Abused ... then abused again

Social Development Minister Paula Bennett has started an examination into how so many vulnerable children fall through the gaps between state agencies. Photo / Brett Phibbs

Almost 1800 children whose abuse or neglect was detected by social workers last year were re-abused within six months, often by the same parents or family members.

The high rate of re-abuse - affecting five children each day - has horrified Social Development Minister Paula Bennett, who has started a wide-ranging examination into how so many vulnerable children fall through the gaps between state agencies.

The Government rethink also follows strong criticism of current practices from child abuse experts and the release of a damning attack on Child, Youth and Family's failings over child deaths by former Children's Commissioner Cindy Kiro.

Dr Kiro reviewed the deaths of children known to CYF between 2000 and 2006 and passed her concerns about the agency's poor performance to the Ministry of Social Development in 2007.

Her letters, obtained by the Weekend Herald under the Official Information Act, contain a list of complaints about the way social workers failed to protect the children who died.

Her main criticisms included:

* CYF social workers frequently made decisions without properly investigating and gathering enough information. They focused on supporting adults in their problems, ignoring the need to investigate care-and-protection concerns for the children.

* In many cases, CYF or the family had earlier removed the dead child's brothers or sisters from the parents, but social workers did not consider this when new concerns came to light.

* Some cases showed patterns of intergenerational abuse involving parents or extended family members. These cases often involved repeat abuse, long delays, inadequate investigation and concerns over chronic neglect of the children.

Dr Kiro criticised CYF for farming out supposedly lower-level cases to private agencies when the agency should have recognised them as higher priority and handled them itself.

She particularly criticised one social worker who failed to protect a child from serious injuries because of threats and intimidation by the family.

"I acknowledge that care-and-protection social work at times maylead staff to become desensitisedor to accommodate violence, butone can only imagine the fear experienced by this child if the experienced social worker felt unsafe."

Child abuse experts told the Weekend Herald that the kind of problems identified by Dr Kiro had not changed in the past three years.

But leading specialist paediatrician Dr Patrick Kelly, of Auckland's Starship hospital, said it was unfair to put all the blame on Child, Youth and Family.

"It's just not possible for a statutory social worker to keep a child safe ... What about all the other people who should be taking responsibility?"

Dr Kelly urged the Government to require the compulsory involvement of doctors, police and other professionals in all decisions about the possible abuse of children.

Ms Bennett said this idea would not be practical, but she did want to make it standard practice for all social workers to consult other professionals.

The minister also said she was increasingly concerned about the placement of abused Maori children with poorly chosen members of their extended family.

She had asked Child, Youth and Family to compare the progress of Maori children placed with whanau and those placed elsewhere to see what worked best.

Child, Youth and Family head Ray Smith said his social workers were at the front line trying to find solutions that kept children safe.

"It is hard, complex work, and there will be times when we miscalculate or misjudge the level of risk to a child.

"When a child dies, all of us look back and ask ourselves, 'Could we have done more?"'

OUR SHAME

The Herald has highlighted the abuse and neglect of our most vulnerable children since the 1990s. Today, we examine why so little has changed and how we can make improvements to keep our children safe.

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What do we need to do to stop child abuse? Email newsdesk@nzherald.co.nz