia, 3, died in Auckland’s Starship children’s hospital in 2007, after repeated abuse that included being tumbled in a clothes drier, spun on a clothesline and kicked in the head.

    Dr Kiro said the health sector had become more proactive in watching for signs of abuse and reporting them.

    She suspected most of the health notifications came from hospitals. Pregnant women who had been abusing alcohol or drugs were more likely to experience complications.

    The number of notifications involving unborn children was likely to keep growing, she said.

    Paediatric Society president Rosemary Marks, who works at Starship, said most, if not all, district health boards now had a family violence co-ordinator. “We have had a real emphasis on training health professionals to be aware and to ask people about family violence.”

    That meant there was an opportunity to help if a pregnant woman said her partner was abusing her. “We can intervene earlier and hopefully interrupt the cycle of violence.”

  • Mum jailed for stabbing son

    http://www.stuff.co.nz/4861032a11.html

    JOHN SELKIRK/Dominion Post

    ATTEMPTED INFANTICIDE: Kim Knoll has been jailed for three years for attempting to kill her young son, first with a boning knife and then with a pillow.

    Mum jailed for stabbing son

    By CLIO FRANCIS – Stuff.co.nz | Thursday, 26 February 2009

    Kim Knoll let out a small gasp as she was this morning jailed for three years for attempting to murder her young son.

    Knoll, 20, was overcome by tears when Justice Pamela Andrews handed down her sentence at the High Court in Auckland this morning.

    Crown prosecutor Ross Douche said the reasons behind why Knoll had stabbed her two-year-old boy with a boning knife would never fully be understood.

    “For whatever reason, and that is still not clear, she determined to take steps to end the life of her child,” Douche said.

    During the trial the Crown said that Knoll had also tried to suffocate her son with a pillow during the incident at their Te Aroha home in May last year.

    Only the arrival of Knoll’s brother interrupted her actions and saved the life of the child, Douche said.

    Defence lawyer Michael McIvor said his client now accepted she was responsible for her son’s injuries.

    “It’s only really now that this has happened and at the end of the day she’s accepted it.”

    He did not accept a probation officer’s report which said Knoll showed no remorse or empathy towards her son.

    “What she wants to do is be reunited with her child,” he said.

    Mr McIvor told the court that Knoll had a very supportive family.

    “This has been a huge setback for the family, who came out from South Africa for a better life,” he said.

    Justice Andrews said she had received a letter from Knoll’s parents.

    “They said you were always a loving and caring mother to Lashawn. Understandably they have found this whole matter very difficult and confusing.

    “None of them can believe that you were responsible for what happened.

    “You are his mother and he ought to be able to trust you completely,” she said.

    Justice Andrews said mitigating factors for Knoll’s sentence included her lack of previous convictions, her young age, her parental role, her traumatic background and the letter she had written expressing remorse.

  • Fitzsimons to resign as Greens co-leader

    http://www.stuff.co.nz/4856034a6160.html

    Fitzsimons to resign as Greens co-leader

    By ANTHONY HUBBARD – Sunday Star Times | Sunday, 22 February 2009

    Green Party co-leader Jeanette Fitzsimons is about to announce her resignation from the post. She will stand down to allow a new co-leader time to make her mark before the 2011 election.

    The veteran Green, co-leader since 1995, is expected to serve out the parliamentary term as a list MP.

    The main candidates for her job, which under Green Party rules must be held by a woman, are MPs Sue Bradford and Metiria Turei. The new leader is likely to be announced at the party annual conference in June.

    Fitzsimons, who had earlier indicated she would probably retire at the next election, refused to comment yesterday. Co-leader Russel Norman also refused to discuss her future.

    Fitzsimons’ departure will leave a difficult problem for the party. She is a widely liked and admired politician, with appeal across the political spectrum.

    Neither Bradford nor Turei has similar appeal. Bradford, once a fiery Marxist radical, has softened her image, but her sponsorship of the anti-smacking bill drew much flak.

    Turei has the progressive appeal of being a Maori woman, but she may be seen as too radical to have wide appeal.

