12. ANNE TOLLEY (National—East Coast) Link to this
to the Associate Minister for Social Development and Employment (CYF)
Does she have confidence in Child, Youth and Family Services; if so, why?
Hon RUTH DYSON (Associate Minister for Social Development and Employment (CYF)) Link to this
Yes; but there is always room for improvement.
Why, after removing a 7-year-old boy found in a P lab during an armed offenders squad raid by 40 police, did Child, Youth and Family in Tauranga not advise the police or the courts that it was placing the child with his grandmother, before his drug-dealing parents were bailed to the same address later that day?
In instances like that it is a requirement for all Child, Youth and Family staff to follow the accepted procedures. If, at any stage, that has been breached, that will not be supported by me as Minister. But, too often, the member has made allegations in this House that have been totally disproved on the slightest shred of investigation. Nothing that the member says in accusing any Child, Youth and Family staff member has much credibility.
How bad is it that a child who is taken out of a P lab to protect him from his P-addicted parents then ends up in the same house as his parents, because nobody has been told; what is the Minister going to do to make sure that it never happens again?
As I said in reply to the previous question, very little that that member accuses Child, Youth and Family staff of doing has, on any investigation, turned out to be correct. If there are breaches of appropriate, professional social work practice, I will not support it.
Russell Fairbrother Link to this
What are the key pieces of work that Child, Youth and Family is engaged in that contribute to the well-being of New Zealand children?
A great of work is under way, actually—too much to list here—but it includes helping to raise awareness in the community about caring for our children and preventing abuse; implementing the differential response model to ensure that all families receive the right support from the right agency; responding faster to increased notifications and completing investigations in a timely way; increasing the number of qualified social workers, and, in particular, the number of registered social workers; and increasing the workforce, training, and capacity of youth justice services.
Why did Child, Youth and Family take weeks and weeks to adhere to a court order to return an 11-month-old baby to his parents, as it did with the Carter family as seen on Close Up last night?
Because before returning Joshua to the care of his parents, the department needed to be assured that no harm would come to that child.
What is her response to the serious concerns raised publicly by an experienced British social worker recruited to Child, Youth and Family, who claimed that the standards of Child, Youth and Family social workers fell far short of what was expected, they used unethical practices, they acted like police rather than social workers, they broke families apart unnecessarily, they were inexperienced, and they were not properly trained?
I absolutely agree that it is very traumatic, particularly for an inexperienced social worker, to be party to the removal of a child from his or her family. That would be traumatic for anyone, let alone someone who is very new to the New Zealand environment, but we do have very high standards of social work practice, backed by statute, and in my view our primary consideration of the safety of the child is the best.
If this British social worker’s claims were important enough for the Prime Minister to pass on to the Minister herself, why did she not take them seriously enough to meet whistle-blowing Mr Ward, as she promised the public she would?
Yet again the member is misrepresenting the facts. I made no promise at all to meet Mr Ward. I gave him a commitment that senior officials in the department would meet him to listen to his concerns, and that promise was delivered. Mr Ward himself, when I responded and said I wanted officials to meet him, said: “Great. How do we go about arranging it?”. The meeting was arranged and did take place.
I seek leave to table a story published in the Bay of Plenty Times detailing the case of the 7-year-old Tauranga boy who was uplifted from his parents in a P lab.
Madam SPEAKERI seek leave to table the transcript of the Close Up programme shown last night, in which the British social worker describes standards falling far short of what he had expected in Children, Youth and Family, and unethical behaviour.