Heavy defeat for new smacking bill

Heavy defeat for new smacking bill

NZPA September 9, 2010, 6:23 am

ACT MP David Garrett

A bill that would have effectively repealed the anti-smacking law by again allowing parents to use “reasonable force” to discipline their children was defeated in Parliament last night by 115 votes to five.

The member’s bill was sponsored by ACT MP David Garrett, who said that although police had discretion over prosecuting for a light smack, it was still an offence in law and had to be removed from the statutes.

“The law has turned good parents into criminals, in the same category as those who bash and kill their children,” he said.

Mr Garrett said the law hadn’t worked anyway because since the legislation was passed 20 children had been murdered and notifications of child abuse had increased.

Labour’s deputy leader Annette King said the law was passed by a majority of MPs after a compromise was reached between then prime minister Helen Clark and John Key when he was Leader of the Opposition.

“This is a political bill, we have all moved on and it should be removed from the House as soon as possible”, Ms King said.

National’s Hekia Parata said the anti-smacking law was working, and a review had shown that.

“I’m personally applaud the fact that we are opposing it,” she said.

Green Party co-leader Metiria Turei said the bill was a waste of Parliament’s time.

“It seeks to injure children. Wouldn’t we do better by finding ways to build safe, warm homes for them,” she said.

ACT MP John Boscawen drafted the bill but couldn’t sponsor it because he became a minister last month.

He said current law created confusion because of police discretion and a referendum had shown 87 percent of voters wanted it changed.

“This bill stands up for the rights of those people,” he said.

Maori Party MP Te Ururoa Flavell said punitive approaches to discipline were wrong and the law didn’t criminalise parents.

“The law is working well, parents are prevented from using the defence of reasonable force and we reject this bill absolutely,” he said.

ACT’s five MPs were the only ones who voted for the bill.

Family First NZ Media Release 8 Sep 2010
Family First NZ is calling on politicians to respect democracy and the voice of NZ’ers expressed in the recent Referendum and support the bill being introduced tonight in parliament to decriminalise light smacking. READ MORE



Family First Comment:
This is an incredible result and, although not a scientific independent poll, it still gives you an indication that this fight isn’t anywhere near over!

Got a comment on this issue? Email feedback@familyfirst.org.nz

Going Public: Socials Not Happy Family Has Gone Public

Going Public

Socials Not Happy Family Has Gone Public
Johanssons Ask: What Would You Do For Your Children?

While employees of Gotland Social Services cloak their deeds behind a wall of secrecy, Annie and Christer Johansson have opened their entire lives to the world for scrutiny. “We have no choice. The world must know what is happening in Sweden. We’ve walked through fire for our son, and will continue to do so until he is returned to us,” remarked Christer Johansson, as the September 2, 2010 court hearing challenging the Social’s right to keep Domenic approached. “This is how much we love our son. What would you do for your children?”

Gotland Social Services are not happy with the Johanssons for making their story public. Yet, the Johanssons believe they have no choice but to bring their plight to public awareness, as it seems abundantly clear that Gotland Social Services has absolutely no intention of returning Domenic to his parent’s care.

This writer is not related to the Johanssons, as some would believe. As a matter of fact, until the Johansson’s story became public, spreading across the globe into the United States, this writer had never heard of Domenic, Annie and Christer. Instead, this writer has become interested in the Johansson case because of her own children, a sibling group of 4, whom she and her husband adopted three years ago.

Our adopted children’s birth father is in jail for 30 to 50 years for the crimes he perpetrated against these children. The initial goal for our children was reunification with their birth mother. She had never personally harmed her children. Instead, she neglected their needs by not protecting them from their birth father. Even so, Child Protective Services were prepared to reunite her with her children once she completed one demand: attendance of parenting classes. Their birth mother was not asked to walk through fire. She was simply asked to better equip herself by attending parenting classes prior to reunification.

Curiously, our children’s birth mother attended all required parenting classes but the very last. For two years, while her children languished in foster care, birth mom provided every excuse as to why she could not finish the classes, fully knowing she needed to do so for reunification to take place. While their birth mother was not required to walk through fire, for some reason she chose not to complete the required parenting course in an effort to have her children restored to her. After two years of waiting, the children were made available for adoption and now reside with us, their new family.

