Family Integrity

Tag: CYFs

  • Persecution of Parents To Be Investigated by National

    MEDIA RELEASE

    5 November 2008

    Persecution of Parents To Be Investigated by National

    Family First NZ is welcoming comments by senior National MP Judith Collins that if elected, National will check whether the anti-smacking law has resulted in needless prosecutions and persecution of parents.

    “We have stacks of evidence and testimony that good families have been targeted by this flawed law and that it has failed to deal with actual child abuse,” says Bob McCoskrie, National Director of Family First NZ. “Families have been referred to CYF by schools, neighbours, members of the public, their children, and even their children’s friends for non-abusive smacking. And some families have also undergone police investigation.”

    “This has caused huge stress and anxiety to families who are simply trying to raise good law-abiding kids in an appropriate way.”

    “All the records show that police and CYF notifications have sky-rocketed yet there has been no corresponding increase in actual child abuse being discovered or prevented.”

    “For people like Sue Bradford and Helen Clark to try and argue that it is not an anti-smacking law is to deny the reality of how it is being treated by the authorities, and what their intention was from day one.”

    Family First NZ has already sent a large file of cases to National leader John Key highlighting good families being persecuted and prosecuted as a result of the flawed law, and will continue to collate evidence of the harmful effects of this law.

    ENDS

    For More Information and Media Interviews, contact Family First:

    Bob McCoskrie – National Director

    Mob. 027 55 555 42

  • Bradford Encourages Parents to Carry On Smacking

    From:

    http://christiannews.co.nz/2008/bradford-encourages-parents-to-carry-on-smacking/

    Bradford Encourages Parents to

    Carry On Smacking

    In a stunning turnaround, Green MP Sue Bradford has told parents that smacking is not a criminal offence and implied that groups like Barnardos, Plunket, Every Child Counts and politicians who have said that the aim of the law was to ban parents physically punishing their children are misleading the public.

    In a media release from the Green party today, Bradford says ‘smacking has never been a criminal offence, and still isn’t.’

    Yet only last year, she told Newstalk ZB ‘it is already illegal to smack children but her bill removes a defence of reasonable force for the purpose of correction.’

    And in the original 2003 media release from the Green party launching her amendment to section 59, it is entitled “Greens draw up their own anti-smacking bill” http://www.greens.org.nz/node/12844

    “Sue Bradford is confused by her own law,” says Bob McCoskrie, National Director of Family First NZ, “and is misrepresenting the real effect and purpose of the anti-smacking law. She believes smacking is assault, yet more than 80% of NZ’ers continue to disagree.”

    “Otherwise, we can only conclude that she is telling parents to carry on smacking and if investigated by police or CYF, parents should tell them that they don’t understand the law and to get lost. Yet parents are getting referred to CYF and the police by schools, neighbours, social workers, even their own kids, for light smacking.”

    “If the politicians who designed the law are confused, where does that put parents who are simply trying to raise good kids without breaking the law,” says Mr McCoskrie.

    Family First NZ continues to call on the politicians to change the law so that it clearly states that non-abusive smacking is not a crime (as wanted by 86% of NZ’ers according to today’s NZ Herald poll), and to then tackle the real causes of child abuse.

    To comment go to: http://christiannews.co.nz/2008/bradford-encourages-parents-to-carry-on-smacking/

  • Another Smacking Poll – Same Response

    MEDIA RELEASE

    29 September 2008

    Another Smacking Poll – Same Response

    Family First NZ says that the NZ Herald poll showing 86% opposition to the anti-smacking law is further proof that the law is fundamentally wrong and should be changed.

    “This is not 86% of NZ’ers who want to ‘thrash and beat’ their children as was suggested by the prime minister last year,” says Bob McCoskrie, National Director of Family First NZ. “This is simply NZ’ers saying that a law supposedly designed to tackle child abuse should not end up targeting good parents raising great kids.”

    “Appropriate smacking for the purpose of correcting, training and teaching should never be a crime exposing parents to possible police investigation and CYF intervention.”

    “The law is fundamentally flawed because it fails to deal with the problem it was supposed to – child abuse – and implicates law-abiding parents in the process.”

    The latest poll follows a string of similar polls in 2008 including:

    u 74% parents should be able to smack Research International Feb 2008

    u 85% want law changed to allow light smacking Curia Research – poll commissioned by Family First May 08

    u 85% anti-smacking law should be scrapped TVNZ Website poll June 08

    u 81% say there should be referendum on smacking legislation at this year’s election NZ Herald Poll 25 June 2008 Total Votes: 4624

    u One year on, do you think the anti-smacking Bill has proved to be effective? No 87% Unsure 7% Yes 7% Littlies Magazine online poll July 2008

    “The guarded support for the ‘compromise’ amendment is parents simply hoping that the police may use some common sense in applying this flawed law. Yet evidence has shown that this is not the case, and many parents are more concerned about the way CYF are using the law for unwarranted intervention in good families.”

