Dame Margaret urges courts get creches

Courts need to set up childcare arrangements so toddlers are spared the traumatic ordeal of comforting their mothers as their father is taken away to jail, says Dame Margaret Bazley.

Dame Margaret said she was appalled to see "young children underfoot" as defendants milled about courthouses while she undertook her review of the legal aid system.

Her concerns included being told by police in Kaitaia that they were worried kids would grow up thinking their address was the courthouse.

Although not within the terms of her review, she was so distressed by the issue she made a special recommendation to the Government to investigate setting up childcare for the court system.

Dame Margaret, a former Director-General of Social Welfare, said parents had to bring children with them because they often had no safe place to leave them, but courts "are no place for children".

"Comforting your mother as your father is taken away to prison is a responsibility no preschooler should have to bear. I was shocked to see that happen."

Dame Margaret said not having care available was a lost opportunity to help the children and she wanted it to have an "educational focus" rather than be a babysitting service.

This way it could serve a dual purpose of keeping them away from court and linking them to the education system.

Dame Margaret said it should be like the creche at the Starship hospital, where children were put to shield them when parents were told distressing news.

She said courts needed to work more with schools, saying the first morning back at school for a child after a parent's conviction was "shameful" and "difficult in the extreme".

Dame Margaret also stepped outside the terms of her review to recommend the Government redirect certain social services activities to set up at the courts, so they could provide wrap-around support to families and offenders from arrest onwards.