Annie and Domenic, mother and son.


Reunification Never Offered

In contrast, Annie and Christer have not been charged with any crime or neglect. They’ve also not been given the opportunity for reunification with Domenic. They’ve not been offered parenting classes as a possible means of restoration. We are certain if they were, Annie and Christer would have taken the classes expeditiously and would have been star pupils, perhaps among the best to ever pass through such classes.

Annie and Christer have stated repeatedly in court their willingness to do anything, follow any program, and agree with every suggestion from Social Services, if only their child would be restored to them. The shocking fact is: Gotland Social Services has no interest in helping the Johansson family to be reunited. The health of this family is not Social Services’ goal at all.

Instead, it appears Gotland Social Services’ main intention is to permanently remove Domenic from the care of his parents. Why? Of what crime have Annie and Christer been accused? They’ve been accused of home schooling the boy – at a time when home schooling was legal in Sweden. They’ve been accused of delaying or forgoing immunizations – while such a parental decision is legal in Sweden. They’ve been accused of neglecting two cavities in his baby (milk) teeth – yet the existence of the cavities was not known until after the Socials snatched the boy. (Incidentally, Domenic had received regular dental care in the past, thus proving his parents were not neglecting him in this area. And even had he not, has the existence of cavities in baby teeth become a crime?)

The only requirements laid upon the Johansson family by Gotland Social Services has been total and complete acquiescence to the loss of Domenic. The Johanssons have never been offered a plan for reunification.

The Johanssons refuse to acquiesce to the loss of their child. Understandably so! Domenic is their son. They’ve loved and tenderly cared for him his entire life. No crime was ever perpetrated against the boy by Annie and Christer, nor anyone else. The only crime this writer, and thousands of others, see is a crime perpetrated by Swedish authorities. Whether purposefully or by mistake, the separation of Domenic from his parents for the aforementioned arbitrary reasons is criminal.

It is this writer’s conclusion, and that of many others, that Annie, Christer and Domenic have fallen victim to a troubling movement in the halls of child protective services worldwide. It appears in many places the priority is not the aiding of citizens, families and children who are endangered or hurt. Instead, the priority is the forming of children according to the social engineering theories of powerful entities in government. The goal is, in fact, arbitrary power and control.

When child protective services remains centered upon their mission of actually protecting children from abusive and neglectful parents – as in the case of this writer’s adopted children – children and parents are justly served. However, in the case of Domenic Johansson and – troublingly – a rising number of families across the globe, when child protective services removes a child from the home of loving and capable parents for arbitrary reasons, children and their parents are permanently traumatized, neither parent nor child is served, and the freedom of society is called into question.

Read this article and more about this family here: http://friendsofdomenic.blogspot.com/2010/09/socials-not-happy-family-has-gone.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+FriendsOfDomenicJohansson+%28Friends+of+Domenic+Johansson%29

Melbourne Home Education Conference: 11 September 2010

Melbourne Home Education

Conference: 11 September 2010

Only 4 days until this conference.

Thanks to all those who have registered so far. We would find it very helpful if you are intending to come, if you would send Jonathan an email 2010-craig-smith-seminar@lifelonglearning.co to let him know how many in your family will be attending. It will help us with catering for morning and afternoon teas. You can register at the conference. Registrations on the day are most welcome.

https://hef.org.nz/2010/melbourne-home-education-conference-11-september-2010/

Date: Saturday  11 September 2010

Venue: Presbyterian Church of Hawthorn, 580 Glenferrie Rd Hawthorn, Melbourne  3122,

Cost: $20 per family or $5.00 per session (including grandparents).  If you are in genuine financial difficulty, please contact us, and we would love to help you.

Register and Map here:

Speakers: Craig Smith, Wendy Hill and Jonathan Field

Contact:  Jonathan  and Katie 03 9018 9286 2010-craig-smith-seminar@lifelonglearning.co

Programme:

9:00am Registration

9:15 Welcome & Notices

9:30-11:00  Keynote: Craig Smith “Home Education — Getting Things into Perspective”

11:00-11:30 Morning Tea (Drink and light refreshment provided)

11:30-1:00 Two electives

1. “Christian Dad’s Essential Role in Home Education” Craig Smith

2.  “The Elements of Music” Wendy Hill

1:00-1:30 BYO lunch. Drinks provided.

