4600 kids in CYF care

Thousands of Kiwi kids continue to be taken from their families each year and put into Child, Youth and Family (CYF) care.

Figures released to Sunday News under the Official Information Act show as of December 2008, 4643 children and teens were in the care of the government agency.

Of those, 584 were aged under two, 713 from two to four, 1276 five to nine, 1134 aged 10-13, 903 were from 14-16 and 33 aged 17-19.

Of the youngsters taken by CYF, 66 were at-risk babies less then one month old, and 15 were removed from their parents on the day they were born.

The number of custody orders involving newborns has more than doubled in the past five years.

Ministry of Social Development which includes CYF chief executive Peter Hughes said the organisation didn't make the decision to take children from their parents lightly.

"Safety is the paramount consideration, and the decision to remove a child is not made in isolation," Hughes said.

CYF took into account the "strengths of the parents and family" and what support was available to them in the community, he said.

But often "there are circumstances when placing supports around the family is not sufficient to ensure the child's safety and alternative action is required".

Hughes said "some" Kiwi kids were in the agency's care by agreement with their parents or guardians, while others were compelled to be there by court orders.

A number of those aged 14-17 were held in CYF custody while they were being dealt with by the Youth Court.

Hughes said about 40 percent of those in the agency's care had been placed with extended family or whanau members.

"The vast majority of children and young people in Child, Youth and Family care are living in home environments and are free to come and go like other children cared for by family members," Hughes said.

He said CYF did what it could to maintain family relationships but conceded "despite our best efforts not everyone will be happy with the decisions we make".

The total number of children in CYF care has decreased over the past few years. Up to June 30, 2008, 4831 children were in CYF care 472 less than the previous year and 558 less than in the 2005/2006 financial year.

CYF said they couldn't tell Sunday News how many children and youths it had returned to parents because their removal had been unjustified.

Nor could they say how many times they'd apologised to parents for the behaviour of their staff or how many complaints they had received.

Hughes said that information was "held on individual files" and would take a considerable amount of time to collate.

But he said CYF was aware there is "public interest" in that information and had made "improvements" that will allow the department to "supply this information in the future".

CYF had launched a new complaints process which "establishes a consistent and robust nationwide process for managing complaints", he said.

Recent complaints against CYF include one highlighted by Sunday News in February involving 12-year-old Krystal Repia who was found dead in the service's care in 2008.

CYF was also unable to say how many children or youths escaped from its care, although they could say how many escaped from the seven CYF centres.

During the 2008 financial year and for the first two quarters of the 2009 financial year, one person had escaped from a CYF centre and six while in transit to one.

During the previous year four escaped from a centre and 21 while in transit to one.

Meanwhile, figures released by the Department of Corrections show that during the last five years 49 babies have been cared for by their locked-up mothers.

At present, only two babies are being cared for behind bars one at Christchurch Women's Prison aged six months and another at Auckland Region Women's Correctional Facility aged eight months.

In September last year The Corrections (Mothers with Babies) Amendment Act was passed to allow children of jailed mothers to be cared for until they are two years old. The Act also allowed mothers of any security classification to care for their children while imprisoned.

Before that only minimum security mothers could raise their children while imprisoned and only until they were six months old.

The new Act has not yet come into force because Corrections are awaiting funding for "additional facilities to be developed in order to accommodate toddlers".

Isn't it amazing however, that when CYFS statistics come out, they are the only ones that do not mention as to what "race" these said, children belong too.

Could it be, because the "natives" may be embarrassed? offended? surely not disgusted though .. as to some, this is all very "normal" family behaviour.

Blank

Abbey wrote:Isn't it amazing however, that when CYFS statistics come out, they are the only ones that do not mention as to what "race" these said, children belong too.

Could it be, because the "natives" may be embarrassed? offended? surely not disgusted though .. as to some, this is all very "normal" family behaviour.

There is no need to publish that information in a bulk report. Of course, the largest could be mentioned like "70% Japanese" or something.

Isn't it amazing however, that when CYFS statistics come out, they are the only ones that do not mention as to what "eye colour" these said, children belong too.

