National child abuse advocacy group, Child Matters, says the licence revocation for the daycare attended by Malachi Subecz reinforces the significance of legislating mandatory child protection training in New Zealand.

Five-year-old Malachi Subecz from Te Puna tragically died following sustained and horrific abuse at the hands of his carer in November last year.

The Ministry of Education has now formally revoked the licence of Abbey’s Place Childcare Centre after the centre failed to meet conditions of its provisional licence.

Malachi attended the Tauranga childcare centre, where staff witnessed and even photographed the five-year-old’s injuries but never alerted authorities about the suspected abuse at home.

Ex-Police detective, lawyer and now CEO of Child Matters, Jane Searle, says laws need to change now.

“Sadly, Malachi’s death was completely avoidable – if the childcare centre and other adults in his life had acted on his behalf, the outcome would most likely have been different,” she says.

“Children who are being abused cannot stop that abuse – that is the important role of adults to have that voice on behalf of powerless children.”

Ms Searle says education staff need to know how to identify and appropriately respond to suspected abuse because, as history shows, the consequences can be fatal.

“We have a plethora of health and safety rules in New Zealand, yet we don’t have anything in place to protect our most vulnerable tamariki who are suspected of being abused,” she says.

Unlike many other countries, in New Zealand child protection training is not mandatory for professionals or volunteers who work with children and young people. This means some of the key people in a child’s life may not be equipped with the skills and expertise to recognise the signs of abuse, and how best to respond.

“With one child dying from abuse every five weeks on average in New Zealand, the need for mandatory child protection training is crucial if we’re to have a society that knows how to protect its children, take action when needed, and follow up to ensure their safety,” says Ms Searle.

“To be blunt, how many other babies need to die or be horrifically abused before the government acts? The need is now,” she says.

Child Matters is an independent child abuse advocacy and training provider and New Zealand’s only national charitable trust dedicated to the prevention of child abuse.

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