Teacher offered student sexual rewards in exchange for school work - National - NZ Herald News

Teacher offered student sexual rewards in exchange for school work

The teacher has since been censured and her registration has been cancelled following the affair, which took place last year. Photo / Thinkstock

A teacher who had sex with a student on a number of occasions, and later offered him sexual rewards in exchange for completing his school work, has admitted her actions were "totally unprofessional".

The teacher has since been censured and her registration has been cancelled following the affair, which took place last year.

In its written decision, the Teachers' Disciplinary Tribunal said the female teacher was found to have behaved in a unprofessional manner amounting to serious misconduct, after entering into an inappropriate relationship with the Year 13 student.

However, she was granted name suppression in the interest of protecting the student, and her young children.

The tribunal said the teacher had sex with the student, who was not named, on a number of occasions, at his house, during school hours and on school grounds.

She was also found to have exchanged inappropriate Facebook messages with the student in which she would offer sexual rewards to motivate him to do his school work.

The message said: "do a bit of learning of the techniques other than simile then do it with no notes... if you do you can have a special request tomorrow... haha pretty much do anything you want any way but you can have that as your motivation if it'll help."

The affair was revealed following an investigation by the secondary school, after the student's parents laid a complaint.

The teacher admitted to the tribunal that she had behaved "totally unprofessionally".

"However what I did was totally out of character compared to my 20 years previously."

The teacher said she was suffering health issues at the time of the affair, was having problems with work, her own family, and was coping with the loss of her father who had recently passed away.

She told the tribunal the affair began when the student kissed her, and "made me feel like I was really special to him".

"... It stunned me and I was flattered and responded unprofessionally.

"He made me feel like I mattered and I was someone who he counted on to be in his life not as his teacher, but as a person."

The student said he wanted to lose his virginity to someone he "trusted" and who was "special", the teacher told the tribunal.

She went on to say she would "absolutely" go back and change things if she could.

Tribunal chairman Kenneth Johnston said the teacher was motivated by her own needs, and had very little "genuine regard" for the student.

"The inappropriate relationship was not a "one-off". It was sustained for a considerable period of time. It involved a number of sexual encounters.

"There is no evidence which satisfies the tribunal that the respondent even now recognises the seriousness of her misconduct."

The teacher was censured, and had her registration cancelled.

- NZME.

Level of child abuse 'horrifying' | Otago Daily Times Online News : Otago, South Island, New Zealand & International News

Level of child abuse 'horrifying'

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A panel tasked with examining historical abuse in New Zealand's state institutions has heard a litany of physical, emotional and sexual abuse, describing it as "horrifying" and "deeply shocking".

However, the Confidential Listening and Assistance Service said the "most shocking thing was that much of this was preventable".

"If people had been doing their jobs properly and if proper systems had been in place, much of this abuse could have been avoided with better oversight," the panel said.

In its final report, released to Fairfax under the Official Information Act, chairwoman Judge Carolyn Henwood said the panel members were "profoundly affected" by what they heard.

• Read the report here

"As the numbers grew and more voices were heard, a picture was painted for us of a careless, neglectful system which allowed cruelty, sexual abuse, bullying and violence to start and continue.

"Through their words and tears, we could see the invisible welts and bruises, as well as the deeper hurt and emotional damage."

More than 1100 people came forward to speak to the panel between 2008 and June this year, covering child welfare care, psychiatric care and health camps, and residential education.

"Our panel meetings revealed an alarming amount of abuse and neglect, with extreme levels of violence," Judge Henwood said.

"I was deeply shocked by their stories and by the overall level of violence and abuse that New Zealanders were willing to inflict on children.

"Serious physical and sexual abuse came from a wide range of people and from both genders. Foster caregivers and extended families, social workers and staff, teachers, the clergy, cooks, gardeners, night watchmen; even other children and patients all took part in abuse.

"We heard of people using their fists and their feet, as well as weapons and other implements on occasion, to attack children. Many very severe beatings for no apparent reason were reported to us."

Lack of affection 'almost standard'

As many boys as girls were sexually abused - about 57% of both genders, the report said.

The panel heard from children "who went to their beds in fear each night".

"There was often violence by the foster parents, beatings and housework and kitchen tasks, and verbal abuse. Lack of affection was almost standard.

"We heard from people who had been always hungry. We heard of children made to sleep in a shed. We heard many accounts of foster fathers who came into the child's bedroom at night to abuse that child, even when the bedroom was shared by other children."

Older girls "often had to live with regular sexual intercourse with their foster father".

Speaking up about the abuse often led to punishment and blame being placed on the child, the report said.

In boys' and girls' homes a "system of institutionalised bullying" appeared to be in place. Staff who were not violent or abusive turned a blind eye to what went on.

Boys' homes "allowed violence to be institutionalised", while girls' homes "made assumptions of promiscuity".

Both types of care homes would lock children up in isolation units for long periods of time, the report said.

