Carolyn Moynihan: A shameful scandal offers New Zealand a chance to start again in caring for kids

New Zealanders during my lifetime have regarded our country as “a great place to bring up kids”. It still is – if you know how to bring up kids. If you didn’t learn good parenting from your own upbringing, you could be struggling, especially if you are poor, have a child with special needs, or a partner who is abusive.

In the mid-20th century, if parents had a child who was deaf, disabled or mentally disturbed, and lacked other support, they were often advised to place them in institutional care. Children in homes where they were neglected and abused would be removed by a welfare officer and placed with foster parents or in a state or church “home”.