Stuff
April 5, 2004
More claims of abuse at state run children's home
NZPA
Another four young
people who lived at a Child, Youth and Family home in south Auckland have made
allegations of verbal and physical abuse by caregivers.
CYF will not say how many children it has interviewed.
The department has carried out an internal inquiry into allegations of abuse at
its "family home" in Windrush Cl, Mangere, last
year.
CYF closed the house for a week in mid-December and removed the caregivers at
the centre of the allegations.
Ken Rand, acting director of operational support services, said four young
people had "identified concerns relating to verbal and physical
abuse".
The department refused to discuss details of its own investigation because it
has referred the matter to police.
It expects police to interview all 50 adolescents who were placed at the home
last year.
Mr Rand said the matter was referred to police in December and was being
handled by the Mangere CIB.
However, Counties Manukau police spokeswoman Angeline
Barlow said Mangere CIB boss Detective Sergeant Paul Bason "had no knowledge" of the file.
Other inquiries with police have failed to find who is in charge of the
investigation.
Mr Rand said CYF began making its own inquiries after receiving information
from a concerned social worker.
"Inquiries were begun and subsequently a further complaint (from another
young person) was made to the police."
CYF will not say if the complaint was that laid by teenager Anton Purvis, who
spoke to Paraparaumu police last December but has
never been interviewed by CYF.
Anton, 15, claims a caregiver sat on his chest and pinched the skin on his arms
with a pair of pliers.
He told police that boys were taken into a room and subjected to abuse almost
every night.
He alleges they were hit with hard objects and thrown against the wall.
Anton's father, Grant Harris, said a CYF worker rang him in December to discuss
the house in Windrush Cl.
Mr Harris said the worker told him he had been to the police and laid a
complaint because his son had been beaten at the house.
The worker asked Mr Harris to talk to Anton about his five weeks at the house,
in September and October last year.
The CYF worker declined to discuss the case last week, saying he had been
involved in the internal investigation.
CYF said it could find no evidence of an employee's son living at Windrush Close.
Mr Rand said CYF conducted rigorous checks of family home caregivers,
"which include formal interviews and assessments, reference checks and
police checks."
The department knew the couple's history and Windrush
Cl was their first permanent appointment.
Windrush Cl is used as a
short-term residence for troubled youth while CYF determines whether they will
be placed in long-term care or returned to families.
Mr Harris said CYF contacted him after details of the inquiry were published on
Saturday.
He is meeting senior management in
Mr Harris said it was the first time he had been contacted by CYF and he was
critical of the amount of time it has taken to acknowledge the allegations.
Anton's complaint alleges he was subjected to four hours of physical assault
and verbal abuse after ringing his CYF case manager to complain.
Anton said his Otara-based case manager immediately
told the caregivers and he was called a "nark".
"That night Anton was brutally dealt to," said his father, who wants
the case manager fired