Physical abuse of children tends to capture the headlines, but Children's Commissioner John Angus is just as concerned about the emotional harm wrought on children growing up in violent and abusive families.
Mr Angus (62) will finish as commissioner on June 30 and says although there have been many "gains" in the way New Zealand deals with children's issues, he still has concerns about how we respond to children's needs in family violence situations.
"There's a whole lot of children in families where the things their parents do mean that they get harmed in some way. That harm is like collateral damage as the result of the fights, or the violence or the ill-health of the parents, and the kids just get caught up in it.
"It's not necessarily directed at the children but they suffer, physically and emotionally, through their needs being neglected because the parents' needs are taking priority.
"And those are all the kids who are in families where the parents abuse each other and fight, so the kids are anxious all the time, terrified some of the time, uncertain a lot of the time.
"They're households where parents misuse alcohol and drugs so the kids are growing up in an environment where their parents are 'out of it' sometimes, so can't give them the attention they need, or their parents' responses are unpredictable, which is a very quick way to screw a kid up emotionally."
Some were in situations where parents suffered from mental ill-health, were severely depressed, and could not meet the emotional needs of children.
Often that was exacerbated by poverty and material hardship, Mr Angus said.
"I think we're only just starting to think about how we respond and deal with the situation of those parents and only starting to think now about the children in family violence situations."
Obviously, Child, Youth and Family sometimes needed to intervene for the safety and health of the child, he said.
"When you stand back and look at what goes on, it's uncles and aunts and grandparents who are often the first to step in, and often that's the best response within a family that can be made.
"There's, by my guess, about twice as many grandparents looking after children as CYF."
Government benefits supported family members who were caring for those children.
"They are providing that care for reasons that are very similar to the sorts of reasons CYF steps in and takes children away out of houses - emotional abuse and a lot of that neglect as a result of drug and alcohol abuse."
Despite those concerns, his time as children's commissioner had been uplifting rather than depressing, he said.
"Some of the best experiences I've had have been in small communities, just visiting and seeing what goes on. For example, visiting the schools in Cromwell and seeing particularly how kids from 5-year-olds to 10- or 11-year-olds were involved in the running of the schools, so they were part of the decisions that were being made.
"They weren't like empty vessels the teachers tipped knowledge into, they were actually part of the school community and helped make decisions about quite important things like how to deal with kids' behaviour that was hard to manage at school."
Another highlight was that children's issues were much more on the agenda of major political parties than they were at the time of the last election - "they've got children in their sights and I think that can only be good".
He was impressed that the "People" section of the new Auckland council's draft plan had children and young people's interests as its first priority.
"We'd advocated hard that the restructuring in Auckland was a good opportunity to put in place processes and structures so that children's interests would be taken account of and given a bit of weight."
His background includes being a social worker and then spending almost 30 years leading social policy on child support, the care and protection of children and support for vulnerable families.
His involvement in the wellbeing of children will continue after he leaves the role of children's commissioner.
"I'm on an advisory committee about artificial reproductive technology - test tube babies - which is fascinating, and that will take me to Wellington five or six times a year. It provides guidelines for policy.
"And I'm also on a national philanthropic trust focusing on children, so that will be interesting too."
Some of his new-found leisure time will be devoted to following the fortunes of the All Blacks in the Rugby World Cup.
He had booked in for all the games in Christchurch, so will instead be travelling to Dunedin, Nelson, Wellington and Auckland.
As he is a keen photographer, plans to buy a new camera are also on the agenda.
Mr Angus paid tribute to his wife, Sally, who had been left "holding the fort" at their Lowburn home for the past two years.
Hawkes Bay paediatrician Dr Russell Wills will take over the role of children's commissioner, working on a part-time basis while continuing his work as a paediatrician.
Announcing the new appointment earlier this month, Minister of Social Development Paula Bennett thanked Mr Angus for his "unfailing commitment". He had been a passionate advocate for the rights of children and had given 100% to the role, she said
Children first
The role of the children's commissioner:
• Promoting the rights, health, welfare and well-being of children up to the age of 18.
• Monitoring the activities of Child, Youth and Family
• Investigating issues relating to health, safety or well-being of children and young people.
• The commissioner is independent of government.
John Angus on ...
The job:
"This job came to me unexpectedly and as a bit of a gift. It's proved a very satisfying way to finish the career I've had working in the child policy and social work field."
Frustrations?
"I'm not sure that I've been able to get across what I think is an important message about children and that is: that children are citizens in this country in their own right, as well as members of families. They're not just junior members of families and pupils at school there to be acted on rather than treated as individuals."
The fuss over taxpayers footing the bill for his travel expenses:
"It was something for the Government to respond to and they did respond when the issue was raised. The only comment I'd make is to call it commuting is stretching the definition of commuting substantially. I spent four or five nights at home each month, I went home every second fortnight. I don't think that's commuting really. I think that's living somewhere else and carrying the costs of living somewhere else, which I did, and being treated well by an employer in the sense of being able to go home a couple of times a month."
Monitoring the activities of CYF:
"I think CYF used to see the monitoring role by the office as sometimes unfair and generally unhelpful, but I think they now see it as pretty fair and as quite a good source of ideas on how they can improve the quality of services for children. Staff at several sites have received specific training abut intimate partner violence, family violence and its impact on families and children so they're better able to respond to situations."
The so-called "anti-smacking" law:
"The referendum was very strongly of the opinion that the amendment should be reversed and the Prime Minister and Government, I think to their credit, said no, we're not going to make that change. It would have been a disappointing term of office if that positive step for children had been reversed, on my watch."
What's next?
"Picking up the life that I put on hold two years ago. We live on a 10ha block [at Lowburn] so there's heaps of landscaping jobs to be done. And I'm looking forward to coming back to Central in the middle of winter because it's the time to hunker down in front of the fire and enjoy a good book and a whisky."
