CYF officers accused of assault on boy

A Child, Youth and Family social worker who has investigated claims of child abuse in the department has been accused of repeatedly punching a 14-year-old boy in the face on Christmas Day.

The woman, aged 47, was charged with assault this week together with a male CYF social worker over the alleged incident.

Both of the staff members have been with the department for several years or more. They are expected to appear in the Manukau District Court next week. Acting Detective Sergeant Andrew Berry of the Counties-Manukau Police child abuse unit said that the allegation was that the victim had been repeatedly punched by the female social worker in a car outside the CYF Windrush Close home in Mangere on December 25, 2004.

The man had allegedly assisted.

Police heard of the alleged beating on December 29 when the teenager's caregiver alerted authorities to the claims.

The punches were allegedly delivered to the victim's upper body.

CYF operations general manager Lorraine Williams said both staff members had been stood down on full pay.

The department took such cases seriously, she said, but could not comment further because the matter was before the courts.

The case is not the first of controversy for the state-run boys home.

CYF closed the home for a week in December 2003 and removed the caregivers after receiving three abuse complaints, of which at least one involved claims of assault. The caregivers left four days later.

After police interviewed up to 50 youths who had been in the care of a couple at the CYF six-bed "family home" as part of the investigation, it was concluded that there was not enough evidence for charges to be laid.

Dr Ian Hassall, a researcher at the Institute of Public Policy at Auckland University of Technology, said cases of abuse by social workers were extremely rare.

"It used to be more common in the older days when the conditions were less under scrutiny and residences were less carefully organised," he said.

One thing "some of us have been keen to happen" was a system of individual audit, similar to the Education Review Office with schools.

"One of the safeguards is to have independent scrutiny."