Family Integrity

Tag: FI newsletter

FI413-Full circle in Sweden

25 June 2008 – Family Integrity #413 — Full circle in Sweden

Gidday all,

Here is a fascinating report, hot off the press from Sweden. The rise in crime among (never-smacked) children in Sweden continues. The police refer the problem children to the social workers. Fair enough. But the social workers do nothing about it. When pressed, the social workers say the most important people to deal with the children are the parents!!!

So they’ve come full circle

Regards,

Craig Smith
National Director
Family Integrity
Ph: (06) 357-4399
Fax: (06) 357-4389
Family.Integrity@xtra.co.nz
http://www.FamilyIntegrity.org.nz

Our Home….Our Castle

Youth crime leads to no consequences
By Henrika Åkerman
Translation: Ruby Harrold-Claesson, lawyer, Gothenberg, Sweden

Swedish Radio – 2008-06-24
http://www.sr.se/cgi-bin/ekot/artikel.asp?artikel=2151807

Each year around 15,000 children under the age of fifteen years are reported to the police for having committed a crime. But mostly, according to a new report from the Swedish National Board for Crime Prevention (NBCP), there are no clear responses, either from the social services or from the police. Stina Holmberg, head of Department at the NBCP, says the social services should do more to prevent the children from continuing to commit crimes.

“When a child is reported to the police for a crime, the police report is sent to social services, and in the majority of cases, the social services do nothing. They may send a letter to the parents offering them social services help if they want it, but nothing else happens”, says Holmberg.

It is mostly small crimes, like petty theft and vandalism. Only one in ten such police reports leads to interrogation by the police, and it is also unusual for these reports to lead to talks with a social worker, according to the NBCP’s report.

Solveig Björklund is a social worker in Stockholm, and she works at the police station at Södermalm. The youngsters who she comes in contact with have usually committed more serious crimes.

“When young people under fifteen years are involved, it is usually robbery, assault and unlawful threats. It is not a matter of shoplifting, which otherwise is the most common offence,” Solveig Björklund says.

This is the general picture according to the NBCP, and they believe that the social services should have far more talks with the young offenders and their parents than they do today.

“We have seen previously that it is quite seldom that the police do anything, and what has been discussed in recent years is that the police should be given a more important role when children under the age of fifteen years commit crimes. These crimes should be investigated to a greater extent, as a social marker, as a kind of recurrence prevention effort, to show that society takes this seriously,” Stina Holmberg head of Department at the NBCP says.

“What we think is that the police have a lot of demands on them today, and we may not think that this would be one of the core tasks of the police, but that the social services that have the expertise and experience to ensure the child’s best interests, could also be the signalling, educational reaction for children,” says Stina Holmberg.

But social worker Solveig Björklund is more doubtful. “If they are to have that kind of conversation, then of course one should also know that it is the sort of conversation that will have a crime prevention effect. And I’m not sure that it is just these kinds of talks with the social services or the police that have what it takes for this young group. The most important thing for them is their parents,”says Solveig Björklund, social worker in Stockholm.

June 25, 2008
FI412-U4L; A Big Thanks to All

25 June 2008 – Family Integrity #412 — U4L; A Big Thanks to All

Forwarded for your information.

Craig Smith

Family Integrity

—–Original Message—–
From: Craig Hill [mailto:craighill@maxnet.co.nz]
Sent: Wednesday, June 25, 2008 4:08 PM
Subject: U4L; A Big Thanks to All

Hi All,

390,000 thousand plus signatures.

A huge thanks to all who have helped, whether you have collected thousands or just a few I wish to take this moment to thank you all.

The most encouragement I receive is when I hear about those folk who have collected quietly. One chap who hoped to help at the warriors match and couldn’t went and collected at his workplace. It was always the intention of Unity for Liberty not to have a membership where any participation becomes a burden, but rather, all voluntary efforts should be rewarding and enjoyable. Thank you.

I wish I could conclude with the words “Yes, the war is won”.

Unfortunately, the referendum is only just a battle of many more to come. I encourage you all use your votes well and to be very cautious when considering the words of our political leaders.

For example, John Key may well be flying the flag of democracy at present, unfortunately flying the flag and listening to the voice of the people are two different actions. When push comes to shove John Key, like other leaders, will probably use the option of the law review to avoid any responsibility.

