New Zealand is in an uproar over a website that is naming and shaming employees that work for Child, Youth and Family Services.

The blog which has about 54 posts based on emails this month is run anonymously; a whistle blowing, complaint site of sorts. Heartbreaking and angry stories are pouring in from all over the country. The level of frustration is high. New Zealand currently doesn’t have an independent review board for complaints regarding children in government care. Workers are being named.

Strenuous attempts are being made by The Ministry of Social Development to shut CYFSWATCH down, so feel free to cut and paste any information of interest to your own computer if you wish.

That may be an understatement. Even The New Zealand Herald can’t link.

The site, which gives the email address of another social worker and describes the personal appearance of several others in derogatory terms, has attracted a storm of protest from the Social Workers’ Association, the Social Workers Registration Board and the Public Service Association.

Ministry of Social Development chief executive Peter Hughes has instructed lawyers to “do whatever is necessary to get rid of this website”.

According to a press release on Scoop NZ, only one of the workers named is certified as a social worker.  The blogger(s) is not a former disgruntled parent as the media has suggested and says feedback is about 5 percent negative and 95 percent positive.

Aardvark Daily
Section 14