Today, Monday December 16, an open letter has been presented to the government. FASD-CAN is one of over 20 organisations expressing deep concern about the Oranga Tamariki (Responding to Serious Youth Offending) Amendment Bill.

We believe this Bill will, among other things "...criminalise children, incarcerate more of them in prisons, and keep them there for longer. It will also endorse the use of militarised methodologies on children." 

"To be clear, the Bill is establishing a new, harsher, mechanism within legislation which will allow for more of our most vulnerable children to be imprisoned. This Bill will result in more children incarcerated for longer, risking further institutionalisation, trauma and harm. It also creates a very real risk of repeating mistakes of the past which have been so harrowingly outlined in The Royal Commission's report into Abuse in State Care."

The letter calls upon the government to engage with the community, with hapu and iwi to seek further advice and expertise from the sector and wider community so that together we can tackle both the real causes and consequences of child offending.

Punitive measures promoted by this Bill for youth offending do not take into account the deeper reasons behind youth offending: neurodiversity, trauma and poverty among them. So we say to the government, "Our kids need boots, not boot camps this Christmas."

Please click here to read the open letter, and share widely.