CYF didn't know toddlers existed until it was too late

Child, Youth and Family did not know about the existence of a Hamilton toddler who died in suspicious circumstances last year despite earlier removing two children from the parents.

CYF head Ray Smith confirmed yesterday that the agency had not known the parents of two children staff removed went on to have another baby. That baby - Hail-Sage McClutchie - died last year after being found with serious injuries at a Morrinsville home.

Police are investigating the case and are awaiting pathological test results in relation to her death.

Mr Smith also confirmed the agency had not known of Rotorua toddler Nia Glassie until her death, although it had previously removed a child from her mother, Lisa Kuka.

Social Development Minister Paula Bennett has cited such cases as evidence of the need for changes that would raise an alert for officials when mothers of abused children had further children.

Mr Smith confirmed Hail-Sage McClutchie was one of those Ms Bennett was referring to.

The Experts Forum on Child Abuse had recommended Ms Bennett act to keep track of parents whose children had died or been removed so their case files weren't closed.

Ms Bennett said she was amazed when she became minister that such cases could not be more easily picked up on.

The forum also recommended greater data sharing between agencies such as hospitals, schools and welfare, so they knew if they were dealing with a child with a history of abuse.

Every Child Counts spokeswoman Barbara Lambourn said the recommendation was challenging, but she urged civil libertarians to weigh up the rights of a child to safety when commenting on the rights of parents.

The release of the Experts Forum report also coincides with a report showing that last year, New Zealand had 41 family-violence deaths. The figures were in the Family Violence Death Review Committee's first annual report.

The report said that on average 14 women, six men and 10 children were killed a year as a result of family violence.

But for last year the figures were quite different - 13 women, 12 men and 16 children.

Committee chairwoman Wendy Davis said the figures were reached using a "broader definition to ensure we look as widely as possible at the problem, and this means we have come up with a higher figure than has been suggested from previous work in this area".

The 2009 figure could go even higher as more cases were identified.

The definition of family-violence death the committee used was any unnatural death where the suspected perpetrator was a family or extended family member, caregiver, intimate partner, previous partner of the victim or previous partner of the victim's current partner. The figures do not include suicides, assisted suicides, deaths from chronic illness resulting from sustained violence or accidental deaths related to family violence.

Child Protection Studies chief executive Anthea Simcock said the figures for child deaths equated to one killing by a family member every 23 days and she said people had become complacent about the problem.

"This research shows child abuse at its clearest and most stark. We need to start talking about child abuse ... Child abuse is a massive problem in its own right. Let's not allow it to be hidden under the blanket of family violence which doesn't tell the full story."

- additional reporting NZPA