KEY POINTS:
Newborns who midwives think are at risk of abuse should be removed from their families at the maternity ward, a conference on child well-being has heard.
Waitakere Mayor Bob Harvey - whose wife, Barbara, is a midwife - told the Every Child Counts conference in Wellington yesterday that midwives, doctors and nurses knew when a child was at risk.
In a speech written with Waipareira Trust chief executive John Tamihere, Mr Harvey said midwives knew some babies were going home to "neglect and dysfunction". But midwives said their job was to help to screen for problems, not to decide whether a baby should go home.
Mr Harvey's idea won the support of Children's Commissioner Cindy Kiro, who said the earlier risky families were helped, the better. She said the last month of pregnancy and first few months of a baby's life were "absolutely critical".
Up to one child a month is admitted to the Starship children's hospital in Auckland with brain injuries caused by abuse.
Yesterday Mr Harvey criticised "fumbling" Government agencies for being too slow to reduce child abuse. He wants a national register to track the progress of every child born, and for every pregnant woman to have to attend at least one antenatal checkup.
Midwifery adviser Norma Campbell said midwives were trained to spot risks to babies, including family violence. But it was up to CYF to decide whether to uplift the child.
"If we have concerns, we refer them to CYF," she said. "That's not a health practitioner's job."
CYF spokesperson Lee Harris-Royal said the agency could apply for a court order to remove a child from its family at birth. The orders were very difficult to get, "and quite rightly so, in my opinion".
Ms Harris-Royal said it was a matter of balancing the risk to the child and the risk of separating a family unnecessarily. "We rely on health professionals to put their hands up when there's a problem."
In the case of the Kahui twins, who were killed two years ago while in the care of their family, hospital social workers had noticed a problem but did not tell CYF.
"The hospital assessed that there were attachment issues [with the mother] but it didn't become a notification to CYF ... The social workers involved with the family at the hospital made a follow-up plan, which they are quite able to do."
Susanne Trim, professional services co-ordinator at the New Zealand Nurses Organisation, said midwives were in a better position than nurses to know if a child was at risk because they saw women throughout their pregnancies.
"It's a pretty hard call to make. There's a risk of being judgmental."