The problem with the law review, Given the abuse of our democracy to date over this issue by our political leaders, I am of the belief that the script for this law review has already been drafted, the law review will be just a rubber stamping process.

We need to remain vigilant.

Unity for Liberty is currently formulating a proposal with others to raise awareness on another issue, if this plan is successful we will be pleased to release more information at that time.

AND YES, THIS PUPPY CAME HOME “IN STYLE”

Thank you for all your efforts,
Craig Hill
021 746 113
http://www.unityforliberty.net.nz

All that is necessary for evil to succeed is for good men to do nothing (Edmund Burke 1728-1797)

June 25, 2008
FI411-Prime Ministers arrogance re Petition

25 June 2008 – Family Integrity #411 — Prime Ministers arrogance re Petition

Outrageous arrogance!

Kiwi Party Leader and CIR Petition organiser Larry Baldock said he was outraged at the Prime Ministers arrogance in declaring in Parliament today that the referendum on the Anti-smacking law would not be held until 2009.

“Hiding behind Ministry of Justice advice is cowardly. She should tell the truth and admit that it is her intention to do all she can to avoid this referendum at the election for her own political reasons,” said Mr Baldock.

“No matter what she does this is an election issue that will not go away. I promise all those who put their trust in me as they signed the petition that our voice will not be drowned out!

“The reasons given by the PM in response to John Key’s question are ridiculous. In 1999 the voting was delayed due to a referendum being held at the same time. This was because they tried to count the election results and the referendum simultaneously. The review conducted after that election recommended that the problem could be solved by simply counting the referendum after the ballot papers.

“Suggesting there might need to be more polling booths is incredible. The same number of people will be voting as those completing a simple question on one more piece of paper for the referendum.

Will there be additional costs of handling the referendum at the election? Of course, but they are the necessary and worthy costs of preserving our democracy. Any costs to the taxpayer have really been caused by the 113 MP’s that voted for a law that was clearly opposed by 80% of the population, and not by those seeking the referendum.

“If our officials cannot handle this extra organisation then we must conclude that Labour have really stuffed this country up in the last 9 years by appointing more incompetent people than we imagined.

“As soon as the Referendum is officially approved by the Clerk of the House I will be calling on the hundreds of thousands who signed the petition and the remaining 1.5 million Kiwis who wanted to have their say in a referendum at this election, to join me in protesting the anti-democratic dictatorial behavior of the Prime Minister and this government by taking to the streets”, said the Kiwi Party leader.

Ends
Contact

Larry Baldock
Party Leader
Phone: 021 86 4833
Email: l.baldock@xtra.co.nz

June 25, 2008
FI407-PM Desparate to Shut Down Smacking Referendum

24 June 2008 – Family Integrity #407 — PM wants to shut down referendum

The PM has said she reckons there’s not enough time to organise a referendum to occur at the same time as the next general election. What rot. Why is she afraid of the referendum results? Because she knows she’ll be drowned and overwhelmed by opposition to this so-called “anti-smacking” law which in fact makes it a crime for parents to correct their own children.

TAKE ACTION: Email the Prime Minister and John Key demanding that a Referendum be held at the upcoming Election

pm@ministers.govt.nz john.key@parliament.govt.nz

MEDIA RELEASE

23 June 2008

Family First NZ is shocked and angry that the Prime Minister is willing to consider spending over $10 million of taxpayers’ money on the anti-smacking Referendum to be held separately from the upcoming election rather than holding it during the upcoming election, which is the most natural timing for it.

“Helen Clark says that Parliament had spoken on the issue with a near “unanimous mind”. What she fails to say is that both the major parties were ‘whipped’ to vote for the bill, which is highly ironic considering it is the anti-smacking bill,” says Mr McCoskrie, National Director of Family First NZ. “The bill would have been dead and buried otherwise, as NZ’ers wanted.”

“She also fails to hear the voice of over 390,000 signatories who oppose the law change and are demanding a Referendum, and the 80%-plus who want the law changed according to latest polls.”

“Unless the PM is holding the election before 23 September, the perfect and most economical time to hold the Referendum is Election day in October or November, and any later timing is simply a cynical attempt to try and prevent the voice of NZ’ers being heard.”

“It would be a sad day for democracy and fairness if that happened.”

ENDS

For More Information and Media Interviews, contact Family First:

Bob McCoskrie JP – National Director

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

TAKE ACTION: Email the Prime Minister and John Key demanding that a Referendum be held at the upcoming Election
pm@ministers.govt.nz john.key@parliament.govt.nz

June 23, 2008
FI406-We got the numbers on the Petition!

