News release
3 March 2009
Figures underline need for more effective child abuse prevention, says charity

Reports that Child, Youth and Family took one newborn child into its care, on average, every five and a half days during 2008 underlines the need for more effective ways of protecting our most vulnerable children, says a charity that specialises in tackling child abuse.

Libby Robins, director of the Family Help Trust, which works with families of young children at the highest risk of child abuse, says taking infants and children into state care does not properly address the causes of child abuse and is much more expensive than effective early intervention programmes.

“Recently publicised figures show that Child, Youth and Family took 66 at-risk babies less than a month old into its care last year. While they are certainly justified in making the safety of those children their highest priority, there are much more effective ways of addressing the problem, with greater prospects for long-term success.

“For Child, Youth and Family to place a newborn custody order on the child of a first time mother, they will need to have been alerted to very serious concerns by midwives, general practitioners or other health or social services agencies working with the woman during her pregnancy. Such concerns typically involve drug abuse, serious mental health problems, a history of family violence or the fact that the mother herself has been in state care, which recent independent research has shown is the case for over 50 per cent of families most vulnerable to child abuse, ” she said.

According to Libby Robins, on average it costs around $10,000 per annum to care for a child taken from its family by the state.

“On that basis, caring long term for the newborns taken into care by Child, Youth and Family last year will cost the taxpayer $660,000 per annum.

“Factoring into the equation, it needs to be understood that many newborn children are taken into care by Child, Youth and Family after the mother has had a previous child but demonstrated inadequate parenting skills. Therefore many mothers of infants taken into the protection of Child, Youth and Family will already have other children in care, and the cost involved here will be at least two or three times that amount.

“The real cost, however, is later in the life of these babies, when, without effective early intervention, previous experience has shown that they are highly likely to place yet further and far greater cost on the taxpayer in crime, mental health, their negative impacts on the education system and their future prospects in the workforce.

“This is quite apart from the human cost on them as individuals from the effects of being taken into state care at the very start of their lives. The consequent emotional trauma deriving from that is well-documented, as is the much higher incidence of children taken from their families finding it much more difficult to form proper relationships later in life.

“Effective early intervention programmes to address the root causes of child abuse cost on average around 60 per cent of the cost of keeping a child in state care, and achieve far more successful outcomes for the children concerned and for society as a whole.

“Spending one dollar on early intervention services now will save $19 in the future when those children, should they survive their adverse start to life, are otherwise likely to cost the state in criminal justice, policing, corrections, mental health, social welfare and unemployment budgets,” she said.

According to Libby Robins, there is hope the new government will place greater emphasis on effective early intervention to address the causes of child abuse.

“Just last week the Minister of Social Development pledged to support those agencies within our communities making the most difference to our most vulnerable families in these tougher economic times, and that the government is committed to backing what works.

“The Family Help Trust fits the criteria. Over the past 18 years we have worked with the families of over 1,000 children born in Christchurch at the highest risk of child abuse, successfully helping them to lead far better lives than would have been the case without our assistance or if they had been taken into state care,” she said.

The Family Help Trust provides child abuse prevention services to the most vulnerable infants, from birth up to five years, working intensively with their families to provide support through basic health and education programmes. The Family Help Trust has resources to work with around 30 new referrals each year, financed by a mix of government funding and charitable donations. Approximately 100 children are born in Christchurch each year at the highest risk of child abuse.

ENDS

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