Family Integrity

Tag: Child Abuse

  • Child Abuse-Police: Toddler’s critical injuries inflicted in family care

    This was Child abuse – not reasonable force by way of correction

    http://www.stuff.co.nz/4604868a11.html

    Wednesday, 02 July 2008

    Another toddler is fighting for his life in Auckland’s Starship Children’s Hospital from injuries police say he got in the care of his family.

    The three-year-old Avondale boy was admitted to hospital on Monday after family members consulted relatives.

    Police were told of the child’s injuries, which included head wounds, on Monday afternoon.

    Police spokeswoman Noreen Hegarty said the boy was in a critical condition in a drug-induced coma and members of the Auckland police child abuse team were making preliminary inquiries,

    The child’s siblings had been removed from the family home to a “safe and secure” environment, Child Youth and Family said.

    – NZPA

    also:

    http://www.stuff.co.nz/4605951a10.html

  • People Should Have A Say On Anti-Smacking Law

    Immediate Release: Tuesday, June 24 2008

    People Should Have A Say On Anti-Smacking Law

    Prime Minister Helen Clark is completely wrong to prevent New Zealanders from having a vote on Labour’s controversial anti-smacking legislation, ACT Leader Rodney Hide said today.

    “The anti-smacking law has clearly failed to stop child abuse – just as ACT said it would,” Mr Hide said.

    “All this legislation does is make criminals of good parents and tie police up with fruitless complaints. Meanwhile, the real child abuse continues on un-targeted and un-addressed.

    “Just because Labour and National voted to criminalise good parents who use a smack to discipline their children doesn’t mean that Kiwis shouldn’t have a say.

    “Labour’s anti-smacking legislation strikes at the very heart of how Kiwi parents raise their children, with both National and Labour saying they know best.

    “ACT doesn’t accept that they do – ACT backs parents, and we back Kiwis having a say about what they think the law should be,” Mr Hide said.

    ENDS

  • Substantial Jump in Parents Being Investigated for Smacking

    MEDIA RELEASE

    23 June 2008

    Family First NZ says that the police report on the effects of the anti-smacking law shows an almost 300% jump in the number of parents being investigated for minor acts of physical discipline since the law was passed.

    “The six month review of police activity following the passing of the anti-smacking law follows on from the 3 month review immediately after the law change, and a further 3 month review six months after the amendment,” says Bob McCoskrie, National Director of Family First NZ. “There is an obvious effort to try and paint a positive spin on this law change by the police head office, with so many reviews!”

    “But what this particular review shows is that police resources are being wasted on attending and investigating smacking and minor acts of physical discipline, yet less than 5% are serious enough to warrant prosecution.”

    “This report fails to explain what “minor acts of physical discipline” are, acknowledges that there may have been changes in police recording practice and may have been changes in the ‘threshhold’ of what is acceptable, and as per the last report in December 2007, admits that “an absence of a notification on a Police file does not necessarily mean that no notification was made.”

    “The worst aspect is that the number of actual child assaults are now at almost the same rate as before the law change.”

    “In other words, the anti-smacking law has failed to stem the tide of child abuse, but has targeted many good parents and grandparents with the trauma and fear of police investigation and CYF involvement. Parents will feel very nervous reading this report, knowing the increasing level of investigations for minor acts.”

    “Sue Bradford, Cindy Kiro and Barnados trumpet the law as a success because not many are being prosecuted.”

    Family First wants laws which target actual child abusers, tackles the real causes of child abuse identified by the CYF and UNICEF reports, but leaves good parents alone to raise law-abiding and productive citizens of NZ.

    ENDS

    For More Information and Media Interviews, contact Family First:

    Bob McCoskrie JP – National Director

    Tel. 09 261 2426 | Mob. 027 55 555 42

  • Police attended 288 child assault incidents in six months

    http://www.stuff.co.nz/4593757a10.html

    Material provided by the Government showed over the six months between September and April police attended 288 child assault incidents.

    In the three months prior to this 111 incidents were attended.

    Of the 288 incidents, 13 involved “smacking”,

    This was up from three in the previous period.

    None of the incidents resulted in a prosecution.

    Of the 288 incidents, 69 involved “minor acts of physical discipline.

    Of those only four resulted in prosecution, one did not proceed and was treated through diversion.

    Three other alleged offenders have remanded on bail and are due to appear in early July.

  • Silence let child abuse continue

    http://www.stuff.co.nz/4592829a11.html

    Silence let child abuse continue

    By KAY BLUNDELL – The Dominion Post | Monday, 23 June 2008

    Three children repeatedly beaten with a broom handle were so hungry they had to rummage in rubbish bins, and yet neighbours were too scared to report the cruelty they witnessed.

    Kylie Tekani, 30, of Porirua, has been sentenced in Wellington District Court to eight months’ home detention after pleading guilty to three charges of cruelty to a child and assault with a weapon.