24 June 2008 – Family Integrity #406 — We got the numbers!

The Kiwi Party

They will not drown out the voice of the people!

Kiwi Party Leader and Tauranga electorate candidate Larry Baldock will today resubmit to the Clerk of the House the petition calling for a referendum on the Anti-smacking law that was passed by Parliament in May 2007.
The petition was first presented on Feb 29 this year with 324,511 signatures but was deemed to have insufficient valid signatures after the audit process had been carried out. The required number to force a referendum is 285,027 and the petition fell short by approx 18,000.

The CIR Petition Act 1993 allows for an extension period of up to 2 months for the petition sponsor to gather further signatures and then resubmit all the signatures again. The Clerk of The House then conducts a completely new audit process on a new 1 in 11 sample to determine if a referendum is to be held.

Mr Baldock said he was very confident that they now had sufficient signatures to ensure a referendum goes ahead.
“Over the past 15 months we have collected more than 390,000 signatures all over this country. That means we are now handing in 100,000 more than required and more than 60,000 new signatures since we first handed the petition in just over 3 and half months ago.

“Quite frankly I do not know who Sue Bradford, Children’s Commissioner Cindy Kiro, and Barnardos Chief executive Murray Edridge are trying to kid when they claim that attitudes have changed. I would like to see the supporters of this crazy ill-conceived law try and collect even 100,000 signatures in support of it, let alone the nearly 400,000 we have collected, the Kiwi Party leader said.

“Why are these people so afraid of democracy?

In Tauranga last week National Party leader John Key said he was not going to change the law if he became Prime Minister. In response to a question from the floor, he said that he would only make changes if he saw good parents being prosecuted.

“Personally I find that most disturbing,” said Mr Baldock. “John Key seems to be catching Parliamentary flu, that sickness which afflicts so many of our political leaders and causes them to believe they know better than the people who elected them to their positions of responsibility.

“The only acceptable response to the referendum is for John Key, Helen Clark, Peter Dunne, and Jim Anderton to promise the people of New Zealand that they will lay aside their personal opinions on the subject of how good parents should correct their children, and give their solemn commitment to abide by and implement the majority view of the people of New Zealand.

“Winston Peters, who has held the balance of power for the past three years could have stopped the Bradford Bill in its tracks. Once again he has showed everyone that he was more interested in enjoying the baubles of office around the world, than representing good families in need of a voice here at home.

“Our success in collecting these signatures has in part been helped by the fact that many voters have had enough of being ignored by arrogant politicians. This Bradford anti-smacking law has been the latest example of a blatant disregard for our democracy as parliament has passed a long line of laws against the will of the majority of New Zealanders. I am determined not to let them get away with this one,” said Mr Baldock.

Ends

Larry Baldock
Party Leader
Phone: 021 86 4833
Email: l.baldock@xtra.co.nz

June 23, 2008
FI404-Canadian court manipulated by 12 year old

19 June 2008 4:59 – Family Integrity #404 — Canadian court manipulated by 12 year old

Greetings all,

This story from Canada reveals the extent to which government bureaucrats’ opinions of their own powers can grow totally out of proportion. They have no respect for parental authority.

Regards,

Craig Smith

Family Integrity

Dad grounds daughter, but court ungrounds her

‘Parents are going to be walking on egg shells from now on’

Posted: June 18, 2008
10:01 pm Eastern

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=67479

© 2008 WorldNetDaily

A court has overturned a father’s penalty for his daughter for disobeying his orders to avoid the Internet – the cancellation of a school trip, according to a new report.

According to Agence France-Presse, Justice Suzanne Tessier in Quebec Superior Court ordered the grounding for the 12-year-old girl lifted, prompting the father’s lawyer, Kim Beaudoin, to warn, “Parents are going to be walking on egg shells from now on.”

The father had ordered the daughter, who was not identified by the report, to remain off the Internet. She didn’t, chatting on websites her father had tried to block and then posting “inappropriate” pictures of herself online, using a friend’s Internet portal.

As punishment, the father refused to let her go on a scheduled school trip, so the 12-year-old went to Canada’s judicial system to get her way.

Beaudoin told AFP the punishment was for her own protection, and he is pursuing an appeal.

“She’s a child,” Beaudoin said. “At her age, children test their limits and it’s up to their parents to set boundaries.”

