Mother speaks out on CYFS revelations

The mother acquitted of "horse-whipping" her son in Timaru last year has hit back at Child, Youth and Family for using her past convictions to refuse to return her son.

The mother last year admitted caning her then 12-year-old son six times for breaking a toilet door at his school and hitting him several times on the bottom with a riding crop - a 60cm rubber rod with a small flap at the end - after he swung a softball bat at her husband's head.

A Timaru jury found the mother, whose name was suppressed, not guilty of assault for the two incidents under section 59 of the Crimes Act, which allows a parent to use force "by way of correction towards the child if the force used is reasonable in the circumstances".

Green MP Sue Bradford told a Timaru audience last year that dozens of people contacted her after the case, saying it showed the need for her bill to repeal section 59.

But Herald columnist Garth George wrote on June 15 that Child, Youth and Family Services (CYFS) should return the boy to his mother.

CYFS chief executive Peter Hughes and Children's Commissioner Cindy Kiro replied last Thursday that they would not return the boy because of the broader circumstances.

"The woman in question had several convictions, including violence, which were considered relevant," Mr Hughes said.

In a response issued by the Family First lobby group founded by former Radio Rhema host Bob McCoskrie, the mother has hit back.

She said her convictions were "for actions against my ex-husband in response to extreme and horrific domestic abuse".

She said she spent much of the next 15 years as a sole parent, sometimes on a domestic purposes benefit and eventually managing a tourist resort.