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

A children's rights advocate says calls for changes to New Zealand's child safety systems go well beyond the 2021 death of Tauranga five-year-old Malachi Subecz.  

The Independent Children's Monitor has found recommendations made following Malachi's death haven't happened, and tamariki are no safer today than when he died. 

But, Save the Children's Child Rights Advocacy Director Jacqui Southey told Ryan Bridge, the problems —and calls for changes— are decades old.  

She says a recommendation for agencies to cross-share information and concerns is more than 20 years old, and yet we still fail to do it. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Our child protection system hasn't shifted enough since the death
of totoing a five year old Malachai Subsh, who died
three years ago. That's what's come out of the assessment
from an independent children's monitor report. It found that no
subsequent recommendations have been implemented by the children's agencies and
ordering a tamadiki is being forced to make decisions on

(00:20):
staff availability rather than prioritizing a child's safety. Save the Children.
New Zealand advocacy director at Jackie Soudi's with me this morning, Jackie,
Good morning.

Speaker 2 (00:29):
Good morning, Ryan Kilder.

Speaker 1 (00:31):
So are you surprised to hear this?

Speaker 2 (00:35):
Yes, I am quite surprised to hear this. The Dame
Karen Pittasi review was very thorough. It looked at the
death of Malpe Subesh, but not in isolation of that
one death, but across a system wide way of working,
and also reviewed thirty three previous reviews to create a
very comprehensive picture about what should change to prevent similar

(00:57):
situations happening.

Speaker 1 (01:00):
This is not the first report to come up with
a recommendation like this, to come up with a conclusion
like this. Is there anywhere in the world that does
this well, that has a system that actually ensures the
safety of children.

Speaker 2 (01:15):
Well, Unfortunately, systems around the world do struggle.

Speaker 3 (01:19):
And what systems are trying to do or countries that
are trying to improve. It's not about just focusing on
the response system, it's focusing on the pipeline into that
system to try to prevent fewer children being in these situations.

Speaker 2 (01:33):
This is a problem worldwide and this is why they're
the ministerial the first Ministerial conference on this globally in
Colombia in November later this year.

Speaker 1 (01:46):
In the meantime, what needs to be addressed straight.

Speaker 3 (01:49):
Away, well, these recommendations made by Darren Dane Karen Passy
were very very clear and are doable.

Speaker 2 (01:57):
They need to be put at the forefront.

Speaker 3 (01:59):
The recommend for organizations to what agencies to cross share
the information and concerns they have is more than twenty
years old. This call has been going on for a
long time, yet we still fail to do it, and
it seems that people are confused about how to do this,
about whether the privacy issues are more paramount now than

(02:19):
the safety of the child or sharing this information, and
also who has a mandate to make the call on
what information to share. Essentially, what we've got is a
system where people are confused about how to identify abuse
and harm, whether to make a report, and if they do,
it's quite confused about what happens next. And we need

(02:39):
to simplify the system. It needs to be very clear
that when a happens, BCD will follow.

Speaker 1 (02:44):
Because if you're a teacher or a health worker or
whatever and you see what you think is abused, there
should be no question about privacy to how is that
you tell someone? Right?

Speaker 3 (02:55):
Absolutely, and it's not and we're not talking about not
reeling back privacy in terms of genuinely talking about this
in the community. When making disclosure to health police, well
i'm somebody here, privacy should be very tight. And when
sharing the nation between these agencies, again, it's not gossiping
about it in the community, it's sharing it at a

(03:17):
very professional level. And there should be parameters and place
around that. But that's what people need to trust. They
need to be able to trust and when they make
that recommendation.

Speaker 2 (03:27):
That report a concern because they're so concerned by what
they've seen, that the leavers around that will go into
action and the right processes will be followed.

Speaker 1 (03:35):
Jackie, thank you very much for your time. It's Jackie Salvey.
Save the Children in New Zealand's advocacy. Direct to Talking
about that report.

Speaker 2 (03:42):
For more from News Talk ZB, listen.

Speaker 3 (03:44):
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Speaker 1 (03:46):
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