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Weekly Media Roundup

March 23, 2017 at 3:38 PM

New CYF legislation unworkable, says former judge

Proposed changes to Child, Youth and Family legislation are unworkable and the bill enacting them needs to be rewritten, a former Family Court judge says.

The Children, Young Persons and Their Families (Oranga Tamariki) Bill switches the focus from the current minimum intervention approach to early intervention.

Law Society member and retired Family Court judge John Adams said the goal was a good one but that such a big change required entirely new legislation.

Auckland art school offers disadvantaged kids a future

A West Auckland arts school is offering hope - and new skills - to teenagers who've had it tough at home and at school. Mihingarangi Forbes visited Kakano Youth Arts Collectiveand found out the teenagers there are using art to transform their futures.

Teen devastated by tragedy gets new start at art collective

A young Kaikohe man who says he has suffered more tragedy than most people his age is using art to transform his future.

Hemi* vividly remembers being taken away from his family by Child Youth and Family as a young boy.

It was "devastating" for him and his sister being removed by police, he said.

Family violence summit to take place in Wellington

A national summit on family violence will be hosted by Justice Minister Amy Adams and Social Development Minister Anne Tolley in Wellington on June 7.

Adams says, “We know that family violence is a significant and complex issue in New Zealand, with Police responding to an incident every five minutes. That’s why I’ve made helping to reduce family violence my core priority.

Across New Zealand there are large numbers of people working hard every day to combat this horrific form of abuse. The Family Violence Summit will bring together people from the sector to continue the conversation around how we break the pattern of family violence and reduce the harm.”

NZ's highest rate of family violence in the developed world - Amy Adams has 'had enough'

Justice Minister Amy Adams says she's had enough of the country's appalling family violence record and will be taking part in a live chat with Stuff on Facebook at 12.30pm today to discuss ways the Government plans to address these issues and more.

Concerns for security of shared information after reprieve for sexual violence victims

A new policy on collecting personal details from clients of services funded by the Ministry of Social Development will exclude sexual violence victims for the first year as the security of the new system is tested.

But the change raises concerns about the security of information from other clients when the policy is rolled out in July, a Women's Refuge manager says.

Marlborough Women's Refuge manager Rachel Black said she was pleased that the Government was reviewing the policy, but the exemption should be extended beyond just sexual violence victims.

Editorial: How to keep vulnerable children safe within the whanau

Social Development Minister Anne Tolley is wise to soften the Government's stance on "whanau first" care of troubled children. It should be possible for social workers to ensure that a child is kept safe while also preferring to place the child within the whanau or extended family.

The new approach would recognise that there are two principles which should both be served if at all possible. The child's safety must always be paramount. At the same time it is clear that a Maori child is much more likely to flourish if placed in a setting where they feel comfortable and where their deepest sense of identity is maintained.

Just how this will be done remains to be seen, and there are difficult issues to be faced in drafting the legislation.

Why corporal punishment doesn't work

Opinion - Since corporal punishment was banned in New Zealand in 1987, there have been periodic grumbles that it's causing moral turpitude in the young.

The latest is from the National Party's Kaikohe chair Alan Price, who made the claim following incidents of vandalism and theft by groups of young people in the town.

To be honest, there's little chance of Mr Price's suggestion going anywhere, with wide and multi-partisan agreement condemning violence against children, but it's worth setting out, once again, why this idea is so wildly wrong.

To clarify: if you don’t abuse your children you’re abusing your children

You’d be forgiven for thinking that New Zealand had by and large concluded the debate about whether beating up children is a good idea. You’d also be wrong. The latest reminder of that arrived this morning in the shape of Alan Price, the chair of the National Party Kaikohe branch, who called for the return to corporal punishment.

Political Roundup: The uncomfortable abortion reform challenge

The radical return of the abortion issue is an opportunity and challenge for politicians. Will they rise to the occasion?