"These children experienced a general absence of love, human warmth, encouragement, training and modelling in fundamental human behaviour."

Children told parents dead 

Judge Henwood reported the panel being left "dumbfounded at the reasoning of the system" which moved children into state care.

It appeared to be "relatively easy" to make children state wards in the past, the report said, with some being taken away from their parents on "flimsy reasoning", or on request of a step-parent who did not want the child.

In some cases children were taken from family and falsely told their parents were dead. Some children were moved into homes with an environment the same, or much worse, than those they were removed from.

"Some of these foster families were, on the face of it, of high standing in the community, but behind closed doors there was neglect and cruelty."

Most people who spoke to the panel did not know the name of their social worker. Many rarely saw their social worker, and if they did it was in the presence of their foster carer. The few children who did report abuse were often ignored or told it was their own fault, the report said.

"The lack of effective oversight was the biggest failure of the state.

"The gap between policy and practice has to be confronted," the report said, adding that while policies against locking children up were in place, "the practice continued unabated".

There were race aspects to the problem as well, the panel found, with an over-representation of Maori in state care. Maori boys were "likely to be treated more harshly and put into care, especially institutions, more readily, and for more trivial reasons such as truancy", the report noted.

It was in such institutions that many Maori boys joined gangs to find "a sense of family".

"We were told that many gangs actually began in state institutions."

Darkl legacy 

The report concluded: "It has become clear to us that the neglect and abuse of children and the previously frequent practice of locking children up in institutions has contributed to a dark legacy of suffering and crime in this country."

Boys' homes "set up young people to align with a gang", the report said, which would lead to life-long allegiance, and "kept the individual in a criminal lifestyle".

"It was often reported to us by prisoners that they saw crime as retaliation for the way they had been treated in care."

While the recommendations section of the report was redacted, the panel urged a "whole of Government response" to deal with the legacy of abuse.

It called for more direct support and social investment, saying that helping families to stay together "could save many significant costs later". Foster families also needed better support.

An agreed strategy was needed to ensure the cultural needs of Maori children were met while they were in care, it said.

It was "crucial" the voices of children in care were listened to, the panel said.

An attitude of respect for children and their rights "needs to be fostered by Government through policy and public campaigns".

"Even now, New Zealand has no official 'duty of care' towards children written into its law."

The report also called for the settlement of historic claims "to occur as soon as possible".

- By Patrice Dougan of NZME News Service

Generation of children brutalised in state care won't get public apology | Stuff.co.nz

Generation of children brutalised in state care won't get public apology

FAIRFAX 

State care-givers used fists, feet, and weapons to attack children in a period between the early 1940s and 1990s, says the final report of the Confidential Listening and Assistance Service. 

The Government will not offer a formal public apology to all children who were in state care during a 50 year period of brutal abuse.

The final report of the Confidential Listening and Assistance Service has detailed the harrowing experiences of children at the hands of people who were meant to keep them safe.

The report, which heard evidence from more than 1100 people, is still under consideration by the Government.

The abuse detailed in the report covers foster homes, institutions, asylums, health camps and borstals from the early 1940s up to 1992. 

BEN CURRAN/ FAIRFAX NZ

Social Development Minister Anne Tolley is awaiting advice on the recommendations of the report, but says the Government will not be making a public apology. 

Social Development Minister Anne Tolley said it would inform a separate panel overseeing the overhaul of Child, Youth and Family. But asked if the Government would apologise to the children of these institutions, she said: "No".

"But I do acknowledge that some people in the care of government institutions were failed and let down badly, and that they still suffer the trauma from that experience.

"That is why we now have two processes in place to offer an apology and a financial settlement to claimants."

Judge Carolyn Henwood, who headed the panel that has been hearing grievances since 2008, said:  "Foster caregivers and extended families, social workers and staff, teachers, the clergy, cooks, gardeners, night watchmen,  even other children and patients, all took part in abuse.

"We heard of people using their fists and their feet, as well as weapons and other instruments on occasion, to attack children," she says in the report.

"When we asked people why they had come, they said they wanted to be heard, they wanted an apology and accountability, and they wanted to improve state care for children, for the next generation."

Even now, New Zealand had no official "duty of care" towards children written into its law, Henwood said.

READ MORE: 
* Payout for abuse victims 'deeply flawed'* MSD 'answerable to no one' in payout process, says lawyer

The report finds as many boys as girls suffered sexual abuse. In boys' homes, cell-like units were often used for prolonged isolation, while in girls' homes, "assumptions were made of promiscuity".

In foster care situations, the panel describes stories of mothers who were "street angels, house devils".

"There was often violence by the foster parents, beatings and housework and kitchen tasks, and verbal abuse. Lack of affection was almost standard," the report says.

"We heard many accounts of foster fathers who came in the child's bedroom at night to abuse that child, even when the bedroom was shared by other children."

Cabinet documents obtained show a backlog of 921 historic claims has built up. The Government is aiming to settle them by 2020.