Could it be, because the "blue eyed people" may be embarrassed? offended? surely not disgusted though .. as to some, this is all very "normal" family behaviour.






It's about as relevant.

Although I have seen some race based statistics that suggested a huge chunk of Maori children in CYF's care were placed with family.

Although I have seen some race based statistics that suggested a huge chunk of Maori children in CYF's care were placed with family.

How I wish that had been the case when I was given no choice but to put my kids into CYFS Care after my Ex left. It was strange, being a non-maori and frequently hearing about this thing called 'whanau', especially from my children's Granny, who very much promoted changing things for the better for her mokupuna.

But then she decided she wasn't their Granny any more (she had adopted their father out to her Aunty), and that she was just their 'Aunty' or 'Cousin' (depending on which part of the CYFS Report you read).

I will never forget the words of the Social Worker after she visited me about 2 days after my conversation with the 'Ex' Granny ~ as she left my doorstep on her way out the door, she said "So much for whanau!".

Sorry, just couldn't hold that one in, Waireka, and it is in no way meant to offend Maori. It's just that because of never seeing it in action, this whole 'whanau' stuff to me is just bullshit, and sounds more like a PC word that sounds good, but has no real substance.

Note: This Post is in no way, shape or form directed at any particular Forum Member at all, and I would appreciate it if it is received in the way that it was intended to be.

Yes Tikva, case by case. The general concept CAN be good, unwillingness is not a negative as people should never take on what they don't want to deal with, I've seen it fail, my younger foster brother is a prime example of why Whanau placements can be wrong (same issues, different male figure).

Hubbys Uncle (Family Black Sheep) is a father of 14... all his children are in CYFs care with different family members.

They were farmed out in two's to the Uncles siblings and his nieces and nephews.

Mum and Dad were in jail (the older childrens mother has passed away), to place the children in non-family CYFs homes would have meant to split them up even more. No one is going to take 14 children into their home. By placing them with family they see themselves in everyday situations and maintain some form of a relationship. Remembering in NZ the concept of 'whangai' or even taking someone elses kid into your home to be raised by 'Aunty' is not a foreign concept.

When teacher aiding, I'd guess about 1/3 of the class were in whanau placements through CYFs care. Whether it be with Nan, Aunty or an older sibling.

Waireka wrote:Yes Tikva, case by case. The general concept CAN be good, unwillingness is not a negative as people should never take on what they don't want to deal with, I've seen it fail, my younger foster brother is a prime example of why Whanau placements can be wrong (same issues, different male figure).

Hubbys Uncle (Family Black Sheep) is a father of 14... all his children are in CYFs care with different family members.

They were farmed out in two's to the Uncles siblings and his nieces and nephews.

Mum and Dad were in jail (the older childrens mother has passed away), to place the children in non-family CYFs homes would have meant to split them up even more. No one is going to take 14 children into their home. By placing them with family they see themselves in everyday situations and maintain some form of a relationship. Remembering in NZ the concept of 'whangai' or even taking someone elses kid into your home to be raised by 'Aunty' is not a foreign concept.

When teacher aiding, I'd guess about 1/3 of the class were in whanau placements through CYFs care. Whether it be with Nan, Aunty or an older sibling.

I have no doubt that the general concept can be good, absolutely! When I was doing some Maori Cultural Studies years ago (Mauri Ora), there were many Maori concepts that I thought were very good, including the 'whanau' and the traditional tangi. I also do understand about whangai, but in this case he was actually officially adopted and raised as his Aunty's son, although was in his natural mothers care til he was 3 yrs old.

I do apologise, as I guess my anger towards that side of my children's family kinda seeped into my previous post. They have something that I cannot give my children, and that is their Maori Heritage, Culture, Whakapapa, etc., which I believe is important for them to know. Don't suppose you'd know how a pakeha can find out that kind of information for her part-maori children?

Your hubby's Uncle ~ 14 children!!! Whew! I can certainly understand that there would be difficulties placing that many all in one home. Re the Teacher Aiding ~ are there seriously that many children not living with their parents?

