The establishment of a national database of child caregivers will "red flag" people deemed unsuitable, whether or not they have criminal convictions.
The $12.7 million system would keep records of everybody involved with a child who came to the attention of Child, Youth and Family Services, including caregivers, and list any complaints or charges against them even if they had not been convicted.
Chief social worker Mike Doolan said the database was not a blacklist or a paedophile register.
"I would not want to fool anybody that we will be in the business of tracking perpetrators.
"Our information is not at that level of verification."
A blacklist of people containing "non-verifiable" information would raise civil rights issues, but CYFS had to put the welfare of the child first, he said. If there were concerns, it wanted to be aware of them.
The system, scheduled to be online in November, would work in conjunction with existing police checks on all potential caregivers and foster parents for criminal records.
Applicants would be asked for permission to check their histories. If they declined, the application would be refused.
"Police checks tell us about convictions but do not tell us how many times they have been charged," Mr Doolan said.
If a child had alleged abuse but it was never proved, that would also be recorded by the system.
Such checks would not necessarily rule out a person from being a caregiver, but would alert social workers, who could make further investigations and assess their suitability, he said.
Only security-cleared staff - "those who have the right to know" - would have access to the database, including social workers and coordinators, with a system in place to prevent "trawling" by others.
Police could not access it and would have no involvement in it, he said.
Human rights lawyer Tony Ellis described the system as "constitutionally offensive" and an invasion of privacy.
Innocent people and those falsely accused would end up on secret records, which could be used against them.
"If you are acquitted in a court, what goes on the Wanganui [police] computer record, police must destroy," he said.
"[In the CYFS proposed register] you are found not guilty, but a department of state is double-guessing the courts and suggesting somebody should be looked at."
- NZPA
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