Exam urged for all child workers

Russell Wills. Photo / Mark Mitchell

New Children's Commissioner Russell Wills is promoting radical changes to protect vulnerable children, including making all professionals who work with children sit national standard exams.

Dr Wills, a Hawkes Bay paediatrician, has sent proposals to professional bodies to spark a national "conversation" about the Government's policy paper, which is open for submissions until February.

"This is a genuine opportunity for us to tell the Government, whichever Government it is, what we want for our children," he said. "So we need to make the most of it."

He proposes a "children's action plan" to eliminate child poverty, protect children from abuse and exploitation, extend rights to education and health to all children, improve parenting skills and protect and rehabilitate children in the justice and state care systems.

He wants to set targets in each area, bringing together the country's "best and brightest" with international experts to draw up action plans, and hold relevant ministries accountable for achieving the goals.

He said doctors, nurses, psychologists, counsellors, lawyers, judges, social workers, teachers and police officers who work with children, and even volunteers for groups such as Plunket, should have to pass national exams on working with children.

"It may be that you could graduate in social work without a single question about child protection. I don't think that's good enough," Dr Wills said.

"It's appropriate for the Government to say to the academic institutions that we think there should be standards."

He said privacy laws should be reversed to require schools, health, welfare and justice services to share information when any one of them raised child protection concerns.

He also suggested enrolling all newborn babies on the national immunisation register and with a family doctor and a Well Child service, unless the parents opted out - reversing the current rules requiring parents to opt in.