    “The message is loud and clear to the politicians,” says Mr McCoskrie. “We don’t need a costly referendum to tell us what we already know. Simply change the law so that good parents are not criminalised, and then start targeting the real causes of child abuse including drug and alcohol abuse and family breakdown.”

    ENDS

    For More Information and Media Interviews, contact Family First:

    Bob McCoskrie JP – National Director

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

  • CYF girl’s death provokes inquiry

    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10533231

    CYF girl’s death provokes inquiry

    4:00AM Saturday Sep 20, 2008
    By Elizabeth Binning

    An investigation is under way after a distraught 12-year-old girl died in Child Youth and Family care, less than a month after she was allegedly abused by a caregiver.

    The girl was found dead in a North Shore home by a younger sibling. Police say there were no suspicious circumstances and the case has now been referred to the Coroner.

    But the girl’s extended family are upset she was put into the care of a man who molested her and the fact it took four days for CYF to remove her once the allegations were made.

    The girl and her seven siblings were put into the care of a Northland family 2 1/2 years ago.

    Her father, who had supervised visits, told the Weekend Herald one of his sons accused the caregiver of hitting the children about two years ago but CYF never did anything about it.

    “We were always telling CYF that these caregivers were hurting our kids,” he said. “They said they would go and investigate it. They came back and said we were lying and the kids were making it up.”

    At the beginning of last month the girl told her father, during another supervised visit, that she was being abused by her caregiver.

    The father told the CYF case worker about the allegations that day but nothing happened. “He said, ‘I’m sorry to hear this but it’s only alleged’. I told him he can take us to the police – we had no vehicles to get there – and he said, ‘We’ll keep it internal and we’ll deal with it ourselves’.”

    Under agreed protocol the girl should have been immediately removed from the caregiver and police notified. But it is understood neither happened as the social worker did not alert anyone that weekend.

    By Monday, unhappy with the lack of action, the father went to his local MP and the police. CYF was also renotified. It was not until Tuesday that the children were all removed from the Northland family’s care.

    Because of the large number of siblings the girl and her 7-year-old sister were separated from the others and sent to a home in Auckland, which her family claim added to her distress. She was suffering from the abuse and had the added pressure of feeling responsible for separating her siblings.

    Last Saturday her younger sister found her dead in their bedroom.

    CYF deputy chief executive Ray Smith said the staff involved in the case were “devastated” and their deepest sympathies went to the family.

    “As always when a child in our care dies we will look into whether everything possible had been done to protect them from harm.

    “Allegations raised against one of the caregivers resulted in the matter being referred to the police … and the children were immediately removed while investigations occurred.”

    The family say the removal was not immediate as the case worker was told on the Friday and the children weren’t taken away until the Tuesday.

    The girl’s grandmother said she hoped her granddaughter’s death would result in changes within CYF.

    “Maybe she was giving her life to make life safer for others.”

    “““““““““““““““““““““““““““““““““““““““““`

    Also see “Nature or Nuture” (pp. 10-1, 13-14) Herald Weekend Supplement. At the end of June 2008 4522 youngsters were in the care of CYF. The annual bill for looking after them rns to $778 milion and about 3/4 of that is spent on children in foster care. (p. 11)

  • Investment in prevention to reduce intervention

    United Future news and views with Judy Turner MP

    \
    Straight talk…

    In the six years I have been in Parliament I have never been able to shake off a deep-seated disquiet about the way we approach child protection in New Zealand.

    I continue to have more questions than answers and remain convinced that those involved are very well intended.

    Our system is based on notifications being investigated and where abuse is substantiated there follows an intervention. Every year in New Zealand notifications go up by about 15% and of course the number of children taken in to care from substantiated cases is on the increase.

    The burden of such high levels of notifications and removals impact not only on the children and their families but also on the system which is trying to resource them. The work overload can result in high numbers of unallocated cases, hasty assessments, high staff turn over and workforce shortages, premature case closure, and inadequate monitoring of children in placement.

    Children taken in to care often experience multiple placements which pose risks to their mental health and emotional wellbeing. There is even emerging overseas research suggesting that children in foster care could be more damaged by being removed from their parents and being subject to multiple placements than had they remained with their families.

    I have had contact with lots of parents and caregivers seriously traumatised by investigations.

