Rich Katherine: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Rich Katherine: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Volume:618;Page:13849] 
6. Hon TONY RYALL (National—Bay of Plenty) 
 on behalf of  
KATHERINE RICH (National) 
 to the  
Associate Minister for Social Development and Employment (CYF) 
: Does she stand by her response to question 9 yesterday that the two other children taken into care were not subject to physical or sexual abuse and what was the specific nature of the “detrimental living environment” the mother was in at the time the children were removed from her care? 
Hon RUTH DYSON (Associate Minister for Social Development and Employment (CYF)) 
: 
 I do stand by my response yesterday that the baby’s mother did not have a history of either physical or sexual abuse of her own children. Because of the need to protect the children and because I have been advised that discussion of such information could adversely affect the police work currently under way I am not prepared to disclose further details. 
Hon Tony Ryall 
: Why has this Minister told the Parliament that there was no physical abuse when one of the two children who was taken into care at age 2 was so starved by its mother that it weighed less than 9 kilograms was unable to walk stand or talk and was in such a severe state of decline? 
Hon RUTH DYSON 
: I stand by my response yesterday that there was no history of physical or sexual abuse of her own children by the woman in Tauranga who is the centre of the allegations currently. 
Lianne Dalziel 
: What factors are considered when assessing the risk for a child? 
Hon RUTH DYSON 
: Department of Child Youth and Family Services social workers take into account a large number of factors when assessing the level of risk to a child or young person. This includes but is not limited to past reports of violence a family’s financial situation drug and alcohol abuse transients degree of attachment and bonding and the degree of support available to the family. 
Dr Muriel Newman 
: On what date did the Minister first learn that the mother had starved one of her first two children and why did she use the phrase “a detrimental living environment” as a euphemism for starvation? 
Hon RUTH DYSON 
: The first time I heard that phrase referred to was when Tony Ryall used it in his supplementary question. The reason I used the term “a detrimental living environment” is because that is exactly what the report on this family reported to me. 
Judy Turner 
: Will the Minister continue to ignore the proposal of United Future to introduce a differential intake model whereby vulnerable families like this one would be knitted into a range of community services they need considering that yesterday she admitted in her answers that there is simply not enough strength in the department to help parents who have had children removed into statutory care and that better engagement with other social service agencies is needed? 
Hon RUTH DYSON 
: I do agree with the member and that is why that is a primary focus of the new family services unit being developed within the Ministry of Social Development because it was considered more appropriate for that department to lead it rather than the Department of Child Youth and Family Services. I also strongly support the view of that member that supporting parents who are not coping and who ask for help should themselves be supported by members of Parliament and not attacked and labelled as failures. 
Hon Tony Ryall 
: Is the Minister satisfied with the way her department has handled this case and has she asked the Commissioner for Children to review the handling of this situation? 
Hon RUTH DYSON 
: On the advice I have yes and in answer to the second part of the question no. 
Hon Tony Ryall 
: If there was no physical abuse of the two children and in light of the circumstances that I told the Minister about earlier why did she lead the House to believe that the child was removed because of some environmental factor affecting the mother when the police who took these children to safety reported that one of them was covered in urine and faeces and that these children were removed because of their state not because of the condition the mother was living in? 
Hon RUTH DYSON 
: I have not been advised of that before. I will rely on the honesty of the member and I will certainly have those new allegations followed up.