MEDIA RELEASE
8 September 2007

Children’s Commissioner Promotes Ultimate Nanny State – Families Say No Thanks

Family First is labeling proposals by the Children’s Commissioner to screen every child’s home life as the ultimate intrusion into good families and an example of paranoic nanny state.

“The Children’s Commissioner is adopting moral supremacy and has appointed herself as the expert on parenting and the well-being of children while ignoring the huge majority of parents who are doing a fantastic job and don’t need ‘nanny’ Kiro to intervene,” says Bob McCoskrie, National Director of Family First NZ.

Mr McCoskrie says such a proposal will simply put a weapon into the hands of the state to interfere in the homes of good parents.

“To threaten to refer the overwhelming majority of well-functioning parents and families, who will quite rightly resist this intrusion, to social welfare agencies is the ultimate insult, and shows just how desparate the Children’s Commissioner is to dictate to every home and family.”

“It is tragic that while the Commission turns a blind eye to the major problems of gang violence, drunken teen parties, the ‘P’ epidemic, violence in schools, violence towards police, gambling addiction, housing concerns, loan sharks, and breakdown in families, there is plenty of energy and time to interfere in the lives of parents who simply want to get on with their job of raising their children with appropriate love, guidance and direction.”

“Every report from UNICEF to Save the Children to CYF says the same thing over and over – that the likelihood of a child being abused is associated with parental drug or alcohol abuse, family breakdown, poverty, single-parenthood, low maternal education, low maternal age at birth, and poor housing.”

“Kiro should start targeting the problems,” says Mr McCoskrie, “but she wants to treat all parents as potential child abusers rather than affording them the respect, support and encouragement they deserve – while failing to target the real abusers.”

Family First reiterates it’s 5-point action plan which can be viewed at www.stoptheabuse.org.nz , especially the pleas for better resourcing and support of grass-root organisations and programmes which simply need to be made more available to parents and families.

ENDS

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