Fri, 26 Aug 2011

Will "spot checks" stop child abuse in New Zealand?

The coroner looking into the horrific death of toddler Nia Glassie wants all children under the age of 5 tracked in a bid to end the appalling level of child abuse in New Zealand.

Justice Wallace Bain says that in all of his 19 years of conducting inquests he has never had to endure such horrendous evidence which led to the death of this little girl in horrific circumstances.

He is now calling for mandatory reporting and compulsory information sharing for under 5's from single parent families, those on the DPB, families known to CYF's and those with a history of domestic violence in the home. He is also calling for tougher penalties for witnesses of child abuse who do not immediately inform authorities.

Do you think these changes will put an end to child abuse in New Zealand? And do they go far enough?

9 opinions

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Opinion:

By Jack

yes and take children off feral familys with a track record.solo mother.maori.young live in boyfriends.look at the stats

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By cruizie

No spot checking families will not work - there is a lot of work to do in the community and yet another insipid department off a government department isn't the answer. What about the families that don't have a history? - they're the ones that will creep up and bit this recommendation square on the bum...

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By Awesome Young Mum

I think if these checks were to be put in place then they would have to have conditons that would not let the anyone physically take the child from the parent because it has sadly & wrongly happened to me.

If I had power I would help with putting families back together from all sorts of unworthy experiences like mine and yes you are quite right Will, why should we feel guilty or suspect being parents.

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By Will

So now all parents are presumed guilty until proved innocent? How Orwellian this country is becoming. Murder of an adult or anyone of any age is illegal, but it still happens. Likewise, the sort of people that abuse their children will abuse their children regardless of the law. Treating everyone else as suspect isn't going to change a damn thing other than make most parents feel guilty and suspect - just for being parents. We're turning into such a Big Brother nation it's truly frightening.

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By kane

Anything is better than we are doing now... I still dont think it will go far enough though... Drug test of care givers and parents of at risk children should be done... As well as CYFs getting to know who lives in the home with the parent/care giver... Should the child be classed at risk?? Or should the parents be classed as a risk.... Depends on which side of the fence you want to look at it I guess... And along with the braking the silence bill it will be a very good start I do expect a lot more to come as well....

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By paul

Child abuse is caused by ignorant uneducated people.(Most times)40 odd years ago Plunket visited all young mothers.and mothers that had a few kids.I don't think we had such a problem then,or may be some. Fund the plunket make it mandatory to have the plunket visits ones a week or so to all new mothers.Or all mothers if it comes to that.Till the children are about 2 years old.By then the Nurse would probably now if the child is not being looked after properly or abuse is being used.That would be a start.

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By Takere

We need to be careful or else we could be in danger of the wrong analysis leading to the wrong diagnosis, leading to the wrong prescription. However, the big cause is the group of young, alienated, disaffected youth who are outside the social mainstream and who live in a culture at odds with any canons of proper behaviour. What’s called for is to understand that an absolutely specific problem requires a deeply specific solutions. (TB)

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By Jeffrey Huffadine

Can we get rid of child abuse in NZ? I agree with Takere as this is election year .The thing is with this government is that it is rushing through bills that should not be introduced and if all voters decide that they do not wish to vote for any socialist government or for any particular political party this year then we will have a HUNG PARLIAMENT.Yes by all means get rid of this govenment altogether with no questions asked.

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