To date, 307 payments have been made, totalling $5.78 million. It's understood that payouts vary between $6000 and $60,000.

Wellington lawyer Sonja Cooper,  who is acting for about 500 claimants, has renewed calls for a public inquiry into the abuse.

"We still have a number of ongoing concerns for children still in care – our youngest clients are teenagers still."

She said the panel had delivered on its terms "admirably".

"But we certainly have ongoing and grave concerns about MSD's commitment, and the Government's commitment to an ongoing and meaningful process of resolution. It needs to go outside of MSD."

The recommendations of the panel have been withheld, but it is understood the report recommends the Government appoint someone to be responsible, on behalf of the state, for the monitoring of children in care.

The Office of the Children's Commissioner is already mandated to monitor CYF, and will also be extending its monitoring to include non-government residential care services and foster care services.

PANEL MAKES 89 REFERRALS TO POLICE

Through the work of the panel, police have been able to connect alleged offenders to several victims and some prosecutions have followed, the report says.

A police spokesperson said the majority of referrals were for requests for information only.

"Often records could not be located or had been destroyed due to filing practices that existed at the time of investigation."

If victims wished to make a complaint, that was dealt with at a district level.

"It would be difficult to say how many of these complaints resulted in convictions as each complaint was sent to the appropriate district [where the victim was based] for further investigation.

"Police have been limited by old recording, filing and investigation techniques that are not the practice of today."

 - Stuff

Victim forced into electric shock ‘therapy’ after reporting sex assault in state care | Australia news | The Guardian

Victim forced into electric shock ‘therapy’ after reporting sex assault in state care

When a child sexual abuse victim reported to staff at the state-run home in charge of his care that he was being assaulted by another boy, he was forced to undergo electric shock “therapy” so severe that it burned his skin, a royal commission heard on Tuesday.

The psychologist who administered the treatment also gave evidence on Tuesday, telling the royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse that the shocks felt no stronger than flicking an elastic band against a wrist, and was only given to adults. But later the psychologist described the treatment as “quite severe”, and apologised.

Robert Cummings told the royal commission on Tuesday that he first entered state care at age 15 after being repeatedly beaten by his father and stepmother, and running away from home. 

He was moved through different state-care facilities, but was first abused and raped at Harrison House, a Methodist institution in Hawthorn, Victoria, the commission heard.

Over about seven weeks, the house manager, identified only as BGV, forced Cummings to dress up in women’s clothing before raping him, which was an almost daily occurrence, the commission heard. Cummings said there were no adults, apart from BGV’s wife, to report the abuse to.

He ran away and lived on the streets for two months, the commission heard, before being picked up by police and taken to Turana Youth training centre in Victoria, a home for children and juvenile offenders who had been made wards of the state. There, he was frequently punched and beaten by staff and other boys, he said.

“I was placed in a cell with an older boy, whose name I don’t recall,” Cummings said. 

“Within the first week, he sexually abused me while we were locked in the cell at night. I refused to perform oral sex on the boy, so he punched me until I agreed to do it.”

Cummings said that when he reported the incident to a senior officer at the home, the officer told him that the sexual abuse was “only happening because of your homosexuality”. 

Despite denying he was a homosexual and insisting that he had been sexually abused in his cell, and previously raped while at Harrison House, the officer told Cummings: “This is your fault, you need to be cured,” the commission heard.

Shortly after reporting the abuse, Cummings said two staff members “frogmarched me to Royal Park hospital”. 

“I was scared and didn’t know what was happening,” Cummings, now 60, told the commission. 

“When I arrived at the hospital, I recall the doctor saying words to me to the effect of ‘You’re here because you’re homosexual and we’re going to cure that with electric shock treatment’.” Cummings was 16 years old at the time, the commission heard.

Despite at no stage consenting to the treatment, Cummings said a letter obtained from the hospital written by Dr Douglas Hibbs to Dr Graham Mellsop stated that Cummings had requested the treatment because he did not want to stay a homosexual. 

Cummings said documents that he consented to the treatment, and that he was a homosexual, were false.

The treatment involved strapping electrodes to his ankles and showing him images of half-naked women and fully naked men, the commission heard. Cummings said every time a naked man was shown to him, he would also be given an electric shock.

“At times, I wasn’t ready for the electric shock, so when a picture of a naked man appeared and I wasn’t prepared, I was thrown off the chair,” Cummings said. 

“This session lasted about half an hour to 45 minutes and I remember being terrified and in pain the whole time. During the next two sessions, I spoke to the doctor because I was scared and didn’t want to receive the electric shocks anymore.

“I recall that I met with Hibbs again, where I told him that I didn’t want to receive electric shocks because I was scared and because I felt I was being punished.”

Instead, the strength of the shocks was increased, Cummings said, leaving his skin burned. 

“There were times when the burn marks on my ankles were weeping,” he said.

“Therefore, they had to use the other ankle.”

Cummings said word got back to other boys at Turana that he was being treated for homosexuality, prompting them to call him names and to gang-rape him. He attempted suicide in Turana twice, the commission heard.

