Boy flees foster care in hired aircraft

A boy living in foster care on a Bay of Plenty island hired a plane to fly him to the mainland, telling the pilot to bill Child, Youth and Family (CYF).

The homesick boy was in residential care with foster parents on Motiti Island last year when he came up with an audacious plan to get home.

He telephoned an air charter firm, convincing a pilot he needed to get off the island, 20km off Mt Maunganui in the Bay of Plenty, and CYF would pay the bill.

CYF Tauranga site manager Donna McNaughten confirmed the boy had absconded."He was quickly found and is currently safely in care." CYF never paid for the flight. 

"Children and young people run away from all types of care situations. CYF caregivers are no exception."

Children in care often came from difficult backgrounds and had complex needs, she said.

The youth who absconded is the younger brother of a 14-year-old now in custodial remand after a solo crime wave in Napier.

His spree came to an abrupt halt when he made the mistake of stealing from the clothesline of former top cop Keith Price.

The youth was on bail after an even more prolific crime spree in Bay of Plenty, much of it with his aircraft-hailing brother.

He is now facing 42 charges of stealing from cars, interfering with and damaging vehicles and one of burglary.

He had faced more than 20 similar charges in Bay of Plenty, and with his younger brother is believed to have been involved in at least 80 offences in the past year.

Some of those crimes were committed in a weekend of "round-the-clock care" by a minder in a motel. The youngster nipped out at night and took a CYF car to commit crimes.

- NZPA