Dozens of newborns are being taken from their mothers every year because of fears for their safety.
Child, Youth and Family took 66 at-risk babies less than a month old into its care last year and 15 of them were taken the day they were born.
In more than half of the cases, older brothers and sisters were already in care, figures provided to The Dominion Post under the Official Information Act show.
The number of custody orders involving newborns has more than doubled in the past five years. In the 2003-04 year, 32 were taken into state care.
Those taken last year include the newborn daughter of convicted baby-killer Tania Witika, who gave birth in Christchurch. CYF obtained custody when it heard she was pregnant.
The horrific death of Witika’s daughter Delcelia, 2, in 1991 was one of the worst child-abuse cases to go before New Zealand courts. She and her partner at the time were each sentenced to 16 years’ jail for Delcelia’s torture and death.
The rise in newborn custody orders coincides with a doubling in care and protection notifications involving babies still in their mothers’ wombs. Last year Child, Youth and Family received 215 notifications from people worried about the welfare of unborn children, compared with 96 five years earlier.
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Julie CYFS
You most like have heard about the abuse and death of 3 year old Nia Glassie.
Nia died on August 3, 2007 after being kicked in the head. She was subjected to months of abuse which included being put in a dryer, hung on a clothes line and spun around, used as a wrestling doll and left lying in a coma for 36 hours without medical attention.
NZ was in shock when this came to the public attention and the murderers have received a hefty sentence of 17.5 non-parole.
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Response from MP – NZ – the Hon. Tariana Turia – Maori Party – Te Tai Hauauru – Minister for Community and Voluntary Sector – Assoc Minister Health, MSD and Employment
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Julie Children, Legal Information, News
FAMILY Court judges may be given the power to decide that children are better off in foster care instead of granting either parent custody as part of a range of options being considered by the Federal Government.
Attorney-General Robert McClelland wants the Family Court and state welfare agencies to work together more effectively. In an interview with The Age he said there was a “fracture” between them. The court made decisions about which parent should have residence or access but “the reality is it’s not uncommon for both parents to be effectively dysfunctional”.
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Julie Legal Information
The Government’s top social workers say a “culture of blame” over child abuse is driving social workers into taking children from their families to avoid any risk of being blamed if things go wrong.
Child, Youth and Family Services (CYFS) chief social worker, Dr Marie Connolly, and her predecessor Mike Doolan say “sensationalist” media coverage of high-profile child deaths is making social workers less willing to trust the families of the children referred to them.
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Julie CYFS, News, Research
Dangerous sex as state enters bedroom
Janet Albrechtsen
April 30, 2008
IF you are a man, sex got a whole lot more dangerous. Consider this scenario.
A woman meets a man in a bar or at a party. She likes the man. He likes the woman. She may not normally be a sex on the first night kind of girl. But they have a number of drinks. Fuelled by alcohol, they put aside their inhibitions. The woman goes home with the man. She says yes to sex. In the morning, the man makes it clear it was a one-night stand. The woman is deeply offended and regrets her drunken decision. She claims rape. Under new rape laws introduced in NSW this year, that man is likely to be convicted as a rapist. He is likely to go to prison.
Rape reform in NSW means that post-coital regrets can now be refashioned into rape claims that send innocent men to prison. That’s why Gold Coast Titans footballer Anthony Laffranchi is a fortunate man. He walked free from a rape charge last week after the prosecution failed to establish lack of consent. He and his then Wests Tigers NRL teammates met a woman at the Sapphire Club in Kings Cross in September 2006 and continued to party at a teammate’s apartment. The footballer said he had consensual sex. The woman, who was “significantly affected” by alcohol, claimed she was raped. Had Laffranchi met the woman after January this year, he would probably be a convicted rapist facing a long stint in prison.
To read more click read more under this sentence. 
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Julie Legal Information, Separation
List member Heather Roy from the Act Party has written a nice piece on the plight of single parent fathers.
This week saw the issue of Child Support raised in Parliament, with National MP Judith Collins using the term ‘deadbeat dads’ to describe those fathers who fail – or refuse – to fulfil their obligation to contribute financially to the raising of their children.
On the whole, New Zealand is a ‘can do’ nation with ‘can do’ people: we can, and do, fulfil our responsibilities; we can, and do, pay our own way; we can, and do, stand up for fairness over discrimination. With such a pervading and upstanding social view, New Zealanders on the whole have no time for ‘deadbeat dads’.
So why, then, do we allow the odds to be stacked against fathers who are at the opposite end of the scale – who want nothing more than to play an equal or larger part in the lives of their children?
In 2006 the Care of Children Act came into effect, designed in part to shake up the Family Court and to dispel the ‘myth’ that the Court was biased against men and preferred sole maternal custody as the outcome of its hearings. Under the Act, ‘Custody and Access’ were replaced by ‘Shared Parenting’ – meaning that, ideally, both parents share equally the responsibility and joy of their child’s day-to-day care; neither parent has full control and neither parent can be left out of their child’s life. On paper, it seems wonderfully fair.
To read more please click read more below this sentence.
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Julie Legal Information
A Family Court judge is alarmed at drug P’s impact on families. Reference Sunday Star Times 24th February 2008.
Couples are increasingly citing use of the drug methamphetamine or “P” as a reason for seeking protection orders, divorce and sole custody of children.
Family Court judges have told the Sunday Star-Times that allegations of P use in such cases were prevalent and rising.
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Julie Health, Legal Information, News
With the latest ‘No Smacking Bill’ that has only last week passed it’s second reading which was introduced by Green Party MP Sue Bradford there has been a lot of debate, protest and lobbying for and against a law to condemn parents who smack their children for discipline.
MP Sue Bradford has done a lot for low income earners over the years and her party was against the drug “P” from becoming a class ‘A’ drug. However this time she has put a bill forward on behalf of Labour so that Labour can vote as a block instead of a conscience vote which basically means Labour does not want to give individual MPs a single vote but one as a whole for an agenda of theirs.
Anyhow it seems that 80% of parents do not want this bill which questions whether we have a democracy in New Zealand and whether voters being New Zealand citizens or such get a say in anything at all when it comes to running this country.
So, I am going to show you how you can have a say on this issue and any others you may wish to contribute to.
HOW TO LOBBY
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Julie Children, Legal Information, News
Many people receive child support and many people pay child support. Amongst these many people paying child support are a number who pay it directly to Inland Revenue while the other partner is on a DPB or past relationship issues prevent discussion.
These people do not get to negotiate their financial contribution with the parent who has the most day to day care of the children.
Auckland Single Parents Trust and Parents for Children are holding meetings on the Child Support Act and issues. The meeting is open to the public and FREE to receive information on what the act is about and how to deal with it by speaker Mark Shipman followed by personal discussion and assistance on child support issues.
This meeting is for those paying and for those who receive and especially for those who do not receive because the government receives to pay towards the DPB. If you are on the DPB you need to hear what your options are. You may be better off working and receiving ‘child support’ and share parenting with the help from “The Governments Working for Families package.”
FIRST MEETING
Wednesday 7th June, 7.30pm
Kelston Community Centre
Cnr Gt North Rd & Awaroa Ave, Kelston
Julie Legal Information, News
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