The royal commission is investigating three Victorian state-run youth centres in its latest hearings.

Counsel assisting the commission, Penny Dwyer, said “significant efforts” had been made to contact Mellsop and Hibbs and to obtain their answers to questions from the commission. Both now reside in New Zealand, she said.

“It appears then that they have not made themeslves amenable to this jurisdiction,” Dwyer said. 

Thomas Verberne, the psychologist who administered the treatment to Cummings, appeared before the commission on Tuesday afternoon. Verberne said the treatment was known as aversion therapy, and that he had been the first to introduce it to Victoria after reading about its use in the US in a medical journal. 

He predominantly administered it to homosexuals who had been referred to him or who came to him of their own free will, Verberne told the commission, because at the time, homosexuality was still perceived by the medical profession as a disorder.

But it was only given to adults, Verberne said, adding that if anyone protested to the therapy he would have stopped it immediately. He did not recall treating Cummings, though he acknowledged documents presented to him by the commission which stated Cummings was referred to him.

One of the hospital documents presented to the commission by Dwyer wrongly referred to Cummings as being 18 years old at the time of treatment.

Verberne described this error as a “slip of the pen” by the referring doctor. He said he would have remembered if any patient was a child, or if they had been shocked so severely that they had fallen out of their chair or been burned, and that it was not possible to increase the strength of the shocks, which came from a battery.

“Look, may I explain the discomfort or pain ... the shock was quite comparable [to] if you have a rubber band around your wrist and you flick it,” he said.

“If anybody had of said, ‘Oh no, I can’t stand it,’ that would be the end of the session and the end of the treatment.”

But later in the cross-examination, Verberne described the treatment as “quite severe”.

No other staff were present in the room while he administered the electric shocks, Verberne said. He said he could not recall exactly why he discontinued the therapy as a form of treatment. 

“I can’t remember any discomfort or misgivings with the treatment, but after a relatively short time I gave it up,” Verberne said. “Why? That’s a question I have for myself but presumably it has something to do with not being very comfortable about it after all.”

It may have also have been stopped because the “trickle” of patients referred for the therapy dried up, he said.

Though he could not recall treating Cummings, Verbone apologised to him at the end of his cross-examination. 

“Robert, I’m very sorry about all the consequences of having been involved in the therapy that I gave you,” Verberne said to Cummings.

“Having heard Robert’s testimony, I feel very sorry he had reactions to it later on in life.” 

Had he foreseen these affects, Verberne said he would have never administered the treatment.

The treatment had severely affected Cummings’ interpersonal relationships, the commission heard.

“I found that in my early 20s, I was an angry and violent young man,” Cummings told the commission. 

“I developed a hatred for homosexuals and was picked up by police for assault and battery a few times, however, I was never charged. I deeply regret acting out at that time. I felt that the hatred I developed for homosexuals at the time was caused by the electro-shock sessions and the abuse I had suffered up to that point in my life.

“I am currently married, but I have poor intimacy abilities.

“Most times, I don’t enjoy having sex.”

Cummings said when he requested copies of his ward files from the Department of Human Services under the Freedom of Information Act, the documents had a lot of blanked-out information.

“I was told that this was to protect the identity of others,” Cummings said. “There was no further explanation provided.”

Cummings, who dedicated his life to social work following his abuse, called for better reporting mechanisms for children in care to ensure they felt protected and safe when reporting abuse, and said penalties should be increased for perpetrators. 

The statute of limitations on victims should also be removed, he said.

The hearings continue.

Twisted Sister - We're not gonna take it (With Lyrics)

Fake Hutt doctor Linda Astor releases murderous patient

Fake Hutt doctor Linda Astor releases murderous patient - 150 years of news | Stuff.co.nz

Fake Hutt doctor Linda Astor releases murderous patient - 150 years of news

SUPPLIED

Linda Astor after and before her sex change. The Polish-born fraudster was working as a psychiatrist at Hutt Hospital, probably under false credentials, when she freed a violent and suicidal patient who later killed his girlfriend.

A bogus doctor at Hutt Hospital released an insane and violent patient in 1996 who went on to commit a brutal killing.

In the months after Leslie Parr's killing of his girlfriend in Naenae, Lower Hutt, it emerged that the psychiatrist who signed him out was a Polish transsexual fraudster who had fled the country. Linda Astor did not even meet Parr at Hutt Hospital in April 1996 before removing a six-month compulsory treatment order, issued just nine days earlier by a court that decided he was too mentally disturbed to face an assault charge.

A year later, his girlfriend was horrifically slaughtered. "When Fiona Maulolo's two daughters approached their mother's Hutt Valley house on April 18, 1997, they would never have suspected what they would find," The Dominion reported.

A police photograph of Linda Astor at the time of her arrest on shoplifting charges in the United States in October 2001.

