KEY POINTS:
Government promises of action on child abuse after the deaths of the Kahui twins have been dismissed as hollow by National's welfare spokeswoman, Anne Tolley.
New figures show dozens of children who are suspected of being abused have waited far longer than the seven days Child Youth and Family protocols say is acceptable for urgent cases.
At the end of October, 419 urgent cases notified that month remained unallocated. Another 146 cases from September, 68 from August, 26 from July and one from June had also not been assigned to social workers.
"When domestic violence has had such a strong focus this year, we would have expected better results than this," said Mrs Tolley.
Three-month-old South Auckland infants Chris and Cru Kahui died on June 18 of serious head injuries.
Their father, Chris Kahui, has been charged with murder.
Mrs Tolley said: "When there's a big case like that there's a lot of media attention and the Government is full of how we're going to do this and we're going to do that. I simply don't believe they have any idea of how to stop the numbers of children being abused growing.
"This sort of neglect that we are seeing doesn't fill you with confidence that they are going to get on top of it."
Child Youth and Family Minister Ruth Dyson said: "Urgent notifications refer to children and young people who are alleged to have been abused or neglected, but who are considered safe from further harm because they are in the care of a protective adult. In each case, the situation of the child has been assessed and found to be safe from further harm."
Hundreds wait
419 urgent cases notified in October have not been allocated.
Also not allocated are 146 cases from September
* 68 from August
* 26 from July
* One from June.