1:30- 2:30 Two  electives

1. “The Christian Imperative–Why all Christians Must Rescue Their Children From State Schools” Craig Smith

2. Teaching your children  Christian World Views” Jonathan Field

2:30-3:00 Afternoon Tea (Drink and light refreshment provided)

3:00-4:00 Two electives

1. “Christian Parents Preventing and Changing Rebellion in a Child’s Heart” Craig Smith

2. “Teaching your children Foreign Languages” Jonathan Field

Conference ends/looking at stands

Stands at Conference:

Home Education Foundation: https://hef.org.nz

The Gift of Music: https://www.lem.com.au/thegiftofmusic

Life Long Learning:  http://lifelonglearning.co/lifelonglearning.co/Welcome.html

Please note that all sessions will be presented from a distinctly Biblical perspective, although all attendees are most welc

A bit about the Speakers:

CRAIG SMITH

Our keynote speaker is Craig Smith, a home education pioneer and dad from New Zealand, who has been home educating his 8 children for over 30 years!  Craig runs the Home Education Foundation (https://hef.org.nz) in New Zealand.

Craig was born and grew up near Fresno, California, came to New Zealand as a 21-year-old in 1973 and has lived there ever since. He was soundly converted from hedonism by the Lord Jesus Christ in mid 1974 and was discipled by The Navigators, where he met his future wife, Barbara, a fair dinkum Kiwi from a high country sheep station in South Canterbury. Craig has a BA in Social Policy from Massey University. He and Barbara have four natural children, three by adoption and one permanently fostered, aged from 30 down to four, all being exclusively home educated from day one. Craig & Barbara established Christian Home Schoolers of NZ in 1986, which later became the Home Education Foundation, and have organised and spoken at scores of conferences all over NZ for the last 23 years. They’ve been working full time for the Home Education Foundation, a charitable trust supported solely by private donations and book sales, since 1998.

and

WENDY HILL

Wendy Hill has taught piano and general music appreciation since the early 1970s.  After 20 years of teaching, she was frustrated with the humanistic, man-glorifying music methods she had been using.  She homeschooled her two children and could find no suitable teachers or Biblical methods for their Christian music education.   So in 1991 she began developing The Gift of Music series basing it on Scripture and a God-honouring foundation.  The series is a complete music course consisting of two main parts.  One is The Elements of Music course of four volumes covering music theory, music, church and world history, basic keyboard skills and simple composition.  The other is a specific beginners’ piano course, Music for our Maker which focuses more on piano skills but includes The Elements of Music volumes as well.

In the last twenty years of developing this program, Wendy has published 22 books, 9 CDs and 8 DVDs as well as provided workshops, seminars and teacher training in Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia and Singapore.  The materials are now in these countries as well as USA, UK, Northern Ireland, China and Peru.

Today Wendy continues teaching writing, speaking and training teachers in The Gift of Music program as well as being a proud Grandma of three adorable grandaughters.

and

JONATHAN FIELD

Jonathan Field was home educated in Australia by dedicated Australian home education pioneers Chris and Susan Field.  He has a passion for teaching Christian worldview and learning foreign languages.  Jonathan has recently embarked on the adventure of home educating his own family, with the birth of his first son in July 2009.

Coming of Age Seminar 10 September 2010

Coming of Age Seminar

Friday the 10th of September

Venue: Salt Lounge, Matipo Street, Palmerston North

Time: 7:30pm

Cost: $2.00 per person

This seminar is suited to parents who have Children 10,11,12 or any age really.

This seminar is to be interactive and will give  parents ideas for celebrating a coming of age birthday/ceremony for our children at age 13 or 14 and how to celebrate our youths transition from childhood to adulthood.

The importance of the fathers role at these ages, and how to homeschool into these years will also be covered.

We will be having Speakers sharing about what they have done, and a Q&A time, also resources available too.

This will be great for both Mums and Dads.

To register please contact Katrina Pereka on 3542349 or katrinapereka@yahoo.co.nz
Please register before 6th of Sep so I can confirm venue. If you have only just heard about this then give Katrina a call straight away, you will be able to come.