"The youngest of the two girls, then 10, entered the Wilkie Cres, Naenae, house to a nightmare – her mother's bloodstained, headless body in the bath. Her head, found by police later that day, was wrapped in a plastic bag in the clothes dryer.

"Maulolo died at the hands of schizophrenic boyfriend Leslie Raymond Parr, who had been released from compulsory psychiatric treatment a year earlier. Six days before the discovery of her body, Parr had repeatedly hammered a chisel into her heart, then severed her head with an axe."

In late 1996, Astor transferred to Nelson-Marlborough Health Services, but never returned from a conference in Paris the following June. The health service fired her as its clinical director of mental health and laid a complaint with police, who found drugs and sex hormones at her home.

Complaints began emerging about Astor's use of shock treatment and drugs at Hutt Hospital. The Medical Council insisted Polish authorities had confirmed her degree, but her work history increasingly appeared to have been fabricated.

"If there is no proof that she qualified as a psychiatrist, then every mental health patient in this country assigned to her care has been damaged," Alliance party leader Jim Anderton told The Evening Post.

Hutt Hospital never would have accepted murderer Parr if it had known his violent and suicidal history:  doctors believed he was subject to a more minor Mental Health Act order, a spokeswoman told the Post.

Staff also blamed an untrained Maori liaison officer for failing to pass on a plea for help from Parr's GP following his release. The liaison officer said the hospital paid him $8000 hush money after the tragedy.

A coroner's report published in 2002 damned the hospital, saying Parr was "radically rediagnosed" there.

The same year, Astor was deported from the United States after being caught shoplifting and having her criminal past discovered. She had been working at a substance abuse hospital and an adolescent welfare agency in New Hampshire and Vermont.

In 2004, a New Zealand television news crew tracked Astor down to a Polish hospital for the mentally insane where she was employed as a senior psychiatrist, after again falsifying her employment history.

"Bogus psychiatrist Linda Astor, whose incompetence led to a brutal psychotic killing, is once again fooling authorities and looking after the mentally ill," The Dominion Post said.

"She resigned the next day and has since disappeared."

GET THE BOOK

The Dominion Post – 150 Years of News is available via dompost.co.nz or 0800 50 50 90. Priced at $34.95 + $3 postage and handling or $29.95 + $3 p&h for subscribers.

 - Stuff

ECT video

Jim Marbrook: Mental Notes 29-3-12 Radio Wammo Show

A year as a mental health advocate at South London and Maudsley Hospital...

DOCTORS OR CRIMINALS

Hi I have just come upon this site and I feel that I would like to tell my story. I know Steve Taylor, and he is a smart and compassionate person. I am thankful that he has given a space for people to speak of the nightmare that involvement with the mental health system often brings to individuals, families and loved ones. My mother went to the doctor five years ago with a slight tremor in her hand worried that it was Parkinsons Disease. She was was told it wasn’t Parkinsons but anxiety although she did not feel anxious in the slightest. She was prescribed an antidepressant and started vomiting after her first pill. Her doctor decided to try on another antidepressant and another until 8 months later after 8 antidepressants and going out of her mind with akathesia she attempted to commit suicide by cutting her wrists and throwing herself off a cliff. She survived ( unfortunately for her).She was then after multiple operations placed under the Mental Health Act and given multiple antipsychotics, lithium and eventually ECT. I was with her at many ‘family meetings’ where she pleaded to not have to take any more pills. The psychiatrists ignored my mum and me, and when we went before the judge he took the ‘expert opinion’ of her psychiatrist and her colleague who it was very obvious would never disagree with her colleagues ‘professionial opinion”.The pain and suffering that my mother has suffered has been incalculable. It has destroyed her, and everyone that loves her. A year ago the doctors told us that my beautiful mum has only a short time to live as they now realise that my mother has been suffering from end stage Parkinsons all along.My mum was told in the beginning that she definately didn’t have Parkinsons, and was prescribed anti psychotics that are highly dangerous to anyone that there is a possibilty that that they may have Parkinsons.I witnessed the development of drug induced Parkinsonism first hand.
I have fought the psychiatric community for 5 years. I slept overnight in my mums room when they have sent her to psychiatric hospitals at 70 years of age to protect her. I have just now left my beautiful mum, as I do everyday, with her pleading with me to help her, pleading come off the pills. She now can hardly walk, is completely incontinent ,can’t read, watch television, and cries all the time. And I still battle with the medical profession. They have destroyed her. I am thankful to Steve for having a place to speak of the ongoing nightmare we have experienced in the medical profession.

NZ GOVERNMENT IGNORES UN COMMITTEE OVER ACC

Acclaim Otago (Inc)

PRESS RELEASE 16 JUNE 2015

For Immediate Release: 

Government ignores UN Committee

Acclaim Otago is disappointed, yet unsurprised, that the Government has again missed an opportunity to reform ACC with a human rights focus.

“The Government missed the point when we first reported in 2010, it missed the point last year in Geneva, and it has missed the point again today with this response.” Says Dr Denise Powell, spokesperson for Acclaim Otago.

