From Family First’s Email… [or, via twitter, the release]
Family First NZ says that the latest police statistics on the anti-smacking law trivialize the real impact of the anti-smacking law and fail to reflect the widespread confusion over the effect of the law, the impact on parenting and parental authority, the continued opposition to the law, and the ongoing failure to target and tackle actual child abuse.
‘What these figures do show is that almost 350 families have gone through the trauma of an investigation, temporary removal of children, and potential court case for a smack or minor act of physical discipline, and 19 of these families have been taken to court,” says Bob McCoskrie, National Director of Family First NZ. “And this review does not even touch on the huge number of families investigated by CYF, children temporarily removed, and ex-partners using the law to their benefit in custody cases.”
Then there’s the thousands of families who have followed the governments legislative lead and simply stopped caring weather or not they’re raising good citizens, since they ultimately have no power to do anything about it.
Something should go here, maybe later. 