    It is not known if Catherine Delahunty, elected to parliament at last year’s general election, will be a candidate for the co-leadership. Her lack of parliamentary experience could count against her.

    It is understood that veteran Green MP Sue Kedgley is not seeking the post.

    Auckland University political scientist Raymond Miller said the resignation was a serious blow to the Greens. “Jeanette was a conservative and moderate figure who reassured people who might otherwise think of the Greens as an extremist party.”

  • 12-year-old steals day with pro-life speech

    http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=89135

    THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT

    12-year-old steals day with pro-life speech

    Teachers threaten disqualification, but girl chooses to speak against abortion

    Posted: February 16, 2009
    8:36 pm Eastern

    By Chelsea Schilling
    © 2009 WorldNetDaily

    Despite facing threats of disqualification, a 12-year-old girl took first place in a speech contest when she eloquently argued for the rights of unborn children – after an offended judge quit.

    “What if I told you that right now, someone was choosing if you were going to live or die?” the seventh-grader begins in a video recording of her speech on YouTube. “What if I told you that this choice wasn’t based on what you could or couldn’t do, what you’d done in the past or what you would do in the future? And what if I told you, you could do nothing about it?”

    The girl, a student at a Toronto school identified only as “Lia,” continued:

    “Fellow students and teachers, thousands of children are right now in that very situation. Someone is choosing without even knowing them whether they are going to live or die.

    “That someone is their mother. And that choice is abortion.”

    But what made the 12-year-old choose to speak about abortion?

    “It was really a family thing,” her mother explained on the blog Moral Outcry. “I saw Lou [Engle] speak at a conference several years ago. I came back to my family with the Life Bands, and we all wore them, made our covenant, and prayed the prayer for abortion to end. … We were invited to participate in a ‘Life Tape Siege.’ Once my kids heard of this invitation, they all agreed: ‘We have to do that!’ Since then, Lia’s passion for seeing abortion end has continued.”

    Despite Lia’s enthusiasm for her topic, her teacher “strongly encouraged” her to select a different one for her class presentation or she would be considered ineligible for an upcoming speech contest.

    “[S]everal teachers discouraged her from picking the topic of abortion; she was told it was ‘too big,’ ‘too mature’ and ‘too controversial,’” her mother wrote. “She was also told that if she went ahead with that topic, she would not be allowed to continue on in the speech competition.”

    Lia’s mother continued, “Initially, I tried helping her find other topics to speak on, but, in the end, she was adamant. She just felt she wanted to continue with the topic of abortion. So she forfeited her chance to compete in order to speak on something she was passionate about.”

    Lia’s teacher was so impressed by the speech that she allowed her student to advance as the winner. Lia presented her speech to judges in front of her entire school on Feb. 10.

    The school principal and teachers called Lia’s presentation the “obvious winner” – but the judges suddenly disqualified her the following day “because of the topic and her position on abortion,” her mother said.

    Lia’s father later revealed that the judges had a “big disagreement.” One was offended by the speech and voluntarily stepped down while the others reversed their earlier decision – declaring her the winner.

    Now Lia plans to take her message of life to a regional speech competition, and more than 130,000 visitors have viewed her presentation online.

    “Why do we think that just because a fetus can’t talk or do what we do, it isn’t a human being yet?” She asks in the video. “Some babies are born after only five months. Is this baby not human?

    “We would never say that. Yet abortions are performed on 5-month-old fetuses all the time. Or do we only call them humans if they’re wanted?”

    She continues, “No, fetuses are definitely humans – knit together in their mother’s womb by their wonderful Creator who knows them all by name.”

  • Pro-life group at Canterbury University

    “Back in September 2008, a group of interested young people  had a meeting about the possibility of setting up a pro-life group in the University of Canterbury. We decided at that meeting that this was definitely something we wanted to pursue. University campuses are one of the best places to spread the pro-life message as there are thousands of young people at each campus, and the majority of women who have abortions are at campuses. Unfortunately, this is an opportunity that is not being used: there are no known pro-life groups in any campus in New Zealand at the moment, however we are hoping that our new group will be the first in a network of campus groups all over New Zealand.

