Child abuse: Would you make the call?

Each year CYF receives 150,000 notifications, of which 57,000 are referred to a social worker for assessment. Photo / Thinkstock

Some people seem reluctant to report clear cases of abuse of children.

Nia Glassie, the Kahui twins and Lillybing - all names tinged with sadness on a long roll-call of children who might be alive today if someone had reported their violent abuse.

But when confronted with suspected child abuse would we pick up the phone and report it?

Worryingly, when asked whether they would alert authorities to a clear-cut case of child abuse, only 93.7 per cent of respondents to a Herald on Sunday survey said "Yes". More than 6 per cent would not.

Each year Child Youth and Family receives 150,000 notifications, of which 57,000 are referred to a social worker for assessment. The remainder are either deemed to need no further action or may be directed to another support service. At any time there are about 5000 children in care.

The result for reporting our invented case of child abuse - in which a man was dragging a 10-year-old girl screaming by the hair - should have been 100 per cent, but CYF's chief social worker Paul Nixon was pleased with the figures.

He suggested some respondents might be uncertain about the consequences of making a notification, or the process.

His view was reflected by comments made by some respondents.

One said: "Reporting possible child abuse in a well-meaning but misguided way, could lead to enormous damage and pain for the family involved - so be sure about it before deciding to involve the authorities."

Nixon said notification levels were rising and his main message was any people worried about a child should contact the department's 24 hour hotline.

Some respondents were worried about being identified as having made a notification, but Nixon said: "We can take anonymous notifications or they can tell us who they are and we can keep that confidential".

As for our four scenarios, he said if he knew a neighbour who left a child asleep at home alone, he would tell her: "You've got to stop doing that, it isn't safe. Can your husband catch the bus to work?" If a referral was made, CYF would probably make a one-off visit and talk to the parents about making other arrangements and if other problems were found, it would do a further assessment.

In the second case, his actions would depend on how well he knew the parents of a child with a black eye and limp. Bruises on knees, legs, arms and foreheads were common but bruises on ears or injuries around the neck were unusual.

"If you are worried, trust your instincts. Call Child Youth and Family. If it's not child abuse, nothing terrible will happen, if it is child abuse, we have a chance to protect a child."

For number three, the mother of triplets needed more support. If CYF received a notification they probably wouldn't "investigate" but would get help for the mother.

In the fourth case, he would definitely report the abuse.

THE SURVEY QUESTIONS

1: Every morning, while your neighbour drives her husband to work, she leaves a 1-year-old asleep in the cot. She's gone for 10 minutes. Would you report it? (Survey respondents: Yes 43.3 per cent/ No 24 per cent/ Unsure 32.7 per cent)

2: You notice a relative's 3-year-old is walking with a limp and has a black eye. The child seems happy enough. The parents explain that he loves climbing and fell from the kitchen table. Would you report it? (Yes 16.7 per cent/ No 44.9 per cent/ Unsure 38.4 per cent)

3: A friend is a mother of 6-month-old triplets. She has no family support and a partner who works long hours. She seems stressed-out but good-humoured. The house is a mess, one baby's nappy badly needs changing, the other is howling in its cot, and the third she picks up roughly by the wrist. Would you report it? (Yes 37.8 per cent / No 31.1 per cent/ Unsure 31.1 per cent)

4: You hear shouting coming from a neighbour's house and see a man dragging a 10-year-old girl inside by her hair. She is screaming. The door shuts, you hear banging and the screaming doesn't stop. Would you report it? (Yes 93.7 per cent/ No 1.4 per cent/ Unsure 4.9 per cent)

5: Have you ever thought about reporting a specific case of child abuse or neglect to social welfare or the police? (Yes, but I decided not to report the case 6.4 per cent / Yes and I did report the case 10.8 per cent / No I have never been in this situation 81.4 per cent/ Other 1.4 per cent)

NEIGHBOUR CLEAR ABOUT CHILD ABUSE

Bill Bacon, logistics manager, of Karaka, well remembers the time he called police when his neighbour was beating his son.

"He actually attached his child, who was about 8 or 9, to a clothesline and gave him a hiding with a big cane."

Bacon yelled over the fence to stop or he'd phone the police. "I thought, 'what the hell are you doing? Stop that'. He just kept going. So I called the cops."

But the response was disappointing because he was told police didn't like to get involved with family matters, and the child had probably been misbehaving anyway.

That was about a decade ago and times had changed. "It was an attitude. At that time, people tended to think 'it's their business', but to me it [the beating] was miles too much."

He now had more faith in the authorities, and this was borne out when an acquaintance's 3-year-old child badly hurt his head and the parents faced a grilling by police. Bacon knew the child liked to run around, crashing into things.

He thought people's response to suspected child abuse depended on how well they knew the family.

"The way I always work is, we always look after the neighbours' kids," he said.

"You also have a better understanding as you get older about what's acceptable and what's not acceptable. I'm really against the anti-smacking law, but I'm also against child abuse."