The lawyer said she’ll try to “re-establish” parental authority and to make sure the judge’s opinion doesn’t set a precedent.

“I think most children respect their parents and would never go so far as to take them to court, but it’s clear that some would and we have to ask ourselves how far this will go,” Beaudoin said.

Court records indicated the 12-year-old’s violation of her home’s Internet rules was just one in a list of instructions that she had violated. But Tessier said the punishment was just too much.

The girl reportedly had access to the courts using a court-appointed attorney who represented her in her parents’ custody dispute.

Special offers:

“So Help Me God” by Judge Roy Moore

June 20, 2008
FI403-CIR Update no. 30

19 June 2008 – Family Integrity #403 — CIR Update no. 30

—–Original Message—–
From: Larry Baldock [mailto:larry.baldock@thekiwiparty.org.nz]
Sent: Wednesday, June 18, 2008 9:59 PM
Subject: CIR Update no. 30

Hi everyone, well after a great week at Mystery Creek and some good collecting at the All Blacks test in Auckland plus other efforts around the country we have a new total of 384,000.

Mail is still trickling in so by the end of this week we should be over 385,000 which is 100,000 more than we need. You have done a great job!
If you have any petition sheets still with you that you forgot to post, do so tomorrow by fast post and they should still make it by the weekend. I have now finalised that I will travel to Wellington Sunday afternoon and resubmit the petition to the Clerk of the House at approx 1pm Monday.

After some clarification with the Chief Electoral officer our target of required certified signatures remains at 285,000 despite the fact that 50,000 were removed from the electoral roll recently. For the purposes of this petition the roll is frozen as it was on Feb 29th. If that dose not sound fair, it at least won’t be a surprise!

That means there is still an opportunity for some to make one more effort in collecting signatures this weekend in some areas. We have made arrangements to be able to bring petition forms from Auckland and Christchurch by air Monday morning, and I will bring any collected and delivered to me here in Tauranga.
There is a big team already being organised to collect at the All Black test at Jade Stadium in Christchurch Saturday night and some planning to visit sports fields in the morning.
Anyone collecting or wanting to join a team should contact Ruth on 021872459

Those living in Auckland should contact Bernie Ogilvy on 021610919 to make arrangements to deliver your petitions to him by Sunday night, or meet him at the airport Monday morning.

Wellingtonians can collect and deliver your petitions to Gordon Copeland’s office in Bowen House Monday morning or bring them with you to the steps of parliament at noon.

Please encourage as many as possible to join us at the steps of Parliament Monday lunchtime.

If you would be flying in to Wellington from Christchurch or any other place in the country Monday Morning let me know and we may be able to arrange for you to bring some petitions with you. It would be fabulous if we can collect another 6,000 to make the total 390,000.

I promise this will be the last week!

Warm regards,
Larry

Remember it was a petition of 30,000 that changed an unjust law in 1893 to give women the vote!
This petition must change another unjust law, the repealing of the Bradford anti-smacking Act!

Larry Baldock
Party Leader
Phone: 021 86 4833
Email: l.baldock@xtra.co.nz

June 18, 2008
FI402-Email from Ruby Harrold-Claesson

18 June 2008 – Family Integrity #402 — Words to Live By – and beautiful pictures

Many thanks to our good friend Ruby Harrold-Claesson for the encouraging words and delightful photos below. Ruby, a lawyer from Sweden, came out to NZ in 2006 to help us fight this Section 59 battle. If you have not visited her organisation’s website, please set aside some time soon to check it out. It has several language options, so make sure you click on the British Union Jack to get the English version! http://www.nkmr.org

Regards,

Craig Smith

Family Integrity

From: Ruby Harrold-Claesson [mailto:rubyhc@nkmr.org]
Sent: Tuesday, 17 June 2008 5:36 p.m.
Subject: Words to Live By – and beautiful pictures

Dear Friends,

With these words and pictures, I would like to like to extend my sincere congratulations for your selfless efforts and the work that you are doing to protect your country and your countrymen.

Your stance against your PM’s and her pal Sue Bradford’s anti-smacking law, forced through Parliament claiming that it will reduce child abuse, is plain common sense. Rather than protecting children it seems that their determination is to destroy New Zealand society by the removal of parental authority thus undermining families by making parents afraid of their children. Your opposition to the insane law is unique. No other country has shown the resistance that has been shown in New Zealand. And, you can lean back against the decision not to ban smacking that was taken in the British Parliament in October 2007.