    Here’s a description of our new group:
    We want to be a hub at the University of Canterbury for students who are pro-life, that is, valuing the preciousness of a baby’s life before birth. Also, we wish to help pregnant mothers by pointing them towards useful, caring counseling services. As well as having regular club meetings during term-time, we plan to run public forums and seminars at which we would present our views and welcome input. We believe this is a very relevant issue in today’s society and would like to help co-students understand better what abortion is.

    – Lillian Hoyt, pro-life UC President

    We have a site booked for each of the clubs days, running from the 23-25th February, where we will (Lord willing) have a stall, hand out brochures, talk with people about pro-life issues, and give away little hands gingerbread biscuits. :) If you’d like to get involved with our group or become a member, we’d love to hear from you – contact us at: prolifenz@gmail.com , or come along to the clubs days and have a chat to us there. If you’d like more information with what’s happening in New Zealand in regard to abortion, or you’d like to donate to the cause, look us up on http://www.prolife.org.nz where we have news updates, videos and links to other pro-life groups.  Please pray that there will be a lot of support for this group and its activities

    See you there!

    Lydie Moore”

  • Ads taken out for ‘anti-smacking’ repeal

    http://www.stuff.co.nz/4841414a11.html

    Ads taken out for ‘anti-smacking’ repeal

    Sunday, 08 February 2009

    Lobby group Family First has placed advertisements in all three Sunday newspapers calling for the repeal of the “anti-smacking law”.

    The advertisement described four cases where parents were investigated by Child, Youth and Family following the repeal of Section 59 of the Crimes Act, which removed the defence of reasonable force for parents who physically punish their children.

    A late amendment to the law added the proviso that police had the discretion not to prosecute complaints against a parent where the offence was considered to be inconsequential.

    The cases referred to CYF included two where parents admitted smacking their children as a last resort and one where CYF investigated when her child told a friend’s mother he had been smacked.

    The fourth involved a child complainant who was found to have been angry with her mother for being grounded.

    “The tragedy is that families are seeking help in their role as parents but as soon as they acknowledge that they smack or have smacked, they are immediately being referred to CYF and their children are being removed,” Family First director Bob McCoskrie said.

    CYF eventually closed the investigation in all four cases, the advertisements say.

    A fifth example described a case where a woman was suspended by a community centre for what Family First says was a tap on the back of the hand.

    She was eventually reinstated after the employer dropped the case after her lawyer intervened.

    Mr McCoskrie called for the repeal of the law, saying it was penalising good parents while not tackling the real causes of child abuse.

    –NZPA

  • Nursed babies less prone to abuse

    http://www.theage.com.au/national/nursed-babies-less-prone-to-abuse-20090126-7q0e.html?page=-1

    Nursed babies less prone to abuse

    • Julia Medew
    • January 27, 2009

    WOMEN who do not breastfeed their infants are nearly four times more likely to neglect and abuse their child, a world-first study of Australian women has found.

    The analysis of about 6000 Queensland mothers and their children also discovered that the longer a woman breastfeeds, the less likely she is to neglect or hurt her child.

    To reach their findings, researchers from the University of Queensland linked data from Australia’s largest longitudinal study tracking mothers and their children with substantiated reports of maltreatment recorded by the state’s child protection authorities.

    They found that of the 1421 women who did not breastfeed their children in the group, 102 women — or 7.2 per cent — neglected or abused their child in some way.

    This was compared to 4.8 per cent of the 2584 women who breastfed their baby for less than four months and just 1.6 per cent of the 2616 women who breastfed their baby for more than four months.

    Maltreatment included neglect, emotional abuse, physical abuse and sexual assault. Neglect was the most common form identified in the study, but the prevalence of all types increased as the duration of breastfeeding decreased.

    When the researchers adjusted the statistics for 5890 cases to filter out the influence of other factors, they concluded that women who did not breastfeed were 3.8 times more likely to maltreat their child.

    For mothers who breastfed for less than four months, the risk was about 2.3 times that of women who breastfed for longer than four months.