The Government holds itself out as a world leader on human rights, but it has explicitly stated it will ignore the UN’s recommendations about ACC. Acclaim Otago anticipated this would be the case when it sought a recommendation for an ACC Commissioner.  

“New Zealand has international obligations: the UN Committee examined ACC and it has been found wanting. The Government has simply ignored that,” says Mr Warren Forster, Barrister, of Dunedin who co-authored Acclaim’s reports to the United Nations.

Mr Forster continues, “As we told the UN, we think the significant income the government gets from ACC presents a conflict of interest. Human rights cost money and the government publicly accepts it wants that money to get to surplus.”

The United Nations told the New Zealand government in October to assess ACC to ensure that its processes pay respect to human rights. By rejecting that recommendation, the government rejects the core principle of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, a convention, which it helped to draft.

“For the government to dismiss human rights out of hand is heartbreaking” says Dr Powell. “This will send a particularly negative message to the Accident Compensation Corporation about the Government’s priorities.”

Background

In February 2014, Acclaim Otago analysed the ACC system from a Human Rights focus and produced an interim report for the United Nations to consider in drafting the list of issues for New Zealand. The interim report is available here: 

Acclaim’s interim report to United Nations Committee

In April 2014, in response to Acclaim Otago’s Interim Report, the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, the United Nations specifically asked the New Zealand Government in the list of issues:

14: Please explain whether New Zealand law provides access to justice for persons with disabilities engaged in the statutory dispute resolution process with regard to adequate funding, procedural fairness and reliable evidentiary procedures under New Zealand’s Accident Compensation scheme.

The Government responded explaining that it had a system of legal aid and review costs. 

Reply to the issues raised in paragraph 14 of the list of issues

70. The accident compensation scheme is delivered by the Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) and provides comprehensive, no-fault personal injury cover for everyone in New Zealand, including overseas visitors. Individuals forego the right to sue for compensatory damages following injury, in return for receiving personal injury cover.

71. Dispute resolution is provided for under the statutory framework (part 5 of the Accident Compensation Act 2001) and this provides access for all people who wish to apply for a review of a decision made by ACC, including persons with disabilities.

72. When a review application is received by ACC, it is forwarded to the ACC unit that made the disputed decision for an internal review. ACC considers whether the decision issued was appropriate, including whether new information needs to be considered. If the dispute is not resolved, the unit will forward the application to an independent external organisation for a review. That organisation will determine, with the applicant, whether an alternative dispute resolution method such as mediation or facilitation is appropriate or whether an independent review hearing conducted by a reviewer should be held.

Funding

73. There is no charge to a client in applying for a review or any other alternative dispute resolution process,. These costs are met by ACC. In addition, clients who have disputes heard at review are usually awarded costs for example, to assist with the costs of advocates or support persons. Regulations set out the prescribed maximum amounts for costs and expenses on review. (the Injury Prevention, Rehabilitation and Compensation (Review Costs and Appeals) Regulations 2002) In summary, costs can be awarded for case preparation, reports, and other expenses incurred, including transport. Legal aid is also available in some cases.

74. The reviewer must award costs and expenses to the applicant if the review decision

is fully or partly in favour of the applicant, and may award costs and expenses if the

reviewer considers the applicant acted reasonably in bringing the review.

 Procedural fairness

75. The Accident Compensation Act 2001 (the AC Act) sets out general principles for

the conduct of the reviewer. The reviewer must:

• Act independently and disclose previous involvement;

• Comply with the Accident Compensation Act 2001;

• Comply with the principles of natural justice;

• Exercise due diligence in decision-making;

• Adopt an investigative approach while conducting the review in an informal, timely,

and practical manner.

76. In making a decision, the reviewer must look at the matter afresh based on the

information provided at the review, setting aside ACC policy and procedures, and decide

the matter only on the basis of its substantive merits under the Accident Compensation Act

2001.

77. An applicant who is dissatisfied with the outcome of the review can appeal the

decision to the District Court. Questions of law can be appealed to the High Court and then

to the Court of Appeal.

 Evidence

78. Each of the parties to the dispute can provide evidence to support their position,

including evidence that was not available at the time the ACC decision was made. The

reviewer can request additional information to assist their decision-making at ACC’s cost

for example, an additional medical opinion.

 Accident Compensation Appeal Tribunal

79. In April 2014, the New Zealand Government considered legislative changes to

enhance courts and tribunals, including replacing the District Court jurisdiction for ACC

appeals with a new Accident Compensation Appeal Tribunal. The new Tribunal would

provide quicker decisions while still maintaining a fair process. The proposed Tribunal is

intended to be accessible, efficient and affordable for all users, including disabled persons.

The proposed introduction of a Chair to oversee and lead the Tribunal’s operation is

designed to ensure consistent, fair and quality decision making processes.

