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We are a resourceful nation. We say we punch above our weight. We have just staged a wonderful Rugby World Cup. Visitors from many nations have found us to be caring, warm, engaging, generous and hospitable. That’s a reputation worth having and building on.
“Why then are we not as caring as a nation when it comes to our own children and young people?” asks Owen Glen. “When I look at the appalling statistics on child abuse and neglect, youth unemployment, crime and suicide I must agree with Dame Anne Salmond when she wrote in the Herald that ‘more than a change of government, what is needed is a change of heart”.
How on earth did we reach the point where we are now? First there is our record on child abuse. It is a national disgrace. The statistics show why:
- New Zealand has the fifth-highest rate of child abuse in the OECD (and the second-highest rate of teen pregnancies after the US).
- A child dies of child abuse every five weeks (most are under 5; the largest group is less than a year old).
- 150,757 notifications of child abuse were made to the Child, Youth and Family Services over the year ending June 2011
- Every five days a child under 2 is admitted to hospital with preventable injuries.
- Over one in four adults has experienced childhood trauma or abuse, family violence or sexual assault.
Owen Glenn is a businessman and philanthropist and an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit.
Image: Stuff.co.nz
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