Mayoral forum speakers criticise record on child abuse

By CATHERINE MASTERS

A mayoral forum in Auckland yesterday is likely to lead to a public debate on child abuse.

Passions ran deep as speakers at the lunchtime forum, hosted by Mayor Christine Fletcher, blasted successive Governments for not having strong leadership and for not allocating adequate cash to make a difference.

Poor communication between Government departments was highlighted in powerful speeches from the head of the Starship children's hospital's Whakaruruhau child abuse unit, Dr Patrick Kelly, and the Women's Refuge chief executive, Merepeka Raukawa-Tait.

Dr Kelly used an alphabet of child abuse cases, with names and some details changed, to illustrate what he was up against and why Auckland needed a multi-agency centre.

He stopped at the letter H - saying it stood for "hell" - even though he could go through an alphabet of child abuse cases several times over.

A was for Abel, who turned up at the hospital alone in an ambulance with a head injury. The ambulance had been called to the toddler's home, where the crew found him cold and freshly washed but with blood all over the house.

ACC would not pay for psychotherapy for Abel. He did not qualify because he had not been sexually assaulted.

Other cases included Bianca, aged 5, with gonorrhoea, and Claire, 10, who was sexually assaulted by her stepfather.

F and G - Frances and Gail - were two teenagers who looked out for each other and prostituted themselves to make a living, turning up when one or other of them had been raped or assaulted again.

Dr Kelly said children were "bounced like tennis balls" from one profession to another.

One way of dealing with the problem was to put all specialist units offering services to abused children in one place - a multi-agency centre - so that people such as social workers, doctors and police talked to one another and worked together.

The lunch, attended by 250 people, was the last event held to raise money for the Safe and Sound Appeal's multi-agency centre, which is planned near the Starship.

The appeal raised $148,000.

Mrs Fletcher said reaction to the lunch had been so strong that she would organise a wider debate, possibly in the Auckland Town Hall.

Herald Online feature: Violence at home

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