A mother of two special needs children says sending your child to school feels more like babysitting than an education.

COMMENT: If we do have to name this "new" ministry, one that builds on strengths, provides hope, and recognises resiliency must surely be a better choice.

Court documents reveal criminal histories and rocky relationship before pair killed Moko.

Mother of 3-year-old killed by caregivers breaks down in court as pair are jailed for highest manslaughter sentence handed out in New Zealand.

Rallies across the country for toddler who was beaten, tortured and killed, as Tania Shailer and David Haerewa jailed for 17 years each.

The man and woman who pleaded guilty to killing Taupo 3-year-old Moko Sayviah Rangitoheriri have been sentenced to 17 years each at the High Court in Rotorua.

Chris Kahui has become a grandfather - on the 10th anniversary of the death of his baby twin sons who were murdered in 2006.

Vulnerable youths were at risk in a youth justice residence, while other facilities have an institutional feel and "prison-like" secure care, says a report.

Nia Glassie and Moko Rangitoheriri were both beaten to death at the age of 3.

The new "Super-CYF" department unveiled yesterday will take responsibility for about one in five Kiwi children at some point in their childhoods.

All or almost all state care for children may go to non-government agencies in a radical reform of child protection being unveiled today.

Foster parents could be in for a pay rise of about $80 a week in a major review of the care system now before the Cabinet.

Tackling anti-competitive behaviour is one of new dame's many missions.

Dame Paula Rebstock has called on the New Zealand community to take vulnerable young children "into their hearts and homes" as she seeks to apply an investment approach at one of the country's most controversial agencies.

From the flag debate to the outrage surrounding the TPPA, this year the government was at the centre of the country's three biggest PR challenges.

When Daryl Brougham was 11, his social worker said: "Daryl, the way you're going, you're going to end up in jail."

Child Youth and Family could not find anywhere for teen to go after her arrest.

Rather than placing children in foster care the state should be helping to strengthen their family unit.

It is a grim glimpse of the front line of social work - an 1100-page dossier of abuse and misery cataloguing the life of Benjamin*.

Severely disabled child used by his alcoholic mother and her boyfriend to access up to $80,000 in benefits.

It is extraordinary that a West Auckland teenager was held in police station cells for four days because CYFs could not find a bed for her, Labour says.

Social Development Minister Anne Tolley says it's "very difficult" to stop negligent parents having more children but the country needed to have the discussion.

After a string of restructures of Child Youth and Family, Minister of Social Development Anne Tolley says she will fully implement the recommendations of an expert panel looking into children in state care.

The idea of Serco being responsible for a pipeline guiding children through their lives from cradle to grave - from CYF to prison - sounds like something from a dystopian novel, writes Richard Wagstaff.

The Green Party has won an apology from the Social Development Minister after it was confirmed Serco staff members had visited Child, Youth and Family sites.

A review panel is scathing of CYF's performance, saying the system is focused on immediate risks and containing costs at the expense of tackling harm.

Every person in the country aged up to 17 has been screened for factors that could later see their life take a turn for the worse - and cost taxpayers.

We must create strategies to address negative ethnic stereotypes which result in too many tamariki put into care, writes Anton Blank.

"These kids just need a chance, it's really hard at 17, they are too old to be in the system but too young to have rights."

Fixing child abuse and neglect is all about building relationships with families in need, social workers say.