Little JJ didn't want to stay behind with his stepfather, and tried to follow his mother out of the house on the morning that the Crown says the child died.

A toddler who died after his pancreas and liver were split could not have received his fatal injuries from bouncing off a bed as his stepfather says, a court has heard.

Little JJ Lawrence died on a ripped and tatty bed with no mattress, in immense pain and allegedly at the hands of a man who terrified him.

The trial for a man accused of murdering Auckland 2-year-old JJ Lawrence by striking him so hard one of the toddler's internal organs split has started in the High Court.

A mother has escaped a prison sentence for an "orchestrated campaign of abuse and neglect" against her preschool-age child.

A key recommendation in the landmark coroner's finding into the Kahui twins' deaths has been ignored by the Government in its child abuse white paper.

A database of about 30,000 "at risk" children is to be created and accessed by government workers without parental knowledge as part of an overhaul of laws tackling child cruelty.

The proposed new multi-agency plans for each child, backed by an IT system accessible by all agencies, should have been set up years ago, writes Simon Collins.

The new child protection system will bring teachers, doctors and social services together to protect each of New Zealand's 20,000 to 30,000 most vulnerable children.

Two of New Zealand's top children's doctors are proposing an increase in the state pension age to pay for more services to stop child abuse.

The connection between animal abuse and the abuse of humans will be explored at this year's New Zealand Companion Animal Conference.