Today we report on yet another case of child abuse in Hawke's Bay.
We have a national problem in as much as an alarming number of adults seem to think it is acceptable to mete out violence to children, who are the most vulnerable members of society and the ones wholook to the grown-ups in their life for safety and protection.
Hawke's Bay has been in the news for all the wrong reasons in recent months following the deaths of 5-year-old Sahara Baker-Koro and 5-month old Mikara Reti.
And now this week, we are reporting on significant non-accidental injuries to a 10-week-old baby and, today, on a level of abuse against children which is likely to result in prison time for the mother concerned.
On the positive side of the ledger for Hawke's Bay, the new Commissioner for Children, Russell Wills, is from our region.
Dr Wills, Hawke's Bay District Health Board's head of paediatrics, sees "a real commitment around the country to improve things for children" and we can only hope he is right about that.
I was asked this week whether Hawke's Bay was the child abuse capital of New Zealand.
Of course it is not. The answer is that New Zealand is the child abuse capital of New Zealand.
The issue of child abuse is not confined to any region or even race or demographic within New Zealand. It is widespread and a blight on the nation.
For too long New Zealanders have swept this issue under the carpet, muttering excuses about circles of violence, cultural differences, deprived existences and reconstituted families.
What is required is a culture of zero tolerance to child abuse and a commitment by all adults involved in a child's life to look out for their welfare.
Until we have such an attitude, there will be more Saharas and more Mikaras, two children killed within weeks of each other here in Hawke's Bay in homes that should have been their safe havens.
