Grandparents who had a long and painful battle with then the CYF service have urged families trying to regain custody of their young loved ones not to give up. Photo / New Zealand Herald
Grandparents who had a long and painful battle with then the CYF service have urged families trying to regain custody of their young loved ones not to give up. Photo / New Zealand Herald
A couple who took on a Government agency after the wrongful uplift of their grandchildren have urged other families fighting for return of their loved ones not to give up.
As a series of reviews are carried out into Oranga Tamariki's controversial uplifting policy and process, an Auckland couple haveopened up on their painful battle with the former Child, Youth and Family (CYF) service.
In 2003 social workers removed two children aged 7 and 8 from their paternal grandparents' care.
The couple said CYF took the grandchildren – who had been in their care for six months – in the belief they were emotionally and physically abused. But a subsequent top-level inquiry found there were "insufficient" grounds to remove the children.
The children's grandfather said the lesson was "never give up even though there will be days you want to."
The children's mother abandoned them, and they were then raised by their father until he could no longer care for them.
In 2003, the children stayed with their maternal grandmother during a school holiday and never returned to their paternal grandparents after CYF became involved.
Prior to their uplifting, the oldest grandchild was interviewed by a social worker at school without the consent of the paternal grandparents.
"She was asked if we said to her 'Would you like to live with us?' or 'Why can't we see our dad?'. CYF says that's 'adult talk' and is 'emotionally abusive'," said the grandfather.
"Nobody asked us for our version of what happened. We were told they would be away for a week but they never came back" said the grandmother.
When the eldest child fell off her bike she bruised her thigh. Her grandfather was accused of "abusing " the girl, which he said was "rubbish."
The grandmother said: "The social worker had formed a belief the girls were being abused by us. They loved their nana and poppa.
"We couldn't explain to them why they had been taken from us. They left without a goodbye. My heart was ripped out."
What followed caused a lot of stress to themselves and their relationship. The woman said some days were so painful she wanted to end her life.
The couple were eventually granted two years of supervised access.
"I thought 'What did I do to deserve this?' The girls were brainwashed into thinking they were scared of us which was nonsense" said the grandmother.
One time when the couple met the girls at a park their grandfather covertly filmed them to prove the children weren't frightened of them.
The grandparents endured a decade-long battle with then the CYF service after the uplift of their two grandchildren. Photo / New Zealand Herald
"We filmed them running up to us and giving us a big hug. They wouldn't have done that if they were scared of us. But the evidence wasn't admissible in the family court" said the grandfather.
However the couple's tenacity and determination paid off.
The grandparents took their case to the Ministry of Social Development's historic abuse claims team. Two social workers told them how "horrified" they were about the way they had been treated.
"I burst into tears and said 'I have waited six years to hear this'," said the grandmother.
An investigation completed in June 2010 vindicated the grandparents with a report saying "the grounds to remove their grandchildren from their care were insufficient to warrant such action."
"The process by which the [children] were removed was contrary to policy and professional practice and failed to meet the needs of natural justice," the report said.
It added the extended use of supervised access between the grandparents and their grandchildren was "inappropriate and unjustified".
The report added that the couple had been "subject to a considerable disservice by Child Youth and Family."
Claire Mortimer, Acting General manager, Public Ministerial and Executive Services, Oranga Tamariki, told the Weekend Herald that CYF had "acknowledged that good professional practice was not followed" in the case.
A settlement was reached with them in February 2014, with the couple being compensated for legal fees, a psychological report, pain and suffering.
Mortimer said the Oranga Tamariki legislation requires the department to have a "mechanism to respond to complaints in a way which is timely, fair and child-centred.
"A new system of independent oversight for the Oranga Tamariki Act and the children's system is also being established."
Police outside Hawke's Bay Hospital during the standoff which followed Oranga Tamariki's attempted uplift of a baby earlier this year. Photo / NZME
One of those involved in the resolution with the grandparents was Oranga Tamariki's senior social worker Grant Bennett. He is in charge of a review into the recent attempted uplift of a baby from Hawke's Bay Hospital.
While the grandparents received an apology for their treatment, they did not get custody of the children, who by then were in the care of their aunt.
Their paternal grandmother was too ill to care for them and didn't want to "rock the boat" and cause further disruption.
"We didn't want them to think we were snatching them from their lives," they said.
Sixteen years on from the start of their torment, the pain remains.
"You are innocent until proven guilty," they said. "[But] in our case we were guilty until proven innocent."
WHERE TO GET HELP:
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