A Voice for Children The Office of the Commissioner for Children in New Zealand 1984–2003 A Voice for Children The Office of the Commissioner for Children in New Zealand 1984–2003 John Barrington Dunmore Press ©2004 The Office of the Commissioner for Children First Published in 2004 by The Dunmore Press Ltd for The Office of the Commissioner for Children Wellington, New Zealand Text: Goudy 10.5/13 Printed by: The Dunmore Printing Company Ltd Palmerston North Cover design: Creative Rage, Palmerston North National Library of New Zealand Cataloguing-in-Publication Data Barrington, J. M. A Voice for Children: The Office of the Commissioner for Children in New Zealand, 1984–2003 / John Barrington. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-86469-459-8 1. New Zealand. Office of the Commissioner for Children—History. I. Title. 353.5360993—dc 22 Copyright. No part of this book may be reproduced without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. Chapter Title 5 Contents Abbreviations 7 Acknowledgements 9 Foreword D.J. Carruthers, Chief District Court Judge 11 Chapter 1: Formative Influences 13 A Commissioner for Children 13 The 1989 Children and Young Persons Bill 16 A Commissioner for Children and the 1989 Act 18 Children’s Commissioner Act 2003 Chapter 2: The First Commissioner – Dr Ian Hassall, 1989–1994 23 Getting Started 23 Monitoring and Reviewing the 1989 Act 26 Children and Young People’s Rights 27 Other Functions Related to the Act 30 Researching Children, Young People and the Act 33 Autonomy for the Office 38 The Education Sector 40 Abuse 43 Advocating a No-hitting Approach 43 The Health Sector 45 Reviewing Child Deaths 46 The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCROC) 47 Policies for Children and Families 48 The End of the Hassall Term 49 Chapter 3: The Second Commissioner – Laurie O’Reilly, 1994–1997 51 The Work of the Office 52 The Legal/Justice System 55 New Zealand Law and UNCROC 60 5 6 A Voice for Children Care and Protection 61 Research 64 Other Matters 65 UNCROC 65 The Education Sector 67 No Hitting of Children 74 Fathers 74 Child Mortality and Health 75 The Office 76 Advocating for Children 77 The Commissioner at Work 78 Chapter 4: The Third Commissioner: Roger McClay, 1998–2003 81 Getting Started 82 A Nationwide Education Advocacy Service 84 New Zealand Children’s Day 85 No Hitting of Children 87 Monitoring the Act 88 The Education Sector 92 The Justice/ Legal System 95 The Health Sector 97 Fathers 100 Films, Videos, TV and Publications 100 The Office and Role of the Commissioner 103 The Office and Politics 103 International Links 105 Greater Independence 105 Chapter 5: The Fourth Commissioner: Cindy Kiro, 2003–2008 107 Conclusion 113 Current and Future Directions Appendix: 117 Some Achievements of the Office of the Commissioner for Children 1989–2002 Bibliography 121 Index 127 Chapter Title 7 Abbreviations BSA Broadcasting Standards Authority DSW Department of Social Welfare CYF Department of Child Youth and Family Services FGC Family Group Conference The Act Children Young Persons and Their Families Act 1989 MSW Minister of Social Welfare NZPD New Zealand Parliamentary Debates SES Special Education Service The Office Office of the Commissioner for Children The Minister Ministers of Social Welfare and Social Services and Employment NZCYPS New Zealand Children and Young Persons Service NZCYFS New Zealand Children Young People and Their Families Service NZCYFA New Zealand Children Young Persons and Their Families Agency NZPD New Zealand Parliamentary Debate OCC Office of the Commissioner for Children UNCROC United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child 7 8 Cherishing Children Chapter Title 9 Acknowledgements A Voice for Children was commissioned and paid for by the Office of the Children’s Commissioner. One of the pleasures of writing this history was meeting a wide range of people connected with the rights and welfare of New Zealand children and young people. The Commissioner for Children at the time, Roger McClay, and all his staff made me particularly welcome during the months I spent researching and writing the study, and provided a huge amount of valuable information and advice. They and the other people who were willing to be interviewed, to answer questions or to read drafts included John Brickell, Bobby Bryan, Pauline Coupland, Michael Cullen, Rod Davis, Mike Doolan, Trish Grant, Ian Hassall, Mary Lynch, Gabrielle Maxwell, Roger McClay, Gordon McFadyen, Karen McKechnie, Joanna Ludbrook, Ngaire Sheppard, Jenny Shipley and Beth Wood. My appreciation also goes to the staff of the National Library for assistance with literature searches, and to Victoria University of Wellington for providing an office and support for me as a Research Fellow. John Barrington 9 10 A Voice for Children Chapter Title 11 Foreword In 1989 Judy Keall, speaking to the second reading of the Children, Young Persons and Their