An Uncle of a niece has been protesting outside ‘Child, Youth & Family Services’ (CYFS) for years, trying to find a way to bring her back to the family. His sister had hooked up with a man who had a negative past and CYFS took her child from her. The man then told the extended family it would be in the family’s interest to stay away from the first ‘Family Group Conference’ (FGC) and so they didn’t attend. From that moment on, CYFS excluded the extended family and when they pushed to see their niece, grandchild, great grandchild etc, they were place on supervised access for 7 years.

The uncle [name suppressed so case can’t be identified] decided to become a qualified CYFS social worker so he could understand how things work and what they could do as a family. His family is the first family to attend the ‘Chief Advisory Panel’ which was setup a year ago for CYFS complainants. To get there, you must be invited by the CYFS CEO which was not given to his family until the CEO received around 300 complaints and protesting outside CYFS building.

Recommendations were made by the Chief Advisory Panel that CYFS failed to uphold within 2 weeks and so the uncle is back out protesting yet now he’s hooked up with others around the country and it’s become much bigger as families unite.

CYFS don’t like it and are trying to force him off the frontline by firstly saying he is breaching an agreement and the police are willing to arrest him for it, and secondly the police have said they don’t care if they get it wrong, they’ll just arrest him for harassment.

It’s unbelievable to see so much corruption in a country that’s supposed to pride itself on democracy. And especially when it comes to families with children. But it’s not over by a long shot for the protesters have paid a lawyer to write up something we all can use when faced with police bullying on behalf of CYFS. I will post a link as soon as possible.

Proof through email….

The Police and CYF do not wish to impinge on your right to protest peacefully. It is our belief however that these protests have escalated to be a form of harassment fitting within the definition of Part 3 of the Harassment Act 1997. I have a responsibility within my role to ensure that we are taking appropriate steps to protect our staff from this, and I support the approach currently being taken.

Yours Truly,

JOHN HENDERSON
Southern Regional Director
Child Youth and Family