Kids in state care

Stuff reports:

In 2013-14 there were 117 children in the custody of CYF reported to be abused; 88 were in the care of a CYF caregiver, 25 were formally placed with their parents but still officially in CYF custody, and five were abused while living with an unapproved caregiver or in an unapproved placement.

That’s very sad. Generally kids are in state care because they have been abused already by their parents, so to have it continue just makes it so much worse.

However it is worth noting that there were 5,000 kids in care so the rate of abuse in state care is 2.3%.

Only 20 per cent of children in state care achieve NCEA level 2 compared to a national average of 70 per cent.

That needs to be much higher. It will never reach the average due to what has already happened to them, but it certainly can be better than that.

Nearly a third of 14 to 16-year-olds in state care were charged with a criminal offence.

The real problem – a cycle of abuse and crime that repeats with the next generation. If we can intervene successfully to break that cycle, then we’re all the better off.