Anne Tolley MP
National Party Associate Welfare (CYFS) Spokeswoman

26 June 2007

Trust in trouble before over CYFS contract

National Party Associate Welfare spokeswoman (CYFS) Anne Tolley says the Ruatoki-based trust at the centre of a police drama this week has been in trouble before.

“For the second time in as many years this trust is going to be subject to a CYFS review. There must come a point when you have to start questioning the reviewers.

“It’s serious enough for a runaway teenager to slip through the cracks, it’s even more serious if public safety is also put at risk.”

In 2005 the Wairaka Kokiri Trust was accused of delaying an official missing persons report about the disappearance of a teenager in its care.

In a police report on that case, youth aid officer Senior Constable John Koens said that he was told nearly two months after the teenager went missing. The situation was described as a disgrace.

The senior constable disputed the trust’s claim that it had informed youth aid and said responsibility ‘never shifted from Child Youth and Family’.

“And that’s where we find ourselves again today,” says Mrs Tolley.

“There has been a series of recent high-profile failures from this newly merged department.”

She is referring to weekend reports that a teen in CYFS custody was left to his own devices while his caregiver was at work, despite the Youth Court considering him at serious risk of re-offending, escaping and violence.

And that report followed last month’s appalling story about a young sexual predator who was able to escape 14 times from 24-hour CYFS care.

“The Youth Court judges are signalling loud and clear to CYFS that there needs to be better support in the community for youths placed in their care with ongoing problems.

“Is the Minister and Government deaf or are they just not listening?”

ENDS

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