Category: Normal Families-Police/CYFs since Section 59 amended

Some Normal Families caught up with Police and CYFs since Section 59 amended

Check out earlier cases here:

http://anti-matters.net/2007/normal-familiespolice-and-cyfs-since-section-59-amended

Plus

DECEMER 2007

**Grandmother Warned by Police After Grabbing Grandchild Running onto Road South Auckland. This grandmother had to prevent her 2 year old grandson from running onto the road by grabbing his arm and pulling him back to the footpath. She was petrified that her grandson could be run over. A police officer witnessed her and said she was breaking the law by grabbing him. She was let off with a warning but was told that if it ever happened again, they would prosecute her. She had recently lost a friend’s child (6) to a train crash. (Takanini) She now puts him in the pram to avoid getting arrested. Her family is horrified by what’s happened and she’s now concerned about taking her grandchildren out in public. She feels she’s been publicly humiliated. Another grandmother came up to her and said she’d been interviewed by the police for giving her 4 year old grandson a smack on the bottom in Countdown for swearing at her. The woman was taken to the police station to be interviewed. http://www.familyfirst.org.nz/index.cfm/cases.html

** Passerby Reports Squealing Child Auckland. Tanya had two police officers arrive on her doorstep as she was hosting visitors on a Saturday night. The police informed her that a ‘passer by’ had heard a child being smacked and subsequently screaming. They could not tell the mum what day this occurred on, what time or who the person was. She explained to them that her 9 year old daughter squeals when she plays, particularly when outside on the trampoline with her brother. She likes to play hard with her 13 year old brother – and inevitably she sometimes gets hurts – and performs! The mum says the passer-by could have heard her children ‘playing’ – “do I have to stop them having fun??” “We don’t smack our kids (or if we have in the past, it has been minor) and this incident did not occur. I informed the officers accordingly. They insisted that they needed to see my daughter. I informed them that she was now with her father as we share custody. I gave them full contact details. They told me they would have to go around there to check she was OK.” “I have found the whole episode to be extremely distressing. I felt completely humiliated to literally be accused of child abuse and have now found it hard to sleep at night at it has upset me so much – how I look after and care for my children is being questioned. On hearsay I am now a guilty person. This new law is ending up with a lot of good innocent parents being wrongfully accused. This law needs to be changed.” http://www.familyfirst.org.nz/index.cfm/cases.html\

** We also know of a family where CYFs has taken the daughter because she was smacked when she swore at her mother.

** Eight year old’s Class Taught to Dob in Parents – Behaviour Deteriorates
Hawkes Bay. The police went to a local primary school and did a session on “Keeping Ourselves Safe.” During the session, the policeman told this particular class of 7 and 8 year olds that parents couldn’t smack them, and that if they did, they should immediately tell the teacher. This was not the only school in the area where this message was given. Within the next few days, this solo mum’s 8 year old daughter who had been in this session and who had had a ‘clean’ record at school all year was stood down for kicking the teacher in the leg. She also kept telling her mother “you can’t make me do anything – you can’t smack me”, following the lesson. Her older child (10) also told the mother that “you can’t make me go to school.”
The mother went to the police to clarify what they had said and to tell them the difficulties she’d had since their visit to the school. The Sergeant was obliging and said he would sort it out by sending the officer involved to speak to the girls and reinstate her authority. An angry phone call from the officer followed to the mother, questioning whether she had a problem with the smacking law. Two days later 2 male officers arrived to supposedly reinstate the mother’s authority but instead they questioned her parenting skills and told her they had investigated her background with a variety of community organisations. They had her in tears and she found them intimidating and degrading. They also proceeded to tell the children their rights. Yet amazingly the police said to the mother the daughter deserved a smack after kicking the teacher. The mother in desperation at her treatment spoke to her local MP, & was then contacted by the District Commander of the Police who told her not to go complaining to the MP because he had better things to do. The mother was traumatised by all this, and has laid a formal complaint with the Police but to no avail. http://www.familyfirst.org.nz/index.cfm/cases.html

**Mother Investigated After 4 Year Old Smacked For Running Out on Road West Auckland Jackie’s 4 year old ran across the road outside a busy supermarket when she saw a friend on other side of road. The mum smacked her on the bottom once to show her how dangerous her actions were. A member of the public challenged the way she had disciplined her child, took her vehicle registration, and the mum was visited by police two days later. She felt like a criminal and embarrassed by it all. She said “please don’t take my daughter” to the police. They did a police check to see if it had happened before. The Police (who had kids as well) told the mum they felt it was a waste of time. The daughter said “what’s wrong mummy,” and was upset by it all. http://www.familyfirst.org.nz/index.cfm/cases.html