Tikva wrote:

Waireka wrote:Yes Tikva, case by case. The general concept CAN be good, unwillingness is not a negative as people should never take on what they don't want to deal with, I've seen it fail, my younger foster brother is a prime example of why Whanau placements can be wrong (same issues, different male figure).

Hubbys Uncle (Family Black Sheep) is a father of 14... all his children are in CYFs care with different family members.

They were farmed out in two's to the Uncles siblings and his nieces and nephews.

Mum and Dad were in jail (the older childrens mother has passed away), to place the children in non-family CYFs homes would have meant to split them up even more. No one is going to take 14 children into their home. By placing them with family they see themselves in everyday situations and maintain some form of a relationship. Remembering in NZ the concept of 'whangai' or even taking someone elses kid into your home to be raised by 'Aunty' is not a foreign concept.

When teacher aiding, I'd guess about 1/3 of the class were in whanau placements through CYFs care. Whether it be with Nan, Aunty or an older sibling.

I have no doubt that the general concept can be good, absolutely! When I was doing some Maori Cultural Studies years ago (Mauri Ora), there were many Maori concepts that I thought were very good, including the 'whanau' and the traditional tangi. I also do understand about whangai, but in this case he was actually officially adopted and raised as his Aunty's son, although was in his natural mothers care til he was 3 yrs old.

I do apologise, as I guess my anger towards that side of my children's family kinda seeped into my previous post. They have something that I cannot give my children, and that is their Maori Heritage, Culture, Whakapapa, etc., which I believe is important for them to know. Don't suppose you'd know how a pakeha can find out that kind of information for her part-maori children?

Your hubby's Uncle ~ 14 children!!! Whew! I can certainly understand that there would be difficulties placing that many all in one home. Re the Teacher Aiding ~ are there seriously that many children not living with their parents?

There were, but sadly I do need to say, it was an immersion Maori unit.

Well being a Pakeha myself with 2 Pakeha parents, I know that the child needs to want it, neither my brothers know much more than your average Pakeha when it comes to all things Maori.

I met Maoridom when I was in playcenter, I was never little miss popularity, so I spent all my time playing by the gate which went through to the neighbouring kohanga... Maori children (all my life) have generally been more accepting towards me than others (truth is I'm just weird). Eventually Mum decided she may as well just send me there. So I became a Kohanga kid. Went on to be in immersion units in school (because Schools saw my kohanga background and put me there), I was doing 1/2 day Maori, 1/2 day English.

This changed when I changed schools, but being good at it (from experience others didn't have) made me want to be even better, so I picked up Maori adults all throughout my schooling and learnt.

High school saw me do all my Maori subjects two years ahead, Kapa Haka was my passion, I learnt Mau Taiaha under Pita Sharples weaponary school <--- through all these Maori associated things I picked up the culture that home couldn't provide, I learnt things I wouldn't learn otherwise.

My friends in High School came from places like Parihaka (a 5 minute drive from my house) and I spent days listening to Te Meringa (Milton) Hohaia, his son Tihikura and others speak about Maori politics, Maori history, and more.

Dad (a teacher) discouraged me from taking Maori in high school saying I would never benefit from it after school (he was wrong, I scored my first job out of school from it, I also scored my third job out of school because of it), but I don't think he really planned on me being a Tuhono Call Centre operator or a Teacher Aide in an Immersion Unit.

I could've passed NCEA L3 purely on my Maori based results. I had 4 Maori subjects which I gained 100% of credits, most with Excellence, some with Merit.

But I still stand by what I've said though, your kids will need to want it and be prepared to be the odd one out. Friendships with local Marae people and their childrens cultivate this, if your son was to have the opportunity (as many do) whilst in jail to learn how to carve, this could result in him having to learn whakapapa, history, culture, tikanga and more, accompany your children on Marae camps that schools do, you often get the chance to learn how to weave something basic (you too might find a passion there), if you learn, then you can help them keep it up and encourage them to find out more... Maori art will open up many other learning avenues for them.

Don't make it cheesey and don't force it on them.

Oh and remember, the Mum who cries 'Ka Pai' in front of their child and their childs friend, isn't cool.

That last post was very interesting to read. Thank you.