What happens when you don't report child abuse

TUESDAY, APRIL 12, 2011

What happens when you don't report child abuse

If you are connected to a child and see that it is in the process of being abused whether physically, sexually or psychologically, or even simply neglected, then the new legislation being introduced in Parliament tomorrow tells you in no uncertain terms that if you do not protect the child by reporting what is happening to it to the relevant authorities, you will be prosecuted and the maximum penalty is 10 years imprisonment.

To me, that is fantastic news.

We’ve gone from a society of sweeping things under the carpet for far too long when it comes to protecting our wee ones. Too much “don’t want to get involved, not our business” bullpuckie has seen far too many of our infants abused, beaten, raped, or outright killed. Almost 125,000 reports of abuse, of which 56,000 needed further investigation, came in last year through CYFs. On average 16 children are killed every year.

According to the Child Matters reports:

·         New Zealand has the fifth-worst child abuse record out of 31 OECD countries.

·         On average, one child is killed every five weeks.

·         Most of these children are under five and the largest group is less than a year old.

·         Ninety per cent of all child deaths are caused by someone the child knows.

·         Nearly 9000 children a year are born "at risk" (1 in every 30).

·         124,921 notifications were made to Child, Youth and Family in the year to June 2010.

·         Child abuse costs New Zealand about $2 billion each year.

Studies have found abused and neglected children to be at least 25 per cent more likely to experience difficulties such as delinquency, teenage pregnancy, low academic achievement, drug use and mental health problems. It has to stop and it is time that the government put some action legislation into place that actually means something considerably more than the much hated- Sue Bradford’s anti-smacking bill, which did precisely nothing whatsoever to curb the problem of child abuse and went  a lot further than any sane person should have wished in persecuting perfectly responsible and good parents. The confusion over the Section 59 amendments still reverberates today and to be honest, it needs to be completely scrapped.

But this piece of legislation is different.

I’ll not forget the horrifying story of wee Nia Glassie, where neighbours had seen some truly horrific occurrences – yet did and said nothing to protect this tiny little scrap of humanity. The anger many of us felt that because they did not, resulting in this poor little kid being systematically beaten to death over a matter of months in her all-too-short life, meant that there was national disgust over such apathy and a strong call for accountability.

This Bill does that well by the looks of it. Justice Minister Simon Power told a press conference that he didn’t want to wait for the wider changes coming to the Crimes Amendment Act – this one had to happen now.

“A person can be found liable if they live in the same household as the victim, are closely connected to the household or is a staff member at a hospital, institution of residence where the victim lives.,” he says.

It means that each and every one of us carry a responsibility to ensure that the smallest members of our families and our communities are as safe as we can make them – and if we see they are not, then by law, we are now required to ensure we let the relevant authorities know. Me, I’m absolutely behind the bill 110 percent.