In this issue (9 June 2009)...
1. ‘Honest’ Report on Child Abuse Welcomed
2. Home best for babies says doctor
3. 'Smacking law' needs fixing - Op Ed
4. Call for Immigration Dept to Protect Unborn Child
5. Mental health linked to dietary habits
6. Schools call in police drug dogs
7. Gender test spurs abortion fears
8. Is TV delaying child development?

1. ‘Honest’ Report on Child Abuse Welcomed
Family First Media Release 4 June 2009
Family First NZ is welcoming a report from the Children’s Commissioner on child abuse released today, and says that it backs the call for a Royal Commission on child abuse. “The report entitled ‘Death and serious injury from assault of children aged under 5 years in Aotearoa New Zealand: A review of international literature and recent findings’ makes an honest assessment of the real causes of child abuse and reinforces the findings of previous UNICEF and CYF reports that we have quoted,” says Bob McCoskrie, National Director of Family First NZ. “The anti-smacking law was a smoke screen for dealing with the real, and much harder to deal with, causes of child abuse. It has meant that ‘normal’ families have been targeted because they’re easier to deal with, rather than the dysfunctional non-compliant families who need support and possibly intervention. This report identifies those causes and is so honest that it could almost be labeled politically incorrect.”
Risk factors for child abuse in the report included:
• ethnicity (including the high rate of abuse amongst Maori) • drug and alcohol abuse • mental illness • unsupported young mothers with little or no antenatal care • presence of a non-biological parent • family breakdown, severe conflict and ongoing domestic violence • poverty, instability and unemployment READ MORE
READ Full Report
Family First Comment: This report endorses what we have been saying about child abuse all along - see www.stoptheabuse.org.nz .

2. Home best for babies says doctor
Sunday Star Times 07 June 2009
A leading neonatal paediatrician is warning parents to do all they can to avoid putting their young children in daycare, saying it could permanently harm their developing brains. Dr Simon Rowley, who works at Auckland's National Women's Hospital and in private practice, will tell 900 nurses and volunteers at a Plunket conference in Rotorua tomorrow that they should encourage parents "to actually be parents - not absentee parents". READ MORE
READ an Op-Ed written by Bob McCoskrie on this issue Extended Childcare No Miracle For Children NZ Herald Sep 07

3. 'Smacking law' needs fixing - Op Ed
Richard Dawson is Pastor of St Stephens/Leith Valley Presbyterian Church.
Otago Daily Times 5 Jun 2009
Richard Dawson argues that rather than encouraging good parenting the "smacking law" undermines self-confidence and is actually "a form of violence against ordinary parents". "..Parenting is perhaps one of the most important tasks anyone can take on. Our society provides virtually no training for it and very little material encouragement to parents. Now we have a law which makes a criminal out of a parent who has tried to stay in the game even though they might be getting it a bit wrong. I can't think of anything more discouraging to young parents who already lack confidence and knowledge. The law has become a form of violence against ordinary parents who are trying to do the job, even if badly at times. We need to fix this law and find a more positive approach to parents and parenting." READ MORE

4. Call for Immigration Dept to Protect Unborn Child
Family First Media Release 9 June 09
Family First NZ is calling on the Immigration Department to show compassion to a heavily pregnant Lithuanian mother whose unborn child, and her own health, will be put at risk if she is forced to leave the country. “This does not appear to be a family deliberately out to flout the laws,” says Bob McCoskrie, National Director of Family First NZ. “The complications in the pregnancy are outside of their control and because of this, the Immigration department should grant a waiver.” READ MORE
Pregnant overstayer has support from Family First Newstalk ZB READ MORE
Pregnant Tourist told to leave country NZ Herald READ MORE
STOP PRESS - Success. Visitor's Permit extended. Good decision!

5. Mental health linked to dietary habits
Sydney Morning Herald June 9, 2009
CHILDREN who have a poor diet are more likely to have a mental health problem as an adolescent, research has found. READ MORE

6. Schools call in police drug dogs
The Dominion Post 08 June 2009
Wellington schools have called in police sniffer dogs to search for drugs in a "desperate" move to tackle a growing problem that is "destroying" lives. READ MORE

7. Gender test spurs abortion fears
NZ Herald Jun 08, 2009
A new test to reveal the gender of a fetus in early pregnancy has sparked a row over whether it will lead to sex-selection abortions. .. The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists is worried about what the test might lead to. "The concern we would have is that people would then terminate pregnancies on the grounds of sex selection," said college president Dr Ted Weaver. Anti-abortion group Voice for Life echoes this concern. Spokesman Bernard Moran said abortions for sex selection were a problem overseas and the test would facilitate this in New Zealand. "Certain ethnic minorities here might be more prone to use it." READ MORE