Politicians are finally having to face up to the unresolved abortion question. As yesterday's column pointed out - Should abortion be decriminalised? - the law around abortion is suddenly back on the agenda, following decades of a kind of uncomfortable truce. This was based on an unofficial compromise in which the legal framework for abortion has been very restrictive in law, but relatively liberal in practice.

CYF faces payout over false sexual abuse claim

Child Youth and Family faces having to make a payout to a man it wrongly accused for 15 years of being a sex offender.

The agency had been repeating the information since 2001 and did not correct its reports to the Family Court until last year, despite being told three times it was wrong.

CYF has apologised to the man, but he has complained to the Privacy Commissioner, who backed his complaint and referred it to the Director of Human Rights Proceedings.

Troy Taylor 'lost it' and fatally injured baby Ihaka Stokes, court hears; Defence blames mother

Accused child-killer Troy Taylor has placed the blame for the death of baby Ihaka Stokes squarely with the child's mother.

Taylor pleaded not guilty in the High Court in Christchurch on Monday to charges of murdering and assaulting 14-month-old Ihaka in July 2015. He told police shortly after Ihaka's death that he believed the toddler was injured falling in his cot.

Meth abuse key reason grandparents are raising grandchildren

Methamphetamine crept into her children's lives, turning her daughter into a "zombie".

As her children were unable to parent, Minaora* took over raising her grandchildren.

She has cared for her four grandkids on and off for five years while her children wrestle with the insidious drug.

Minaora is sharing her story for Grandparents Raising Grandchildren awareness week from March 20 to 26. The charity supports grandparents who find themselves in a primary caregiver role.

More demand for social workers in schools

There is increasing demand for social workers in schools in Hawke's Bay, as the region helps students to cope with family violence issues.

However, Pam McCann of Family Works believes the issue is not only a Hastings issues but a nationwide issue.

Google Maps already tracks you; now other people can, too

Google Maps users will soon be able to broadcast their movements to friends and family - the latest test of how much privacy people are willing to sacrifice in an era of rampant sharing.

The location-monitoring feature will begin rolling out Wednesday in an update to the Google Maps mobile app, which is already installed on most of the world's smartphones. It will also be available on personal computers.

'I'm the girl that got raped': How a family coped with teenage daughter's ordeal

Amy and her family are appealing to Premier Daniel Andrews to overhaul laws and make it less traumatic for child sex assault victims to seek justice in court.

They want minors in sex assault cases to be cross-examined in front of an experienced judge, or panel of judges, rather than in front of a jury. The family also want mandatory restrictions to prevent gratuitous details of sexual assaults on minors being made public.

Fijians urged to intervene in domestic violence incidents

The Fiji Women's Crisis Centre is calling on people to show empathy and to have the courage to intervene when they see acts of domestic violence.

This came after an incident on Monday in Nadera on the outskirts of Suva where a young woman was stabbed to death on the street in broad daylight surrounded by a crowd of people who according to media reports did nothing to help her until it was too late.

Twelve Questions with Tusi Tamasese

Samoan film maker Tusi Tamasese's new feature One Thousand Ropes, starring Frankie Adams, explores the inter-generational effects of domestic violence.

‘These diseases should not exist in wealthy nations’: How the housing crisis is sending NZers to an early grave

There are many victims of the spiralling property market, but the worst by far are those children whose health is wrecked for life by substandard, overcrowded accommodation. In this Rent Week reissue, Dr George Laking explains why the housing crisis should come with a health warning.

Supermarket discounts sanitary items in two-week campaign

Thousands of dollars of sanitary products have been donated to charity ahead of a two-week campaign by Countdown offering the items at a discounted price.

For the next two weeks the supermarket chain will be selling a range of cheaper sanitary products at $4 each, and encouraging customers to donate a pack to the Salvation Army, either in-store or online via the Foodbank Project.

To kick-start the campaign, Countdown has donated $5000 of sanitary products to the Salvation Army and has suggested customers take advantage of the cheaper prices and buy an extra pack or two for women in need.