    This week I have read an interesting paper from Australia suggesting that if we want to reduce child abuse and neglect then there are some lessons to be learnt from the preventative approach of our Public Health System.

    The authors suggest that there needs to be primary, secondary and tertiary prevention initiatives that include:

    · Universal services for children and their families at the primary level

    · Targeted prevention services for identified vulnerable families at the secondary level

    · Tertiary interventions for children in need of protection.

    Investment in prevention to reduce intervention …. Sounds good to me!

    QUOTE:

    “ … universal prevention activities not only have the potential for preventing abuse and neglect; they also enhance child health and well-being overall by improving behaviour problems and school readiness”

    Triple P Parenting programme

  • SUCCESS! NZ’ers Deliver Strong Message on Anti-Smacking Law

    SUCCESS!

    NZ’ers Deliver Strong Message on Anti-Smacking Law

    Family First Media Release 22 August 2008

    Family First NZ is welcoming the success of the petition demanding a Referendum on the flawed anti-smacking law.

    “To reach the required 285,000 signatures is difficult enough, but the final result shows that an extra 25,000 signatures have been attained. This is evidence of just how strong the opposition to this law is,” says Bob McCoskrie, National Director of Family First NZ.

    “The evidence is pouring in that good families are being both persecuted and also prosecuted with eight prosecutions for minor acts of physical discipline in a recent six month period.”

    “The rate of CYF notifications has sky-rocketed yet actual cases of child abuse found are remaining the same, and in some areas like the Waikato, actually falling.”

    “The anti-smacking law has failed miserably. You know a law is flawed when it fails to address the problem it was supposed to, and implicates good families in the process. Supporters of the law are trying to herald its success because they incorrectly claim nobody has been prosecuted. But we actually want a law that works and catches actual child abuse!”

    “The only reason the law was passed in the first place was because the two major parties were whipped to vote for it – which is a little ironic in itself, being an anti-smacking law,” says Mr McCoskrie.

    Family First NZ continues to call on the politicians to change the law so that non-abusive smacking is not a crime (as wanted by 85% of NZ’ers according to research), and to tackle the real causes of child abuse.

    ENDS

    www.familyfirst.org.nz

  • Anti-Smacking Law Wasting CYF Time – Missing Real Abuse

    MEDIA RELEASE

    1 August 2008

    Anti-Smacking Law Wasting CYF Time – Missing Real Abuse

    Family First NZ says there is further evidence that CYF’s limited resources are being wasted, with a ‘blow-out’ in CYF notifications but the levels of actual abuse not increasing, or at worst not being caught.

    Waikato figures reported in the Waikato Times today, show an increase of notifications from 5,973 to 8,629 but those requiring further action have fallen significantly from 3729 to 3308 that same year.

    “This is a 44% increase in the demand on CYF services yet the identification of actual child abuse has dropped 11%. This is consistent with a disturbing trend nationwide,” says Bob McCoskrie, National Director of Family First NZ.

    “This is perfect proof that the ideologically flawed anti-smacking law has resulted in unwarranted reports of good parents which is a waste of the limited resources of CYF.”

    Figures from CYF’s national 2007/08 Third Quarter report show a 32% increase in notifications over the previous 12 months but numbers requiring further action remaining the same.

    “If the figures could be attributed to a rising intolerance to child abuse and domestic violence, we would be seeing an increasing rate of cases requiring further action – but we are not. That is simply because of a misguided law,” says Mr McCoskrie.

    “CYF resources are being wasted because of a law that labels good parents as potential child abusers, and distracts CYF and Police from dealing with the real causes of child abuse and actual child abuse.”

    Family First NZ continues to call on the politicians to change the law so that non-abusive smacking is not a crime (as wanted by 85% of NZ’ers according to recent research).

    ENDS

    For More Information and Media Interviews, contact Family First:

    Bob McCoskrie – National Director

    Mob. 027 55 555 42

  • Runaway girl’s parents give CYF joint custody

    http://www.stuff.co.nz/4649975a11.html

    Runaway girl’s parents give CYF joint custody

    By AMY MILNE – The Southland Times | Saturday, 09 August 2008

    The parents of an Invercargill teenager have voluntarily signed joint custody of their daughter over to Child, Youth and Family in the hope it will prevent her from running away from home again.

    Janelle Savage, 14, was found in Christchurch on Wednesday night, ending three months of anguish for her parents John and Christine Savage.

    Police found Janelle, who had been missing from Invercargill since May 9, at the South City Mall in Columbo St about 6pm on Wednesday after a tip.

    Police placed Janelle in the care of Child Youth and Family, and yesterday her parents signed joint custody over to the organisation in the bid to curb her habit of running away.