The United Nations Committee then received a shadow report from Acclaim Otago and a survey analysis providing the voices of hundreds of people with disabilities. The shadow report is available here:

Acclaim’s Shadow Report to the United Nations

The survey data is available here:

Acclaim’s Survey Data for United Nations

At the United Nations in Geneva in September 2014, Acclaim Otago presented its key findings and asked the committee to make recommendations to the Government, the Government for its part admitted that it could do better in relation to ACC. The UN did not accept New Zealand’s claims and recommended that New Zealand deals with the access to justice problems and human rights. 

The United Nations Committee recommended in its concluding observations that:

Access to justice (art. 13) 

1. The Committee notes that, in New Zealand, persons who acquire a disability through injury only have recourse to compensation via the Accident Compensation Corporation. The Committee notes that persons who have suffered injuries are concerned over the lack of access to justice to pursue their claims. There is concern about the limited amount of legal aid funding that is available and about the discretionary basis upon which legal costs are awarded. There is also concern that the Accident Compensation Corporation machinery lacks a human rights focus.
2. The Committee recommends that the State party examine the processes for the assessing of compensation by the Accident Compensation Corporation to ensure that adequate legal aid is available and that its processes are fully accessible to all claimants, and finally to ensure that this mechanism has a human rights focus.

1. The Committee notes that the Government is considering the establishment of an accident compensation tribunal to replace appeals to the District Court. The Committee is concerned that there has been insufficient consultation with persons who have acquired disabilities through injury, and with their representative organizations, about the establishment and operation of this tribunal.
2. The Committee recommends that organizations representing persons with disabilities be consulted about the proposal to establish an accident compensation tribunal. The Committee also recommends that the tribunal adopt a flexible approach to the admission of evidence, and that those who lack the means should be given adequate legal aid to ensure full access to the tribunal.

1. The Committee is concerned that no specific training of judges by the Institute of Judicial Studies has been given either on the Convention or on the requirement that justice be accessible to all persons with disabilities, including those with intellectual and those with psychosocial disabilities. 
2. The Committee recommends that the Institute of Judicial Studies, in conjunction with disabled persons’ organizations, run training programmes on the Convention and on the rights of persons with disabilities who come before New Zealand courts and tribunals.

The Government’s response to the United Nations issued today was:

12. The Committee recommends that the State party examine the processes for the assessing of compensation by the Accident Compensation Corporation to ensure that adequate legal aid is available and that its processes are fully accessible to all claimants, and finally to ensure that this mechanism has a human rights focus (refer paragraph 24).

This recommendation is accepted to the extent that legal aid is available to all persons who cannot afford a lawyer and are seeking to challenge, through a review, court or tribunal, a decision made by the Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC). Subject to other Government priorities, consideration will be given to a review of regulations governing costs/expenses for review hearings.

13. The Committee recommends that organizations representing persons with disabilities be consulted about the proposal to establish an accident compensation tribunal. The Committee also recommends that the tribunal adopt a flexible approach to the admission of evidence, and that those who lack the means should be given adequate legal aid to ensure full access to the tribunal (refer paragraph 26).

There will be an opportunity for submissions on the proposal to establish an Accident Compensation Appeal Tribunal, and its procedures. Within the broader tribunals reform process, it is considered that full, robust and effective consultation with stakeholders could be achieved.

NZ GOVT COMPO OFFER A KICK IN THE GUTS FOR ABUSE VICTIM

The Gisborne man says he has suffered from stress and depression from the effects of his suffering over 25 years. File photo / NZ Herald

A man abused as a ward of the state 25 years ago is incensed about the $12,000 compensation offer made to him, and the process used by the Ministry of Social Development.

The 40-year-old Gisborne man has been dealing with the ministry's historic claims resolution process for the past five years and has gone into their fast-track process, which began late last month.

Upon settlement, claimants receive prompt financial payment and a letter of apology.

The man said the $12,000 offer worked out to be the equivalent of $480 a year over the past 25 years.

"Do you know how that makes me feel? It's a kick in the guts," he said as he struggled to hold back tears.

"I received a [fast track] letter dated May 29 and I have a month to make up my mind.

"Where's the justice?"

He had suffered from stress and depression from the effects of his suffering over 25 years, he said.

The anguish had led him to make bad decisions in his life.

He has a legal document that shows a Family Court judge in Hawke's Bay sentenced him into care in what he says was a breach of the Children, Young Persons and Their Families Act by bypassing a family group conference.

He has other issues with the ministry.

His own son was abused while in state care in 2010 and 2011, he says.

As a result, his son ran away with two other abused victims.

But against family wishes, he had been placed back in the same institution.

"There was no investigation. My son was victimised.

"I don't want my son to go through the same crap as me, so that he has to go through an historic claims process in 25 years."

He has no confidence in the ministry.

The man said he did not consider the offer to be genuine compensation.

He did not want to accept the offer but he had a large family to support.

"I want that $12,000 ... but I don't want it."

The ministry has received 1572 claims since 2004 and 583 have been resolved, with payouts totalling $8.4 million.