I quote from the Daily Mail article “Government u-turn as ministers tell parents they CAN smack their children“, published on October 26, 2007: “Shadow children’s minister Tim Loughton said: “This is a clear victory for common-sense.

“Clearly, if any adult is responsible for abuse and violence towards a child they need to face the full rigour of the law.

“But there is a world of difference between that and criminalising loving parents that use chastisement as they see fit in the interest of their child.

“There was never any public appetite for reopening this can of worms just three years after the issue was debated in Parliament.” Click here for link .

It is great to see that the signatures for a referendum on the anti-smacking law is fast approaching 370 000.

Keep up the good word and enjoy the pics.

Kind regards
Ruby

http://www.nkmr.org

Sorry could’t put pics. up.

June 18, 2008
FI400-U4L; It’s now or never

14 June 2008 – Family Integrity #400 — U4L; It’s now or never

—–Original Message—–
From: Craig Hill [mailto:craighill@maxnet.co.nz]
Sent: Friday, June 13, 2008 8:11 PM
Subject: U4L; It’s now or never

Hi All,

Calling all hands on deck, this weekend is the last weekend for collecting, all signatures must be in the post Monday 16th June. Please post fastpost.

WWE Smackdown went well on Wednesday night, approx 600 signatures.

Mystery Creek realized approx 2600 signatures on Thursday. Waiting for Friday’s result, there is also going to be a big team on Saturday. Should be a good result.

ALL BLACKS vs ENGLAND.

40,000 tickets have been sold for this match. The logic is very simple “The bigger the collection team the greater the result”.

Date, Saturday 14th June
Location Eden Park
Time Kick off 7:35pm

We intend to start setting up about 5:00 pm, the rush will probably start at about 6:30 pm. Given the locality of Eden Park the more folk we have on deck the more signatures

You can contact me on 021 746 113 or email craighill@maxnet.co.nz

Love to see you there.

LET’S BRING THIS PUPPY HOME “IN STYLE”

Craig Hill
021 746 113
http://www.unityforliberty.net.nz

All that is necessary for evil to succeed is for good men to do nothing (Edmund Burke 1728-1797)

June 13, 2008
FI399-Anti-smackers lose their cool

13 June 2008 – Family Integrity #399 — Anti-smackers lose their cool

ANTI-SMACKING: The destroyed petition.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/northland/4581394a23016.html

Anti-smackers lose their cool

By GEMMA REDDELL – Rodney Times | Thursday, 12 June 2008

Anti-smacking supporters got violent at a gathering of signatures for the Citizens Initiated Referendum campaign last Saturday.

Whangaparaoa resident Arna Mountain was gathering signatures for the petition when two women, on separate occasions, started abusing her.

She says many people were eager to sign the two petitions, which ask ‘should a smack as part of good parental correction be a criminal offence in New Zealand?’ and ‘should the government give urgent priority to understanding and addressing the wider causes of family breakdown, family violence and child abuse?’

She says she was shocked by what she sees as violent, anti-democratic behaviour.

“These petitions are asking for the democratic right to vote on what has been a contentious issue, but these two women seemed determined to intimidate the public and those collecting the signatures.”

She says the first woman took offence to the gathering of the signatures and started yelling.

How dare we smack our children, she shouted. Mrs Mountain says she then started telling bystanders to “roll up and sign the petition that allows you to abuse your children and then kill them, yes murder them, come on sign up.”

Later she was approached by another woman who asked if this was the petition to sign, then grabbed it, tore off the signed part and ripped it into pieces.

“The woman then took the clipboard which had other completed forms underneath and took off.

I called her to give back the clipboard and the legal document she had torn. She threw it across the entrance-way and yelled about how smacking children was wrong,” she says.

Mrs Mountain says that while she is shocked at the intensity of the behaviour, there are obviously a few people who are mistaken about what the petition is about.

“There are a few people who are completely unaware of the statistics that show that abuse and parental correction are completely different issues. No one in their right mind wants to abuse children. She says the vast majority of people are still against this law.”

They received 144 signatures in a two-and-a-half hour period in Whangaparaoa.

Petition forms can be downloaded from thekiwiparty.org.nz under ‘referendum’ or from Orewa and Whangaparaoa libraries. The last date for signing is June 15.

June 12, 2008