By Rachel Tiffen
A new bill making it a crime to turn a blind eye to child abuse has been introduced in Parliament.
It has been dubbed the ‘Kahui Law’, because of the Kahui family's stonewalling of police in 2006.
The Kahui twins are two bright little faces, well known in New Zealand for all the wrong reasons. But now a law is on its way to help stop such unnecessary deaths.
“Turning your back on a child who has been maltreated will no longer be possible if you are living in that household or have close proximity to it once this law is passed,” says Minister of Justice, Simon Power.
The Kahui family's silence, after the twins' death in 2006, brought the issue to light and it was raised again with deaths like that of Hamilton baby Hail-Sage McClutchie.
This law is coming in to stamp stonewalling out.
“Playing games around agreed positions of silence, that's not acceptable if a child's life is at risk,” says Mr Power.
Under the Crimes Amendment Bill, anyone who lives at or regularly visits a home or residence where a child is being abused and turns a blind eye will be prosecuted.
But the bill as drafted is not clear as to whether say a social worker or a neighbour will be held to account under the new law. That will be refined by a select committee and then by the courts on a case by case basis.
Former child psychiatrist Anthea Simcock says child abuse goes unreported far too often.
“It's one of those things we can't measure but all estimates show that the number of notifications of child abuse are grossly under-estimated in the whole scheme of things,” says Ms Simcock
And Plunket's not convinced prosecution is the right approach.
“We're quite good at criticising people, we're quite good at telling people when they've done wrong, but we're not so good at supporting people,” says Plunket clinical advisor Alison Hussey.
The new law will have its first reading in Parliament mid-year.
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