Families Bill, spoke about the new Office of the Commissioner for Children. She said this would be “an independent voice for children who will speak (out) about their welfare and their interests”. In the same debate the Right Honourable Michael Cullen said of the Office, “The functions … include investigating decisions made or actions taken under the legislation and monitoring policy and practices relating to the exercise of powers under the Act. I think it will be a widely welcome breakthrough …” And so it has transpired. The new Office was intended to provide a voice for children and was given functions and powers which were very broadly defined, leaving it to each Commissioner to establish his or her own priorities having regard to the issues of the day affecting the lives and well-being of the children in this country. In spite of the frustrations and limitations both of the function and resources, the Office has been, in my view, an unqualified success. It has been a success firstly because three outstanding New Zealanders have held the Office, bringing widely divergent backgrounds to the tasks of a Commissioner – “medical, legal, educational and political” – but all bringing a similar passion to confront the individual and systemic difficulties encountered by children in this country over these years. Each Commissioner has brought to the Office his own strengths and his own sense of priorities and obviously these have differed over these short few years. What has not differed has been the measure of support by dedicated and professional staff supporting Commissioners, who have not hesitated to speak out publicly on issues affecting children. The Office may have been created as a slightly reactive and protective device to balance the introduction of a unique family/whanau-based decision-making model introducing “new ways of working” into the care and protection of children and to youth justice generally but it has developed well beyond that original tentative concept. This book is a record of those first years and of the first three holders of this Office. In my view it is vital that such a record be kept. The information and comment in this book will always suffer because it is recent and cannot be seen through the 11 12 A Voice for Children wider lens of history. It is therefore in a context which is raw with patterns which are only dimly observed. It is, however, only by seeing where we have come from that we can also see where we should be going. It is important that the way in which this Office came into existence and the way it has been shaped by the first three Commissioners be held in a readily accessible way so that all can see what progress has been made and what issues yet need to be properly faced in the interests of our children. From my limited perspective, having had the benefit of association with all three Commissioners and with their dedicated and professional staff, it seems to me of crucial importance that this record be kept not only for now but be maintained for the future. The independent voice of the Commissioner for Children speaking strongly when necessary about current problems and difficulties, about government agencies strengths and weaknesses, about gaps and lack of focus in education, welfare and other agencies, is of crucial importance in maintaining an honest view about the well-being of our children and therefore our future. I congratulate those who had the idea that such a record would be of value and I congratulate Dr John Barrington for his research and the energy which has produced the result. The only sadness which needs also to be recorded is that the first and most obvious person to be approached for such a Foreword was unable to write it. Judge Mick Brown, a pioneer of new ways of working with children, young people and their families in this country, was unable to take on further tasks at a time when his beloved wife was seriously ill. He has asked, however, that he be associated with this Foreword and this tribute to the three past office holders and the author of this volume. D J Carruthers Chief District Court Judge 7 July 2003. Formative Influences 13 CHAPTER 1 Formative Influences The way a society treats its children reflects not only its qualities of compassion and protective caring, but also its sense of justice, its commitment to the future and its urge to enhance the human condition for coming generations. United Nations Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar during the drafting of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCROC). A Commissioner for Children The Office of the New Zealand Commissioner for Children was established as a statutory advocate for children in the Children Young Persons and Their Families Act 1989, reflecting changing approaches to child protection and growing interest, during the 1970s and 1980s, in an individual or agency to act as an advocate for children.