Te Tiriti o Waitangi is to protect both Māori and non-Māori.
This post is to honour a father who lost almost everything in his pursuit to protect his children from harm and to ensure they accessed quality education because he loved them
This post is to honour all fathers who are denied their right to be a father simply because they are men.
New Zealand is a nation that is like a pendulum. We move between polar opposites. We can't seem to find balance.
In days gone by, women were once unprotected and abused. Men had all the rights.
Today, men are often unprotected and abused. Women have all the rights.
Then Johnny Depp versus Amber Heard happened.
Keep that in your mind as your read this post because the father involved in this case was stereotyped and wrongly judged and penalised simply because he was a loving father who demanded that the State protect his children from harm and that schools provide his children with quality education.
THE CASE OF A FATHER THAT LOVED HIS CHILDREN
In 2012, the father's life was on track.
He was a law-abiding citizen successful businessman and worked hard.
He owned a business and home freehold.
He was a happy, friendly and likeable person.
He had a clean police record with no criminal convictions
He was a caring and loving father who actively participated in his children's learning as he valued education and wanted them to succeed.
His world came crashing down
On 1 January 2013, the Organised Financial Crime Agency New Zealand (OFCANZ) and the NZ Police started Operation Phantom. OFCANZ has the involvement of the Prime Minister's Office and all agencies of the Crown.
Operation Phantom was a covert operation investigating Thai and Vietnamese manufacture, importation and supply of Class A drugs. Firearms were involved. It was a joint operation with the NZ Police and OFCANZ, with the involvement of the Prime Minister's Office and several agencies of the Crown, including NZ customs.
The criminals involved were imprisoned for the manufacturing and supply of methamphetamine in 2018
Operation Phantom versus the father and the children
The father became involved in Operation Phantom when he discovered that his ex-wife was intimate with one of the convicted criminals in 2012
The father's children were in the custody of his ex-wife whilst she was in a relationship with the criminal from 2012.
The children were aged 11 and 4 in 2012.
The criminal lived with the children
Whilst under the surveillance of the Police and OFCANZ from 2012 to 2015, his children were exposed to criminals, drug-taking, drug dealing, drug manufacturing and firearms
Father's suspicion led to his investigation
In 2012 the father became suspicious when his ex-wife was driving an expensive European car beyond her means, and his children moved from their home and did not want him to know where they had moved.
The father financed a private investigator who was an ex-police detective.
The father also conducted his investigation using his connections overseas.
They gathered evidence of criminal activity. This included a Police Dossier of the known criminal. He had drug convictions for manufacture and supply of Class A drugs, been imprisoned
The Police had evidence of offending to get two search warrants
The Police executed their first search warrant in 2014
The criminal was charged and released on bail
The criminal breached bail to live with the ex-wife and children
The criminal was arrested by Police for breaching bail. The children were exposed to that
In 2015, the Police executed a second search warrant at the children’s home in the evening when the children were home from school. The children were exposed to that
During the execution, several Police officers rammed down the front door dressed in protective clothing with guns shouting. Helicopters flew above the house, and an ambulance was parked nearby.
A Detective made a statement following the bust in 2015. He described the women and children as "huddled together crying."
The children remained at risk of harm for 518 days from the first bust in 2014, to the second bust in 2015
The ex-wife was implicated in criminal activity as she rented the properties used by the criminals to conduct illegal activity.
She also benefited from the proceeds of crime.
She owned cars and cash that were seized under the Proceeds of Crime's Act 1991.
Yet, she was not charged and the Family Court with the support of Oranga Tamariki social workers and the Lawyer for the Children allowed her to have custody of the children.
There is evidence that the ex-wife and children continued to have contact with the associates of the criminals following the busts.
THEY KNEW
The Police informed Oranga Tamariki of the impending execution of the search warrant a few days before the bust in 2015.
Oranga Tamariki held meetings to plan for the uplift and placement of his children and to secure funding for the plan.
Yet, when the father applied for the children to be removed from his ex-wife's custody into the care of respected wider family members and his children's surrogate grandparents.
His application was denied thereby allowing the children to be exposed to impending harm - exposure to the execution of the search warrant
THE FATHER DID THE RIGHT THING
The father was the only person trying to protect his children from drug dealers with a history of possession of firearms.
The father financed his investigation. He employed a private investigator, an ex-police detective
The father informed professionals tasked to protect his children
The father shared all his evidence with the Police, Family Court, Lawyer for the Children, Oranga Tamariki social workers
The father made applications to Family Court
He defended himself in Family Court hearings. Initially, employing lawyers to represent him.
The legal costs became excessive. He could not afford the cost of lawyers, and was refused Legal aid funding, so he had to self-represent.
The father informed the Police that he had concerns for the children
The Police did a “safety check” and deemed the children safe.
The Police then trespassed the father for being a nuisance for raising far too many complaints
The Police opposed the father's application for his security licence in 2018.
He had to go to Court to appeal their interference
He self-represented and won his appeal.