    Lane Strathearn, author of the research due to be published in the journal Pediatrics next month, said the conclusions were bolstered by research linking breastfeeding to the release of oxytocin, a hormone proven to activate areas of the brain linked to maternal care and behaviour in animals.

    The physical bond created during breastfeeding, including eye contact, could also be a factor, he said.

    Dr Strathearn concluded that the promotion of breastfeeding could be a relatively simple and cost-effective way of strengthening the relationship between mothers and babies to prevent child neglect and abuse.

    “This overarching goal would be best accomplished by promoting parent education and long-term marital stability and by providing economic and social support for new mothers who choose to stay at home with their infants,” he said.

    Deputy Director of the Women’s and Children’s Health Research Institute in South Australia, Dr Maria Makrides, said people should not interpret the absence of breastfeeding or low rates as a direct cause of neglect and abuse. “I don’t necessarily think that by increasing the breastfeeding rate, we are going to wipe out neglect and abuse,” she said.

    Australian Breastfeeding Association president Querida David said the study was consistent with other research.

  • Cindy Kiro’s term ending!

    This is from Family First’s e-newsletter.

    To subscribe send an email to: admin@familyfirst.org.nz

    1. Cindy Kiro’s term ending!
    Herald on Sunday 25 January 2009
    Controversial Children’s Commissioner Cindy Kiro will finish her five-year term in April. The Ministry of Social Development has advertised the high-profile role, with an annual salary of $195,100 . Critics have accused Kiro as being a toothless figurehead, but she has defended her record as an independent voice for children. READ MORE
    Family First Comment : Cindy Kiro has been openly hostile towards Family First, and in fact to any people who may have a christian faith – no matter how qualified they are to speak up. Apart from completely misrepresenting the facts in the smacking debate and mispresenting Family First’s position, last February she attempted to discredit the 300,000+ NZ’ers who had signed the petitions on the anti-smacking law by saying that previous generations of parents didn’t parent as positively and were less qualified in knowing how to raise their children than parents of today !!
    We also would like to know why she was
    – silent after the pathetic sentence handed down to the caregivers of Ngatikauri Ngati who abused the little 3 year old to death
    – silent during the Trevor Mallard incident during the “It’s Never OK” Violence Campaign funded by the government.
    – silent when the prostitution report from South Auckland was released last year highlighting the number of young teenagers prostituting themselves
    – silent when Police refused to prosecute a 21 year old who got a 13 year old pregnant (after starting the relationship when she was 11)
    – silent over the recent cancelling of the sentence for a woman who pleaded guilty to infanticide
    – silent over the ultimate child abuse of abortion
    ….yet is more interested in the rights of children to be able to purchase spray cans of paint for the purposes of tagging, and wanting to monitor every child with a social worker as soon as they are born!!!

    The problem is not just with Dr Kiro but with the office itself.  Children’s interests are best served in the context of their own family . Government support for children must be through their families, not apart from families. Any office or structure which even appears to separate children from their parents and families will be destructive in the long run – no matter how well intentioned. Laws are already in place which protect children in seriously dysfunctional families.

    If the National government is serious about doing away with unecessary governmental spending , this would be a good place to start – rather than just cancelling a few conferences. So why are they advertising for a new Commissioner?????


    READ MORE “Parents deserve the right to raise their children.”

    This is from Family First’ e-newsletter.  To subscribe send an email to:

    admin@familyfirst.org.nz

  • Baby deteriorates in hospital after alleged assault

    http://www.stuff.co.nz/4830730a11.html

    Baby deteriorates in hospital after alleged assault

    Tuesday, 27 January 2009

    The health of the 10-week-old baby attacked at the weekend has deteriorated and it is now listed as critical, police say.

    A 28-year-old man is due to appear Lower Hutt District Court on Thursday charged with assault.

    Detective Senior Sergeant Scott Cooper said the baby was now in a “pretty serious” condition with a head injury and charges would likely be upgraded if the child died.

    Police have refused to say whether the accused is the baby’s father.