Latest / Early Edition with Ryan Bridge / Jacqui Southey: Save the Children's Child Rights Advocacy Director says recommendations for child safety systems have been made for more than 20 years

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Jacqui Southey: Save the Children's Child Rights Advocacy Director says recommendations for child safety systems have been made for more than 20 years · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

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  Speaker 1: Our child protection system hasn't shifted enough since the death
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  Speaker 1: of totoing a five year old Malachai Subsh, who died
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  Speaker 1: three years ago. That's what's come out of the assessment
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  Speaker 1: from an independent children's monitor report. It found that no
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  Speaker 1: subsequent recommendations have been implemented by the children's agencies and
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  Speaker 1: ordering a tamadiki is being forced to make decisions on
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  Speaker 1: staff availability rather than prioritizing a child's safety. Save the Children.
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  Speaker 1: New Zealand advocacy director at Jackie Soudi's with me this morning, Jackie,
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  Speaker 1: Good morning.
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  Speaker 2: Good morning, Ryan Kilder.
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  Speaker 1: So are you surprised to hear this?
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  Speaker 2: Yes, I am quite surprised to hear this. The Dame
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  Speaker 2: Karen Pittasi review was very thorough. It looked at the
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  Speaker 2: death of Malpe Subesh, but not in isolation of that
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  Speaker 2: one death, but across a system wide way of working,
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  Speaker 2: and also reviewed thirty three previous reviews to create a
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  Speaker 2: very comprehensive picture about what should change to prevent similar
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  Speaker 2: situations happening.
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  Speaker 1: This is not the first report to come up with
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  Speaker 1: a recommendation like this, to come up with a conclusion
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  Speaker 1: like this. Is there anywhere in the world that does
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  Speaker 1: this well, that has a system that actually ensures the
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  Speaker 1: safety of children.
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  Speaker 2: Well, Unfortunately, systems around the world do struggle.
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  Speaker 3: And what systems are trying to do or countries that
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  Speaker 3: are trying to improve. It's not about just focusing on
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  Speaker 3: the response system, it's focusing on the pipeline into that
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  Speaker 3: system to try to prevent fewer children being in these situations.
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  Speaker 2: This is a problem worldwide and this is why they're
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  Speaker 2: the ministerial the first Ministerial conference on this globally in
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  Speaker 2: Colombia in November later this year.
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  Speaker 1: In the meantime, what needs to be addressed straight.
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  Speaker 3: Away, well, these recommendations made by Darren Dane Karen Passy
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  Speaker 3: were very very clear and are doable.
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  Speaker 2: They need to be put at the forefront.
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  Speaker 3: The recommend for organizations to what agencies to cross share
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  Speaker 3: the information and concerns they have is more than twenty
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  Speaker 3: years old. This call has been going on for a
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  Speaker 3: long time, yet we still fail to do it, and
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  Speaker 3: it seems that people are confused about how to do this,
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  Speaker 3: about whether the privacy issues are more paramount now than
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  Speaker 3: the safety of the child or sharing this information, and
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  Speaker 3: also who has a mandate to make the call on
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  Speaker 3: what information to share. Essentially, what we've got is a
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  Speaker 3: system where people are confused about how to identify abuse
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  Speaker 3: and harm, whether to make a report, and if they do,
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  Speaker 3: it's quite confused about what happens next. And we need
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  Speaker 3: to simplify the system. It needs to be very clear
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  Speaker 3: that when a happens, BCD will follow.
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  Speaker 1: Because if you're a teacher or a health worker or
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  Speaker 1: whatever and you see what you think is abused, there
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  Speaker 1: should be no question about privacy to how is that
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  Speaker 1: you tell someone? Right?
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  Speaker 3: Absolutely, and it's not and we're not talking about not
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  Speaker 3: reeling back privacy in terms of genuinely talking about this
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  Speaker 3: in the community. When making disclosure to health police, well
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  Speaker 3: i'm somebody here, privacy should be very tight. And when
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  Speaker 3: sharing the nation between these agencies, again, it's not gossiping
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  Speaker 3: about it in the community, it's sharing it at a
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  Speaker 3: very professional level. And there should be parameters and place
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  Speaker 3: around that. But that's what people need to trust. They
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  Speaker 3: need to be able to trust and when they make
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  Speaker 3: that recommendation.
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  Speaker 2: That report a concern because they're so concerned by what
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  Speaker 2: they've seen, that the leavers around that will go into
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  Speaker 2: action and the right processes will be followed.
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  Speaker 1: Jackie, thank you very much for your time. It's Jackie Salvey.
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  Speaker 1: Save the Children in New Zealand's advocacy. Direct to Talking
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  Speaker 1: about that report.
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• 3:46
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• 3:49
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