10. ANNE TOLLEY (National—East Coast) Link to this
to the Associate Minister for Social Development and Employment (CYF)
Does she stand by her reported statement last week that “police may have become overly cautious and are referring too many family violence cases to the service”?
Hon RUTH DYSON (Associate Minister for Social Development and Employment (CYF)) Link to this
I stand by all my reported comments that were made in the Radio New Zealand interview. It may be that the member’s attention span is such that she did not hear my other comments, including the comment that increased referrals from the police and other agencies were a good thing—
Madam SPEAKERI have mentioned this before. That was an irrelevant comment. Would the Minister please start again and remove all irrelevant comments from the answer.
I stand by all my reported comments that were made in the Radio New Zealand interview. My other comments included the comment that increased referrals from the police and other agencies were a good thing, but that notification to Child, Youth and Family was not always the best course of action. Sometimes it is better for the child, or the family, to be referred to another agency. The police and Child, Youth and Family are in full agreement on that.
On reflection, does she admit that it was irresponsible to suggest that the police are too risk-averse, when reports released today show that police child abuse caseloads have doubled in the past year and the police describe themselves as being swamped?
What I consider to be irresponsible are that member’s press statements, which are factually incorrect, very lazily written, and irresponsible in total. With regard to the police action, I note the comments of the acting deputy commissioner of operations, Peter Marshall, who has stated that in all districts the child abuse systems are being managed appropriately.
Hon Mark GoscheWhat is Child, Youth and Family doing to ensure children and families are referred to the most appropriate agencies for help and support?
Child, Youth and Family is working with other agencies, including health, education, and police, to ensure best practice in all its referrals, including those to agencies other than Child, Youth and Family. As the police spokesperson said in the report referred to in the primary question, Child, Youth and Family is working closely with the police to develop a case management process with the result of a sharing of responsibility between a number of agencies. Everyone agrees that that results in better outcomes for children and families.
Judy TurnerDoes she agree that most notifications are considered medium to low risk, and that a timely way to respond to those would be to have such cases investigated by competent community agencies through the differential intake model?
Yes, I do agree with that, and that is exactly the process that has been introduced into Child, Youth and Family.
Would the Minister not rather have 10 overly cautious complaints from the police than have one slip through the cracks, especially in the light of Child, Youth and Family being previously unaware of 80 percent of all child homicide cases?
My preference would be that every suspicion of child abuse was notified to the appropriate agency. If that member had bothered to listen to the whole radio interview, she would know that that was exactly what I said, and she would not have misrepresented my interview in her press statement and again in the House today.
What progress has the ministry made in the development of the differential intake model proposed by United Future, and where is it at in terms of its implementation?
The differential response model has already begun at sites throughout the country. The legislation to back up that process has yet to be progressed through the House, but I am pleased to report to the member that that will not delay the spreading of the model throughout the entire country. It is a very good model and it is working, and that member should take a lot of credit for its proposal.
Why have two recent reports from Child, Youth and Family, one into child homicide and one into increased child abuse notifications, failed to discuss or even acknowledge the number of actual established cases of child abuse, which have increased from 6,000 in 2000 to 13,000 in 2005?
The member, yet again, misrepresents facts. Notifications, calls, or referrals are different from actual cases of child abuse.
Will the Minister, in order to have meaningful discussions with the cross-party working-group on family violence, produce evidence to the group on the increasing trend of established child abuse, which the two previous reports have omitted; if not, why not?
If the purpose of either of the reports had been to report on that question, then they may have included that, but it was not the purpose of either of the reports.
How does the Minister reconcile the statement in the unreleased internal report on notification increases, which states there is no clear evidence that violence, abuse, or neglect overall has changed, with figures that she has released in replies to written questions, which show that cases of established child abuse have risen, from 6,000 in 2000 to 13,000 in 2005?
I do not know whether anybody in the country other than that member thinks that a reduced tolerance of child abuse, and therefore increased notifications, are not good things. I welcome the increased notifications. It is important that our processes ensure that those notifications are made to the appropriate agency.
I seek leave to table the item in the Dominion Post this morning from the police themselves, stating that they are swamped with child abuse cases.
I seek leave to table a transcript of the item on Morning Report where the Minister says the police are more inclined to refer cases to Child, Youth and Family because they are getting a little risk-averse.
I seek leave to table the release from the acting deputy commissioner of operations in the police, stating that the police have systems in place, and that in all districts those systems are being managed appropriately.
I seek leave to table the later release from that very same assistant police commissioner, which states that reported cases of child abuse have doubled in the past year.