    She was yesterday transferred from Christchurch to CYF’s Puketai Residential Centre in Dunedin.

    It was a decision the Savages grappled with but believed it was the right one.

    “Christine and I are finding this very tough,” Mr Savage said.

    “We love our daughter a lot and are trying to do the right thing … it’s a hard decision to sign her to Social Welfare (Child Youth and Family) — joint custody — it’s hard to do that to your own kid. But I’m hoping this is going to break the cycle and she’ll know the consequences for her running away.” Police knew little of what Janelle had been doing but believed she had been staying predominantly with a former Invercargill woman.

    The woman the Savages believed Janelle was staying with in Christchurch used to live next door to the family. Janelle had run off to stay with her four times now, Mr Savage said.

    He said the woman was a bad influence on Janelle.

    While Mr and Mrs Savage had not spoken to Janelle, they had received text messages from her saying she was “very sorry, she loves us and wants to come home”, Mr Savage said.

    “It brought a bloody tear to the eye, actually.

    “We love our kids. We love Janelle and we just want what’s best for her and it’s a wee bit hard when she keeps running away.” Janelle would remain at Puketai at least until Monday when a decision would be made about whether she would stay on, come home or be placed into another CYF home, Mr Savage said.

    ““““““““““““““““““““““““““““““““““““`

    This is a terrible situation. The parents lost the heart of their daughter to their neighbour and it has wrecked their family life. If you are in a similar situation I would highly recommend listening to this tape. It is excellent:

    https://familyintegrity.org.nz/2008/changing-the-heart-of-a-rebel/

  • Baby fighting for life after incident at home: abuse suspected

    This is not Reasonable Force by way of correction it is child Abuse:

    http://www.stuff.co.nz/4643858a11.html

    Baby fighting for life after incident at home

    By SALLY FRENCH – Stuff.co.nz | Tuesday, 05 August 2008
    SHANE WENZLICK/Surburban Newspapers

    INVESTIGATION UNDERWAY: A police cordon surrounds the house in Papakura.

    A baby is fighting for his life in Auckland’s Starship Children’s Hospital after suffering non-accidental head injuries.

    Counties Manukau detective inspector John Tims said the Papakura child was taken to Middlemore Hospital by ambulance about 9.30pm on Saturday before being transferred to Starship Hospital.

    Tims said police were advised the injuries are non-accidental and potentially life threatening.

    He said the baby’s parents and maternal grandmother have all provided statements to police.

    “We want to acknowledge the family are co-operating with us.

    “The parents are at their son’s bedside and we are working with them,” Tims said.

    The boy lived at his parent’s home with his 18-month-old brother, and maternal grandmother.  The parents are aged 18 and 19.

    Tims said Children and Young Persons have been advised of the situation, and are working with Police in regards to the boy’s elder sibling.

    A specialist child abuse investigative team are conducting a scene examination at the baby’s Papakura home today, assisted by ESR specialists.

    Tims said police are in constant liaison with a paediatrician at Starship Hospital.

    “We will provide an update on the baby’s medical condition should there be any changes,” he said..

    More on this:

    http://www.odt.co.nz/news/national/16315/infant-fights-life-abuse-suspected

    Infant fights for life: abuse suspected

    A 4-month-old boy is in a critical condition in Starship Hospital after suffering head injuries at his South Auckland home.

    The baby was rushed to hospital on Saturday night before undergoing surgery on Sunday for what police believe are “non-accidental” head injuries received at his Papakura home.

    The Housing NZ home was yesterday cordoned off while police began investigations into what is suspected to be a case of serious child abuse……………..

    Neighbours yesterday knew little about the family who lived at the run-down home.

    One woman said parties were always being held there and people came and went at all hours.

    Another woman said police had arrived at the house about six months ago.

    Moments after they arrived, all the people in the house came out with their hands above their heads.

    She believed it was in relation to drug dealing at the house.

    Yesterday, an alcohol box and several empty beer bottles lay on the unmowed lawn, alongside other bits of rubbish.

    The front window was smashed and shards of glass lay on the ground.

    A child’s stroller could be seen behind a net curtain next to the broken window.

    Children’s Commissioner Dr Cindy Kiro said she was shocked and saddened to hear another child had been injured.

    “It’s terrible. Can you just imagine what these kids go through? Often it’s not the first time. There’s often a whole lot of precipitating things that lead up to the last incident where the child or baby is being abused,” she said.

    Dr Kiro is due to present a package of actions to tackle child abuse to a family violence taskforce this week.

    New Zealand has the third highest rate of infanticide of all the countries in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.