The average time taken to resolve a claim is 27 months, while 207 claims have been in the system for more than five years. There are 862 people eligible for the faster settlement process.

The Confidential Listening and Assistance Service has provided support services to more than 700 people as part of the historic claims process.

Close to $1.9 million in funding over two years will enable the ministry to support the service.

The Government aims to settle all historic claims by 2020 for those who came into state care before December 31, 1992.

The man said the Confidential Listening and Assistance Service was too close to the Ministry and lacked independence.

He has declined to be represented by Cooper Legal, a law firm representing hundreds of people abused as children in Social Welfare care.

Sonja Cooper, principal of Cooper Legal, said hundreds of claimants were subject to settlement processes that were inconsistent, biased and harmful to the wellbeing of the people they are intended to serve.

"The historic claims team does not have the statutory powers of the UK Inquiry," she said.

"It is not independent or impartial, and turns a blind eye to what was, and remains, a system where children were subjected to systemic physical and sexual abuse."

Ms Cooper said historic claims team interviewers were telling abuse victims that they believed the victims' accounts of physical or sexual abuse - only for the Ministry to write to the victim later and tell them that their allegations of abuse were not accepted.

"It is hard for a victim to accept that one part of Government can apologise for abuse perpetrated on them, and another part of Government denies that it ever happened," said Ms Cooper.

by Gisborne Herald staff  10/6/2015

ACC TO RETHINK ABUSE LINK

A judge has ruled in favour of an ACC claimant in a case expected to have "enormous" ramifications for the way mental health patients are treated.

In the decision, released recently, Judge Grant Powell in the Wellington District Court agreed with a psychiatrist who said a man's schizophrenia had been caused by trauma from sexual abuse in childhood.

Two ACC-employed psychiatrists had earlier said there was no evidence schizophrenia was anything other than a biological condition passed down through families and so the man's abuse had nothing to do with his condition.

However, the judge agreed with a growing body of research that says traumatic events can cause psychosis.

The research includes the work of clinical psychologist John Read, who has been at the forefront of research to show a relationship between childhood sexual and physical abuse and psychotic symptoms, including schizophrenia.

Read said the ramifications of the decision were "enormous".

"It is gratifying that years of research on this issue is impacting the judicial system. These rulings will also make it harder for psychiatrists to ignore disclosures of sexual abuse by severely disturbed patients, or to dismiss them as either irrelevant or imagined.

"This is a significant victory for all those patients and researchers who have been saying for many years that the experiences which biological psychiatry believes are symptoms of a brain disease called schizophrenia are best understood as responses to adverse life events.

"Very often the voices abused people hear are the actual voices of the perpetrator of the abuse."

Read said it was "alarming" that the two ACC psychiatrists "either knew nothing about the many studies documenting the relationship between child abuse and psychosis or were trying to mislead the judge".

The man referred to in the finding had been covered by ACC for his history of sexual abuse but it was schizophrenia that had stopped him from working. He had sought to gain an independence allowance from ACC in December 2010. An independence allowance covers people who are permanently impaired as a result of an injury. The maximum weekly allowance is $84.97.

In 2011, ACC decided it would not cover the allowance because it said his schizophrenia was not linked to his covered injury - a significant history of sexual abuse between five and 13.

He was assessed by a psychiatrist who prepared three reports but concluded sexual abuse "is not likely to be the material cause of the current condition. There is no evidence of sexual abuse as an etiological factor [cause] in schizophrenia."

His claim was declined and despite an appeal and subsequent reviews it was again found his incapacity related to his schizophrenia, which ACC said was a health issue unrelated to the sexual abuse.

After another appeal, psychiatrist David Codyre provided a report that completely disagreed with the previous psychiatrists.

"With due respect to my colleagues who undertook the prior psychiatric reports . . . their opinion that sexual abuse is not causally related to schizophrenia is not evidence based."

Judge Powell said ultimately he found Codyre's analysis "a more compelling and inherently more credible cause of the appellant's schizophrenia".

Read said the finding would reduce the frequency with which psychiatrists dismissed abuse disclosures as irrelevant or imagined and increased the probability of people being offered trauma-based psychological therapy instead of anti-psychotic medication.

New Zealand Association of Psychotherapists public issues spokesman Kyle MacDonald said the judgement was encouraging and could mean entitlements for many other people.

"The reality is there a lot of people who would be in the mental health system who would have a diagnosis of a psychotic disorder who may now be entitled to access some treatment under the ACC.

"For a long time there has been a mindset of how schizophrenia and psychotic disorders are treated, which is that it is a biological disorder which needs to be medicated and managed.

"The reality is that actually these people are underserviced in terms of therapy and psychological intervention. This is a way to get people more therapy and more psychological help."

ACC said it would consider whether this decision "has any wider impact" but took the view it would have "limited" value as a precedent and it would "continue to carefully consider each person's unique situation and circumstances".

- Sunday Star Times  by Sarah Harvey  8/12/2013