8. Is TV delaying child development?
BBC News 2 June 09
New research suggests having the TV on may impair young children's development by reducing the amount of conversation between infant and adult. READ MORE

In this issue (3 June 09)... 
1. Cabinet Minister’s Smacking Law Comments Welcomed
2. Call to PM to change child discipline law
3. Families Commission - An Outsider's View
4. Even students understand the difference
5. Well done Ian Grant - and about time too
6. Gardasil - A guide for parents and caregivers
7. Divorce hurting boys' education: experts

1. Cabinet Minister’s Comments On s59 Welcomed
Family First Media Release 1 June 2009
Family First NZ is welcoming comments made by Social Development Minister Paula Bennett in a radio interview over the weekend. When a caller to the programme on Newstalk ZB asked the Minister whether she thought a smack as part of good parental correction should be a criminal offence in NZ, the Minister responded
‘No I don’t, I believe that actually good parenting should be left to do that in their different ways in their different homes and I don’t have an interest in going into people’s homes and telling them how to parent’.
“This is a welcome change to the previous message that parents have received from politicians that ‘we know best how to raise your kids’,” says Bob McCoskrie, National Director of Family First NZ. “Ms Bennett is also willing to acknowledge the difference between a smack as part of good parental correction, and child abuse. She went on to say ‘I’ve got the hat on of being hugely hugely concerned with serious abuse – now I think they’re very different things so do understand I’m not saying that section 59 was ever going to stop that..’. She also admitted that she would never have introduced an anti-smacking bill.” READ MORE   LISTEN
Got a comment on this issue? Email feedback@familyfirst.org.nz

2. Call to PM to change child discipline law
Radio NZ News 31 May 2009
The Family First lobby group has published an open letter to the Prime Minister citing evidence of families being prosecuted and children removed under the child discipline law. National director Bob McCoskrie says a promise by John Key to change the law if good parents are criminalised should now be acted on. The advertisement appears in two Sunday papers. It lists four cases which the lobby group says shows evidence of what it calls the "anti-smacking law" in action. One example tells of two parents separated from their children for two nights. They were interviewed for five hours by police after admitting they sometimes smack their children. A law change in 2007 removed the defence of "reasonable force" for adults accused of assaulting a child. Mr McCoskrie says Mr Key needs to follow-up on his previous promise to make changes if the law harmed good parents. He says a Royal Commission should also be established to tackle the real causes of child abuse. Mr McCoskrie says changing the law now could prevent what he calls "a costly and time consuming" referendum on the issue, which is due to take place later this year. READ MORE 
WATCH Bob McCoskrie on TVNZ7 News at 8 31 May 09

Family First Comment: If you are able to make a donation towards the cost of these adverts, we would greatly appreciate it.
Got a comment on this issue? Email feedback@familyfirst.org.nz

Published in the Christchurch Press today
3. Families Commission – An Outsider’s View
Bob McCoskrie – National Director Family First
Let’s be honest. The Families Commission was set up by the previous Labour government as a sop to the United Future party with its then eight MP’s. United Future had run on a strong pro-family platform. Ironically, this kept in power a government who then rammed through a number of anti-family pieces of legislation including the decriminalisation of prostitution, the anti-smacking law, the ‘white elephant’ Civil Unions and Relationships legislation, opposed notifying parents when their teenagers wanted an abortion, and opposed raising the drinking age. But back to the Families Commission.... READ MORE 
 Got a comment on this issue? Email feedback@familyfirst.org.nz

4. Even students understand the difference!
NZ College Herald 2 June 2009
"It wasn't a smack on the bottom that turned Darth Vader bad."
Click on this article from a year 12 student featured in the College Herald

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5. Well done Ian Grant - and about time too!
East And Bays Courier 03 June 2009
Parents Inc founder Ian Grant has been recognised in the 2009 Queen’s Birthday Honours for his services to youth and parenting. Parenting, youth and marriage gurus Ian and Mary Grant are an inspiration in the eyes of many. READ MORE 
 Got a comment on this issue? Email feedback@familyfirst.org.nz

RECOMMENDED READ
6. Gardasil - A guide for parents and caregivers
Family Life International - Guide
In recent months the New Zealand public has been subjected to an intense marketing campaign promoting the new Gardasil vaccine manufactured by the international pharmaceutical company Merck & CO. ..While the marketing campaign and the media coverage of Gardasil has been widespread and at times very emotive, it hasn’t actually fully informed Kiwi parents about all of the important facts about the vaccine. The end result of this has been that many parents have been left unable to make fully informed decisions about this vaccine, and in some cases parents are even dramatically overestimating the actual effectiveness and safety of the Gardasil vaccine because of the lack of information that has been provided to them. DOWNLOAD FREE PAMPHLET
Got a comment on this issue? Email feedback@familyfirst.org.nz