KEY POINTS:
Child, Youth and Family had previous dealings with the siblings of a toddler who died earlier this year after being deserted in the bush by its mother.
The case has prompted calls from National's education spokesperson Katherine Rich for CYF to introduce a system whereby there is ongoing
monitoring of suspect parents.
Rich told the Herald on Sunday the difficulty lay in the fact that CYF "passively" waited to be informed about potential cases of child abuse even when the warning signs were obvious.
The 31-year-old at the centre of the latest case pleaded guilty on Monday to a charge of manslaughter after admitting abandoning her 18-month-old daughter in secluded bush near Whangarei in March this year.
The toddler was found the next day by police face-down and dead in a pool of water. A post-mortem examination later found the child had drowned.
The woman has name suppression, but that is expected to be lifted once she is sentenced on December 14.
She is at home on electronic bail.
The woman told police she had dumped the baby in a "safe" place for its own protection after concerns she was being chased through the bush by men with guns. She had been smoking methamphetamine in the days leading up to the incident.
CYF operations manager Lorraine Williams confirmed CYF had no knowledge about the existence of the toddler until its death.
But she did confirm CYF had been involved with the toddler's two half-siblings some years ago but would not say why or to what extent.
However, it had made contact with the family since the toddler's death "to ensure they have all the support they need throughout this immensely difficult time". "The death of a child is a dreadful loss for any family, and the circumstances in this case can only makethe pain worse," Williams said.
"Our condolences go out to her family.
"Her death highlights the vulnerability of babies and toddlers.
"They are totally reliant on the adults in their lives to keep them safe, protected and loved. We all need to be aware of the little ones in our lives and help keep them safe."
Williams said the issue of whether the mother had contact with her remaining two children was dictated by her bail conditions, which were subject to a suppression order.
At this time, there was no role for CYF to play, she said.
Rich said CYF clearly needed to be far more proactive as this was not the first case of this type.
"They [CYF] only monitor parents when there has been a case of extreme abuse or the death of a child. The threshold for intervention is far too high," Rich said.
"People would have also noticed the change in this woman over a period of weeks and they will have to deal with the result of their silence."