JANUARY 2008
**Father warned for disciplining boy, 3. A Christchurch father is fuming after he received a police warning for hitting a child after he flicked his son’s ear in public as a reprimand. Professional musician Jimmy Mason flicked the ear of his son, Seth, at the Bridge of Remembrance just before Christmas after the three-year-old disobeyed his instructions while riding his new bike….A nearby teacher took umbrage, an off-duty policewoman rang the incident in and in minutes later Mason was surrounded by six police officers. http://www.stuff.co.nz/4354765a10.html

Some Normal Families caught up with Police and CYFs since Section 59 amended

AUGUST 2007

**3 August 2007 – Eastern Courier – Boy’s 111 ‘parent assault’ call unfounded
A boy called 111 after learning about the new child discipline regulations at school. The 11-year-old turned to police fearing he was assaulted by his parents, but it turned out that he was being disciplined. http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/sundaystartimes/auckland/4150344a22395.html

**14 August 2007 – Karyn Scherer: No, I don’t abuse my kids, but thanks for checking
The most extraordinary thing happened to me on Saturday night. I was not long out of my nightly dip in the spa pool with the kids, when there was a loud and unfriendly rap on the front door. “Open up,” a man’s voice boomed. I scurried to the door in my dressing gown, somehow knowing instantly that it could only be the police, and that some drama must be occurring in our neighbourhood. How right I was. There were three burly policemen on my doorstep, who shone a torch in my face and aggressively informed me that someone in my neighbourhood was concerned that I might be abusing my children. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/466/story.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=10457483&pnum=0#Scene_1 and http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10457582

OCTOBER 2007

**28 October 2007 – Stuff – School dobs mum to CYF for hand smack
A Wellington mother says her family has been left traumatised by new anti-smacking laws, after her son’s school reported her to Child, Youth and Family for smacking him on the hand. http://www.stuff.co.nz/4253352a10.html and http://www.stuff.co.nz/4253352a10.html and http://familyintegrity.blogspot.com/2007/10/fi-301.html and what the family said about it http://familyintegrity.blogspot.com/2007/10/fi-300.html

**Police Investigate Grandmother for Giving Swearing Grandchild a Smack in Shop Bay of Plenty
In October, a woman had been shopping with her granddaughter at one of the Warehouse stores in the Bay of Plenty to buy a bubble blowing Kit. They decided on one on a lower shelf when the granddaughter spotted one more expensive higher up and insisted that she wanted that one. Grandma said no and the granddaughter let her feelings be known in an offensive verbal manner using the F word amongst others. Grandma responded with a smack. As they left the store, she was surprised to find a policeman waiting to interview her. Aaccording to the store management, a complaint had been made by a member of the public. Fortunately they didn’t press charges, but the grandmother was shocked. http://www.familyfirst.org.nz/index.cfm/cases.html

**Solo Mum Investigated by Police When Child Falls Over South Auckland
This South Auckland mother had no previous CYF or Police involvement. In October, she took her 5 year old shopping. As they were leaving the supermarket, the mother chased some money which the daughter had dropped. She then grabbed the child’s hand to lead the child to the car, but the child tripped and fell over. When mum got her daughter back to the car, she gave her a hug and kiss. An hour later, 2 police officers were at the door interviewing both her and her 5 year old after a complaint had been laid. The police said it was a waste of time, but the complaint would be held on file. The mother said “They could have phoned. Their visit surprised me. It made me feel like a criminal. It made me question my parenting skills. I may have been frazzled but in no way did I abuse my child.” http://www.familyfirst.org.nz/index.cfm/cases.html

NOVEMBER 2007

**22 November 2007 – The Dominion Post – Three smacks and he’s ‘guilty’. A father who spanked his eight-year-old son on the bottom three times for misbehaving at school is one of the first to be convicted of assault under the law against smacking. The Masterton man was sentenced to nine months’ supervision yesterday after admitting he had grabbed his son by the shoulder, held him on his knee and hit him with an open hand. http://www.stuff.co.nz/4283366a10.html

December 2007

**Dad argues for right to hit son.A Nelson father charged with assaulting his son, in one of the region’s first prosecutions under a controversial new child discipline law, says he is prepared to go to jail for his right as a parent and a Christian to hit his child. Rowan Flynn has been charged with two counts of assaulting his 11-year-old son under the new legislation, which came into effect in June and removed a parent’s right to use “reasonable force” when discipling a child. http://www.stuff.co.nz/4315830a11.html

continued in later post………