    The children, aged 5, 6 and 8, were repeatedly beaten and the youngest had such a severe infestation of head lice that her hair fell out in hanks.

    Neighbours in Penguin Grove saw the children searching through rubbish bins and asking for food. Locked outside, the children would huddle under a tree, sometimes till dark.

    Though people would slip food to them as they passed on their way to school, they were too scared to report the cruelty, partly because of the intimidating presence of patched Mongrel Mob members who lived in the street. “We know it is best to keep out of other people’s business,” a resident said.

    Another, gesturing toward the gang house, said it was wiser not to get involved. Others were too fearful to speak to The Dominion Post.

    Outside the court, Tekani said she was relieved the case was over. “I want to get on with a new life.”

    The court was told that Tekani was attending a violence intervention programme, had a new job, was going to church and was seeing her children under supervision.

    “You have made a real effort to improve your life,” Judge Bruce Davidson said.

    Police became aware of the children’s plight when the youngest girl was admitted to hospital. She had been hit on the back of the head so hard that her head was forced through a bedroom wall.

    The children’s stepfather, Norman Makai, 21, was jailed this year for 5 1/2 years for ill-treatment of the children and wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.

    Judge Davidson said he believed Tekani had also been subjected to violence.

    “I have no doubt Makai was violent toward you … and to some extent wore you down, but you still failed to intervene to protect your three vulnerable children.”

    Makai had said he hit the girl because she had hardly eaten her dinner.

    Doctors found her emaciated and with bruising and swelling on the backs of her legs, on her buttocks and lower back from repeated beatings. The other children had similar injuries.

    The youngest survived brain surgery, but had to learn to walk and talk again and had to wear a crash helmet for six months to protect her injured skull.

    Medical staff indicated she would continue to suffer visual problems, behaviour disorders, learning and social problems and possibly seizures.

    Inspector Mike Craig said experienced police dealing with the case were shocked by the girl’s injuries and the ill-treatment the children endured.

    The children were placed in the care of Child, Youth and Family, and now live with their paternal grandmother.

    If only someone in the neighbourhood had alerted the police or CYF, the girl might not have ended up in hospital, Mr Craig said.

  • Family First confident of smacking law referendum

    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10517590

    http://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/newsdetail1.asp?storyID=139400

    7:47AM Saturday June 21, 2008

    The Smacking Debate

    Family First is confident it now has enough signatures to force a referendum on the anti-smacking law.

    This weekend marks the first anniversary of Sue Bradford’s controversial legislation.

    In April, the group’s petition failed as it was short of 18,000 valid signatures.

    But Family First director Bob McCoskrie said 60,000 new signatures would be presented to Parliament on Monday and should be more than enough to get a referendum.

    Mr McCoskrie said the intention of the legislation was to tackle child abuse, but it had missed the mark completely.

    He said prosecutions against parents for hitting their children were starting to come into the courts.

    The real causes of abuse need to be dealt with and good parents should be left alone, he said.

    – NEWSTALK ZB

  • Joe Bennett Unleashed

    From:

    http://www.starstuddedsuperstep.com/2008/06/joe-bennett-unleashed.html

    A brilliant excerpt from an interview with Joe Bennett, aptly entitled, “Joe Bennett Unleashed” – written up by Zoe George, and found in the April/May 2008 edition of the Canterbury Today business magazine.

    Child abuse is a topic of great discussion among New Zealanders, particularly in the wake of Sue Bradford’s controversial anti-smacking bill getting the governmental nod of approval last year. A move some could say hand delivered ‘nanny-state’ accusers gift-wrapped, iron-clad evidence.

    Many believe this legislation removed the rights of good parents to parent properly and does nothing to prevent abusers of children from abusing. Joe feels very strongly against child abuse, but not in the sense most of us think of it as.

    “Real child abuse is having a kid go through the state education for 12 years and coming out unable to read and write. It’s like we are tying a ball and chain around their leg and then we are amazed that they become criminals. If we can’t produce literate children then don’t look at the children, it is the system that has let them down.”

  • Re: Pro Choice Propaganda

    THANK YOU KEN ORR & RIGHT TO LIFE ( and Andy)

    http://nz.youtube.com/watch?v=-9JTow-oumY

    Also see: Abortion – High Court decision

    http://nz.youtube.com/watch?v=z1k8u5zDTWw

    The Case brought by Right to Life against the Abortion Supervisory Committee has highlighted that:

    (1) New Zealand effectively has abortion on demand – almost 99% of women who apply to have an abortion are granted the right to proceed because certifying consultants have been willing to accept, based largely on good faith in the claims of women – that the continuance of their pregnancy will or might result in an impairment or deterioration of their ‘mental health’ (anxiety, stress, etc).

