CYFS to keep watch over released child molesters

Child, Youth and Family Services will monitor convicted child abusers after they are released from jail in a bid to reduce reoffending.

It is part of an agreement announced yesterday between CYFS and the Department of Corrections.

It has been welcomed by child welfare groups. Child, Youth and Family (CYFS) will be told when an offender, who has been convicted of sexual, violent or other serious offences against children, has been freed.
The tracking will then start.

It is not clear how long the monitoring will last for each offender. CYFS policy adviser Jim Murphy said that the agreement formalised what had been happening ``in more of a piecemeal kind of a way.''

However, no extra money or resources will be given to either CYFS or the departmentfor the task. ``We believe we can manage with the existing resources we have,'' Mr Murphy said.

Under the protocol, CYFS will check on the living arrangements for a released prisoner.

If that person is returning to a household with children, the agency will ``take steps to make the children safe.''

``Once we've received the information from Corrections, we woudl be talking with family members, the children, the non-offending partner, the offender, the wider family and other agencies who may have been involved,'' Mr Murphy said.

``The first thing we would be doing is assessing the safety issues for the children if the person does return.''

If CYFS was concerned that a child was at risk, it might inform police or the department.

In the past two years, 500 convicted child abusers have been released.

The Commissioner for Children, Roger McClay, said there was no requirement previously for shared information and the protocol was an important step forward.

The chairman of Children's Agenda, Ian Hassall, said shared responsibility was vital to the safety of children.

``We've gone overboard in recent years with the privacy principle and have ignored the shared responsibility principle which is so important to children's welfare.''

CYFS chief executive Jackie Brown said the importance of sharing information had been highlighted by the report into the death of 4-year-old James Whakaruru, who had been in contact with several state agencies before he was beaten to death.

The Hawkes Bay youngster's stepfather, Ben Haerewa, was sentenced to 12 years' jail for manslaughter after he beat James to death in April last year.

Mr Murphy said the protocols had been discussed with Privacy Commissioner Bruce Slane, who said the information exchange did not necessarily breach the Privacy Act but that they would have to be assessed individually.

Justice Ministry officials had also cleared them.