The NZ Council of Christian Social Services publishes a quarterly
Vulnerability Report. The most recent issue contained the following graph which shows the correlation between children being poor and risk of maltreatment or neglect. Children in the poorest decile (10 in the case because it uses the Health scale - not Education) are ten times more likely than the children in wealthiest to be admitted to hospital for reasons of maltreatment or neglect. Below the graph is the angle the NZ Council of Christian Social Services takes on it.
The report then goes on to point out,
"Maori children and young people are over represented in [care and protection] notifications requiring further action, constituting 45% in the June quarter." BUT Asian and Pacific people have lower incomes and are not over represented.
Poverty does increase stress but alone, it is not an excuse for abuse.
And lest you are getting bored with the statistics, let's put a
face to them.
Five years old and being taught to "harden up." Christ. CHRIST.
6 comments:
Booze, drugs, and that uniquely maori sense of entitlement (which fosters selfishness) play a large part I think.
Just to add to the disgust I am feeling having read the NZ Herald article, the Wanganui Chronicle version of that story notes that the male partner is also accused of raping this little 5 year old girl.
And we are all forcibly taxed to fund this evil behavior....fuck!
Lindsay, if these self-proclaimed 'Christian Social Servants' had read the Bible carefully, they would have learnt that both the cruelty to children and the poverty are *symptoms* - symptoms of evil hearts.
Thus, throwing money at such people (whether through the Socialist State or private charity) is going to solve nothing.
That's why the Bible talks about 'preaching the Gospel to the poor'. As a child, I couldn't see the sense in this. I thought that surely, what poor people need is food and money. However, since then, I've started to see that, without a complete change of heart, the poor will only be further corrupted by unearned wealth.
Completely agree. Being poor doesn't mean you are inclined to hurt your children. But a sense of entitlement resultant from intergenerational beneficiaries and a culture that believes a closed fist is a smack does.
I also think that the high Maori teen pregnancy rate (5 x higher than europeans) has a lot to do with it - a lot of these abusers are quite young.
It's honestly just heartbreaking that people seem to place no value on children.
But lets not forget the other, more silent, kind of abuse - sexual abuse. Something which is very prevalent in white middle class NZ.
Short of censoring every would-be sperm and egg donor (let's face it, they're not fit to be called parents) I am not sure what we can do.
Post a Comment