Dr Michael Bassett: Is it state care or family failure that explains our underclass?

Years ago, when I taught history at Auckland University, we had a rule for student essays. They were to be no longer than 1,000 words. We aimed at concentrating the student’s mind on the question which too many of them thought could more easily be answered by a long, often irrelevant, plethora of words.

I was thinking of this rule as I dabbled in the thousands of pages of the report of the Royal Commission into State Care. Like too many C-class students, the report rambles, with only occasional bits of analysis of what is under discussion. Of course, state care never has been, isn’t now, and never will be the ideal repository for anyone in need of care.

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”.

Karl du Fresne: Moana - sacrificed to the culture wars

This may be the most painful story you read today:

'Hardest decision of our lives': Foster parents return Moana to state care | Stuff.co.nz.

If you’ve followed this saga, you’ll get the gist from the headline. Marty Sharpe’s story will very likely make you angry. Unless you’ve got a heart of flint, it should also deeply sadden you.

Lindsay Mitchell: MSM and poor reporting

A TV1 news item says about the inquiry into abuse-in-care:

"A report from the Inquiry shows one in three young people placed in residential care by the state between 1950 and 1999 went on to serve a prison sentence. The research shows Māori were even more likely to end up in prison, with 42% serving a custodial sentence as an adult. For the general population during the same period less than one in 10 ended up in prison." (My emphasis)

I got stuck on the last part of that. 'Less than' is indeterminate but suggests not much less than. Which seems way too high. From the actual report: