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A Christchurch woman has slammed the performance of Child, Youth and Family (CYF) after she went to them for help when two children were left home alone while their mother worked as a prostitute .
Kaylene Tahuhu found two girls, aged six and 11, home alone when she went to visit a friend about 2am on Saturday , The Press newspaper reports.
Ms Tahuhu, who said she knew the woman worked as a prostitute and that the children had been left alone before, waited several hours for the mother to return, taking the children to the police when she did not.
Police told Ms Tahuhu to take the children to CYF, however, when she did she was told it was not an emergency and to come back on Monday.
"They told me it wasn't an emergency when it really was . "These kids are only young and they were all on their own."
CYF southern operations manager Ross Haggart said the response from the CYF staff was unacceptable and the woman had done the right thing.
"This person did their best to protect and help the children by removing them from the home, keeping them safe and approaching Child, Youth and Family for assistance," he said.
"That was the right thing to do. It is now clear there was insufficient support offered and we did not do all in our power to ensure action was taken in an appropriate time-frame."
Ms Tahuhu also said she was not impressed with the police, who wanted her and her mother to look after the children, despite Ms Tahuhu having said they could not.
"They said it looked like they were in capable hands and could we keep them until Monday," she said.
Inspector Rick Jury defended the police and said the matter was handled correctly.
"The children were with people they knew, and who intended to take care of them for the night," he said.
- NZPA
