There's less than a fortnight left to have your say on child abuse and neglect by making a submission on the Government's Green Paper for Vulnerable Children. Submissions close on February 28, and every day an item in the news makes it painfully clear why as many New Zealanders as possible need to speak up.
The stories which spring most readily to mind are those about abused children. The most recent was the woman jailed for torturing her 9-year-old daughter. We need no reminding that every year in New Zealand around 10 children die because they are so badly mistreated by someone in their family.
But there are other headlines too which underline why the Green Paper is so important. A 16-year-old boy rapes a 5-year-old girl in Turangi. Another boy, 16, allegedly rapes a woman in broad daylight in an Auckland schoolyard. In Napier, two young men - aged 18 and 16 - are charged with bashing a 52-year-old man because he was wearing a shirt with Mongrel Mob colours in what the youths said was "Black Power country".
Many of you are probably saying "where are the parents?" and rightly so. Where are the parents, and what's going so wrong with these families that their children are going out and committing such crimes?
Is it about money? Is it about addiction? Is it about parenting skills? Is it about the community not taking responsibility? Is it about government agencies not doing the right things with the right families at the right time? Is it about suspending judgment long enough to understand that we don't live in equal worlds? These are all big questions. But the most important question is, what can be done to support vulnerable families and protect vulnerable children so they don't grow into young people facing the prison gates?
