October 30, 2012
Poverty no excuse of assaulting and killing children
A Maori child advocacy group says the Government's can't keep overlooking poverty as a factor in child abuse.
Anton Blank from Te Mana Ririki says while poverty is no excuse for assaulting and killing children, there is clear statistical link.
Until the 1980s Maori child abuse was at the same rate as for the general population, but since it has accounted for half of all cases.
He says there have been spikes in the deaths of Maori children in the mid 1980s, after the Rogernomics restructuring when many Maori working for state owned companies lost their jobs, and after Ruth Richardson's 1991 mother of all budgets when benefit rates were cut.
“When we look Maori child abuse, there’s a real link between poverty and rates of abuse between Maori families. Off the back of the Government’s White Paper on Vulnerable Children, generally the sector is saying, really good moves, good on Minister Paula Bennett for initiating these moves and keeping these children safe but in the long term we’ve got to address poverty or else our child abuse rates will continue to be some of the highest in the world”. says Blank.
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