Judge wants all babies registered as at-risk

A retired judge wants all newborns to be placed on a national "at-risk" register so child services can identify which children, and their caregivers, need assistance and support - before it's too late.

Graeme MacCormick, a former Human Rights Commissioner, said the needs/risk assessment could be done in most cases by the health professional primarily responsible for the birth itself.

He said if the assessment was objective and mandatory it could not be deemed selective.

"Although there are personal information, privacy, choice and freedom issues ... the right of children to the best possible start in life and societal benefits should and must outweigh the rights of parents and caregivers," Mr MacCormick, a retired district and family court judge, said.

"It is from disadvantaged children, those not given a good start in life, that most of our young and not so young criminal offenders come.

"We cannot afford more police, more court staff, more judges, more prisons, more accident and emergency and mental health workers, more wasted lives, than we already have."

New research by New Zealand's Brainwave Trust shows a baby's brain is only 15 per cent formed at birth, with the remaining 85 per cent being formed in the first three years.

"Neglect, violence and abuse during these years can damage normal brain development, resulting in the profound and permanent disruption to the brain's structure, leading to lifelong social, emotional and learning difficulties," according to the website of the trust, made up of doctors, academics and business professionals.

According to the trust, for a baby's brain to develop, the brain cells (neurones) need to be activated to connect up to each other - these connections allow basic survival functions.

Mr MacCormick said risk factors likely to hinder a baby's brain development included alcohol or drug abuse by their parents or caregivers, a history of family violence, poverty, solo-parenting and a transitory lifestyle.

He said it was often a combination of factors that led to an infant being deprived of a secure, stimulating and loving environment.

"When the child is actually on the way and for the first two or three years after it arrives ... is when [parents] need maximum assistance."

Dr Simon Rowley, a neonatal paediatrician at National Women's Hospital and a Brainwave Trustee, said studies in Dunedin, Christchurch and overseas had shown it was possible to predict who would have a bad childhood from the time of birth.

He said an at-risk national birth register was a good suggestion but needed to be implemented sensitively.

There were already established programmes which went into low socioeconomic areas where it was identified to be needed but they were hitting only a small percentage of the population.


Abusing kids

* 53,000 abuse and neglect notifications in the year to 30 June 2005
* 43,000 required some follow up

- NZPA