Dialogue: Joining hands against child abuse

By EMMA DAVIES and VI WOOLF*

Following the horrific headlines of the past few weeks, few New Zealanders would deny that child abuse is a major problem. However, pitting Maori against Maori serves only to trivialise the seriousness of the issue and places too little emphasis on the fact that child abuse is cross-cultural.

If we allow child abuse to be perceived as a Maori problem, there is a risk that Pakeha will absolve themselves of responsibility. This could ultimately be detrimental for funding in an area that is already seriously under-resourced.

Debates have emerged about whether poverty or cultural decimation contribute to abuse statistics. Further debate has taken place about the usefulness of analysing different rates of abuse in different segments of society. Understanding the multi-faceted and interconnected causes of child abuse is important, but where is the debate about partnership and solutions?

It is easy to highlight the problem and apportion blame, but unless we focus on forming solutions, paralysis may result. Coordinated action and change is required, not further rhetoric and division.

One way forward is to develop networks within all levels of society to recognise, prevent and minimise child abuse. One long-term goal must be improving the knowledge and skill base within our communities, in this way building greater capacity. We need skilled social workers, psychologists, paediatricians, nurses, refuge workers, psychotherapists, community workers, police and lawyers within all our communities. We must give priority to the development of these skill bases in Maori and Pacific Island communities.

We also need to learn from one another about the various therapeutic models of healing. Initiatives in the primary prevention of abuse need to be developed and existing ones strengthened.

The Commissioner for Children's report into the death of James Whakaruru strongly advocated better interagency collaboration across both Government and non-government sectors. Recent Auckland research into how children and their primary carers experienced the child sexual abuse investigation process found that a lack of interagency cohesion was perceived as a major obstacle and cause of stress.

Families deserve clear explanations of agency roles, specific information about the investigation process, and good communication and coordination between professionals to reinforce rather than weaken their coping mechanisms. Intervention needs to be timely to effect positive change and minimise the risk to children.

In recognition of these needs, an interagency initiative has been developed in Auckland. For the past 18 months, agencies involved in child protection have been working to create a more integrated child abuse system. Representatives from the police child abuse teams, specialised health services, Child, Youth and Family Services, interviewing teams, Maori community agencies, iwi and mainstream community agencies have been involved in the establishment of two centres.

The main purpose of the centres is closer collaboration between agencies, so that abused children no longer fall through the cracks in the system.

The Central Auckland Child and Adolescent Recovery and Empowerment Service (Cares) and a parallel agency in South Auckland will open next year. They will be demonstration centres which, it is hoped, will be adopted all over New Zealand.

For the first time we will have centres of excellence for child abuse, where there is a sharing of knowledge, skills and support across discipline boundaries.

On the premises will be police child abuse teams and statutory social workers conducting investigations. There will also be social workers, community workers, psychologists and psychotherapists helping children and families to heal. There will be specialised interviewing teams so that children are interviewed about what happened to them in a professional, child-focused way by trained staff. There will be Maori and non-Maori staff linking children and their families to appropriate longer-term services within their communities.

This approach, tried and tested around the world, really can close the cracks between agencies. The local process hasn't been easy and has required an ongoing commitment from all involved. At times, individual needs and differences threatened to overwhelm the very purpose.

Working with families where there are suspicions of abuse is emotionally draining and complicated. Ideas about best practices differ. The Government agencies, such as Child, Youth and Family and the police, are not themselves adequately resourced. Many community agencies are also operating on shoestring budgets, unsure whether they will survive the next financial year. It is in these stressful working environments that child abuse must be addressed.

A child abuse action group was formed last week to encourage reporting of abuse and to support the Cares centre, so that when people report, they get better access to the services they need. This group is from a diverse range of backgrounds and includes parents, foster-parents, grandparents, doctors, lawyers and teachers. A group of young people who have been abused will be invited to offer advice in the final planning stages.

Working in partnership, as Maori and non-Maori, Government and community agencies, businesses and families, young people and adults, can make a difference. Through this partnership, we can start to turn around the statistics for all our children. The gaps in the system must be closed and closed quickly.

* Vi Woolf is a psychotherapist at the Ngati Whatua Orakei Marae and Dr Emma Davies is a senior lecturer at the Auckland University of Technology's school of education and social sciences.