Newborns in state care 'alarming'

248 babies were taken into state custody in 2009/10, compared with 202 five years before. Photo / Thinkstock

A sharp jump in the number of day-old babies taken into state custody has sparked fresh calls for an independent watchdog authority for Child, Youth and Family.

Figures released to the Herald revealed 42 babies were taken into CYF custody less than a day after their birth in the 2009/10 year - a total more than triple the year before.

The spike has surprised the head of a national anti-violence network and prompted a new call by lobby groups for the Government to establish a CYF complaints authority.

"When you've got CYF going into families like this and intervening in a sensitive area of families, there must be an independent point of appeal for families involved," said Family First's Bob McCrofskey. "CYF don't always get it completely right and yet there's no avenue of appeal.

"We need to make sure families are getting fair grounds for disputing intervention where intervention isn't warranted."

A Family First-commissioned poll in March found that 65 per cent of respondents supported the concept, which is also being backed by the Sensible Sentencing Trust lobby group.

The figures showed the number of babies taken into CYF care had generally climbed over the past few years - 248 babies were taken into state custody in 2009/10, compared with 202 five years before.

Between July 2010 and the end of March this year, 151 babies less than one day old were taken into custody following orders being granted by the Family Court or after assessments by police that found custody was "critically necessary" and would protect them from harm.

Fourteen were placed in care when they were less than one day old, 26 were aged between two and seven days, and 111 were aged between eight days and one year.

But Ministry of Social Development chief executive Peter Hughes stressed that babies were taken from their parents' care when it was considered to be in the babies' best interests.

"The removal of very young children and babies is not a decision taken lightly, however children under the age of two are our most vulnerable and the safety of the child is always the paramount consideration," he said.

"There may be a history of concerns relating to the parents, which may include family violence, mental health, addiction, previous physical abuse or older children, or previous supervisory or medical neglect."

The 2009/10 spike in newborns being taken alarmed Brian Gardner, national manager of advocacy service Te Kupenga.

"I think it's far too high. But I think one is too high.

"They've been born and then they're gone - it's not like there's even been time to get concerned about what's happening with that baby and that Mum."

Other statistics showed reports to CYF doubled from 62,739 in 2005/06 to nearly 125,000 in 2009/10 - a sign that more people were dobbing in child abusers.

Mr Hughes said the steady increase in notifications between 2005/06 and 2009/10 reflected an "increased community awareness" of a child abuse and neglect - and a willingness to report suspected cases.

Not all notifications required following up - of those cases reported last year, 44 per cent required further action.

Liz Kinley, a former CYF social worker now heading national child abuse prevention network Jigsaw, said it was commonly understood that the rise in reports over the past five years related to police making routine notifications at call-outs.

Mrs Kinley said child abuse had also been highlighted by "massive media publicity" around high-profile cases such as the Kahui twins.

While Family First and the Sensible Sentencing Trust are backing a bill by Justice Minister that would hold people who don't report child abuse criminally liable, Jigsaw had not formed a view but supported the issue being explored, she said.

The changes would also double the maximum penalty for wilful ill-treatment or neglect of children from five years' jail to 10.

"Of course you have to have punishment for the things that are considered despicable by most of the New Zealand public, but those are not deterrents."

Mrs Kinley doubted whether abusers considered potential jail sentences when they struck out at their children.

She believed the solution lay in communities pulling together to stamp out the problem, and society "putting children first".