Parents Against Negative Intervention by CYFS
PANIC PO Box 9078 Palmerston North



To: Editor/Social Welfare Reporter


Press Release November 9 2000

Call for Dismantling of Child Youth & Family is Understandable but not Appropriate

The call by the Director of Women’s Refuge to disband the Child Youth & Family Service is understandable given the widespread dissatisfaction about CYFS’s interventions into family situations, says John Tonson, Director of Parents against negative intervention by CYFS.

More appropriate action would be a Royal Commission of Inquiry into CYFS in order to ascertain all the major failings of the Department, and a radical overhaul of the out-of-control organisation which has become for many a hated and feared institution, says Mr Tonson.

Contrary to media speculation, CYFS’s most frequent failing is not that it fails to act but that it acts too intrusively, often uplifting children when there are no clear and reasonable grounds for them to do that, says Mr Tonson.

Other major faults in the Department, in the view of PANIC, include:
·    a fundamental lack of commitment to the family friendly principles of the CYPF Act 1989
·    a gross lack of professionalism among many social workers who impose plans on families rather than empower them to work through their problems
·    manipulation of the Family Court to increase CYFS’s chances of defeating the attempts of parents to regain the custody of their children removed on very questionable grounds
·    inadequate attention given to the performance of caregivers and the welfare of children supposedly better off in their care
·    lack of inspired leadership which is committed to making CYFS a service which actually does a thorough job in the best interests of all children and their families

PANIC is committed to help expose the injustices suffered by families at the hands of CYFS, to assist parents to regain the rightful custody of their children, and to promote much needed reform of the CYFS-Family Court system.


John Tonson Director
email: jktonson@inspire.net.nz