    (2) There are serious and substantial grounds to doubt the lawfulness of many of the approximately 18,000 abortions carried out each year in New Zealand, because the grounds for many of the terminations involved a very liberal interpretation of the provisions of the law for termination, which when correctly applied – only allow for authorisation of an abortion (termination) when the certifying consultants are convinced, based on real evidence, that by not terminating the pregnancy the mother will face a real threat of serious danger to to her health or life.

    (3) The Abortion Supervisory Committee has failed in its statutory duty to protect the rights of unborn children by aiding and abetting the termination of thousands of unborn children under their watch. They must be held to account.

    The gross negligence of this Committee has been highlighted in that they have allowed thousands of abortions to proceed under their watch, when there were clearly NOT good reasons – in keeping with the law (serious danger to the life or health of the mother) – for the termination of the unborn child to proceed.

    These statutory and moral failures will be addressed by Right to Life in continuing Court action in its seeking of a writ of mandamus from the High Court directing the Committee to comply with the strictures of the law and spelling out more clearly its statutory duties in relation to the activities of certifying consultants.

    In his judgment Justice Forrest Millar stated:

    “There is reason to doubt the lawfulness of many abortions authorised by certifying consultants. Indeed, the committee itself has stated that the law is being used more liberally than Parliament intended”.

  • Latest NZ abortion statistics are a grave tragedy for NZ women and their unborn babies

    A press release from Family Life International, New Zealand

    Contact: Brendan Malone: (03) 351 3225 – Mobile: 021 054 0762

    The latest New Zealand abortion statistics issued today by Statistics New Zealand show that in 2007 there were 450 more induced abortions than in 2006. This represents 450 more legally sanction acts which exposed NZ women to serious physical and psychological harm, and 450 more innocent Kiwi babies who lost their lives to abortion.

    The latest figures show that the abortion rate increased from 17,930 abortions in 2006 to 18,380 abortions last year, an increase of 2.5 percent in a one year period.

    If this current trend continues as it has for the last two years, then next year the number of induced abortions in New Zealand will be higher than it has ever been before in our history.

    The public debate that has occurred during the last week regarding Justice Millar’s High Court ruling about NZ abortions has simply exposed how very little most New Zealanders know about the true harmful effects of abortion, or about how seriously unsound much of the arguments used to support it actually are.

    It has also exposed that many of the pro-abortion supporters in this country are intolerant and hateful of individuals and opinions which dissent from their own. One pro-abortion editorial in the Dominion Post last week called pro-lifers the Teleban, and last week a hateful and obscene pro-abortion video posted on YouTube targeted a prominent NZ pro-life advocate with imagery which features a gun pointed at his head.

    While New Zealand women and their unborn babies continue to pay an unnecessary and horrific price, those who endorse and carry out abortions continue to ignore the harm that their ideology is doing to Kiwi women and their unborn babies, and those who support abortion continue to do so blindly, without properly considering the philosophical and moral validity of their pro-abortion position.

    ENDS

  • Abortions Increase – Tragedy for Teens and Families

    MEDIA RELEASE

    17 JUNE 2008

    The abortion figures for 2007 released by Statistics NZ today continue to paint a terrible picture for teenagers and families, and confirm the continued failure of the Abortion Supervisory Committee, as highlighted by the High Court case last week.

    Almost 4,300 teenagers had an abortion in 2007. Each week, over 80 teenagers have an abortion, and represent almost a quarter of all abortions performed in NZ.

    Since 1991, the number of 11-14 year olds having an abortion has increased by 141%. The number of abortions for 15-19 year olds has increased by 82%.

    “This is a tragedy for the girls involved, some as young as 11,” says Bob McCoskrie, National Director. “It is also devastating for the extended family, especially if the young girl has been sneaked off for the abortion by Family Planning or a School Counselor without the parents’ knowledge or consent.”

    “It provides evidence that the myth of safe sex pushed by Family Planning, the AIDS Foundation and similar groups is miserably failing our vulnerable young people, who are being made even more vulnerable by then being encouraged to have an abortion,” says Bob McCoskrie. “This is why 83% of parents in a recent US Zogby poll believe that programs should reinforce the abstinence and ‘wait’ message.”

    The overall abortion rate is at its highest ever, except for 2003. More than 350 abortions happen every week.

    At the same time as over 18,000 abortions were being performed in NZ last year, adoptions totalled less than 90, according to the Adoption Option Trust.

    “Of huge concern is the fact that 22% of abortions are being performed at 12 weeks or greater despite all the pictures, scans and scientific understanding of the fetal development of the unborn child,” says Mr McCoskrie. “These images are obviously being kept hidden from some of the women seeking an abortion.”

    Family First NZ is calling for a law which requires informed consent (including ultrasound) for all potential abortions, and counselling to be provided only by non-providers of abortion services. Parental notification of teenage pregnancy and abortion should happen automatically except in exceptional circumstances approved by the court.

    ENDS

    For More Information and Media Interviews, contact Family First:

    Bob McCoskrie JP – National Director

    Tel. 09 261 2426 | Mob. 027 55 555 42