The father made Reports of Concern to Oranga Tamariki
Oranga Tamariki social workers and a court-appointed psychologist, deemed that the children were safe with the criminal because the children believed that they were safe
CONSIDER THE IMPACT ON THE CHILDREN
The children's trauma negatively impacted their education
It is well-documented that children who suffer from trauma struggle to learn as their learning receptors turn off, and they go into flight, freeze, and fight mode. Court-appointed psychologists identified his children as being hypervigilant.
The father informed schools of what his children had been exposed to.
He raised concerns about their education. He told them that his children were struggling with literacy and numeracy.
The schools refused to seek learning support for his children.
The father came to me to work with him to get his youngest child access to education. His youngest son was in high school. He was working well- below expectations in both literacy and numeracy and had been since primary school.
Despite, the father's repeated requests for learning support for his child, the school did not refer the child to learning support such as Resource Teachers of Learning and Behaviour (RTLB) and Resource Teacher of Literacy (RT-Lit).
Consequently, the learning gap became larger and the child struggled to do his work.
I also found evidence of falsifying assessments to make him appear that he was working at expectation with a letter from the principal of the primary school stating the child was working at expectation.
The child was not. The child was struggling with his literacy and that impacted all curriculum areas.
The children were denied quality education by the individual and collective actions of professionals across multiple agencies
IMPACT
The collective and individual actions of the Police, Oranga Tamariki and the Courts caused the following long-term harm:
- Ongoing psychological damage (trauma) to the father and his children
- Physical injury (poor health outcomes - diabetes) to the father and his children
- Loss of earnings to the father and his children
- Loss of his house and businesses
- Financial hardship to the father and his children
- Discredited the honour. dignity and reputation of the father
- They breached his rights under the United Nations Convention on Human Rights
FATHER'S RESPONSIBILITY
The father saw it as his responsibility as a father to protect his children from harm, ensure their safety and ensure they had access to education so that they could thrive, flourish, learn and reach their full potential
The State did not support him in that
COMMENTARY
Both the State and his children's schools failed his children because they refused to listen to the father because they had "labelled" him as though he was a "perpetrator" when he was not.
The professionals refused to look at the evidence before them. Conscious bias, confirmation bias and willful ignorance by professionals combined with flagrant disregard for their statutory, legal and professional obligations and responsibilities.
We have laws, best practices, policies, standards and ethical guidelines to protect us and keep us safe. Failure to do so will cause significant emotional, physical and financial harm to all involved.
That is what happened to this father and his children by professionals and public servants working for and with the State.
The fallout for the family was devastating.
The tragedy is that the harm was preventable.
The children had the involvement of multiple agencies and they were made wards of the Court in 2016 to protect them. They should have done that in 2012.
Yet it was the father who relentlessly pursued the protection of his children. He financed his personal investigation and legal costs. He had some wins in Court but it took a toll on his physical and mental wellness. He lost his house and businesses. His credibility, honour and dignity. He was alienated from his children and wider family.
All due to the failure of professionals to do the jobs they are paid to do. Failure of a duty of care, incompetence and negligence. Their actions were done intentionally as they were fully informed.
Harm could have and should have been averted because all the key professionals - the Police, Lawyer for the children, Oranga Tamariki social workers, Court appointed psychologists, Family Court judges, schools and teachers KNEW and most of them did NOTHING to get the children to safety and to give them access to quality education.
Sadly, far too many fathers are disregarded and ignored simply because they are men, especially in Family Courts in NZ.
Here in New Zealand, Family Courts are closed to all to "protect" the child.
Through my work with whanau, I have discovered that our "closed" Family Courts "protect" the professionals working in the Family Court including Family Court judges, Family Court lawyers, Lawyers for the children, Oranga Tamariki social workers.
Closed Family Courts in reality "protect" the actions of far too many professionals and I suspect allow many of those professionals to "milk the system". To clarify, many professionals get paid for poor performance and for not doing what they are paid to do.
The father and his children are non-Māori.
The State also harms non-Māori. I suspect this is increasing.
Te Tiriti o Waitangi is to protect both Māori and non-Māori.
Te Tiriti o Waitangi only protects a select few - and that is NOT what our ancestors wanted.
I believe that they wanted all people to be safe and to work together to make this country safe. Together as in united.
Now we have division. Māori versus non-Māori. Fathers versus mothers. Able-bodied versus Disabled. Power versus powerless.
Polar opposites fighting for a limited pool of resources and money. "Dog eat dog" mentality.
Let the one who holds all the knowledge,
hold the power
He and his children were denied protection under the Care of Children Amendment Act 2014.
They were denied their Human Rights
Many of the professionals involved continue to be employed and paid whilst the father has limited job opportunities.
The father is now a very vocal advocate. Supporting others to navigate the Family Courts and fighting for Families 4 Justice.
He mops up the carnage caused by the State for their poor performance and often their incompetence and negligence.
Today we "celebrate" Waitangi Day yet.....this happens to far too many by a select few
Unfortunately, the select few hold all the power
And they use that power to cause significant harm to us, the people
Both Māori and non-Māori.
LINKS
NZ Herald article about this case
Research: Children exposed to methamphetamine use and manufacture
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