PARENTS BLAMED FOR CHILD DELINQUENCY

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29190, 28 April 1960, Page 2

PARENTS BLAMED FOR CHILD DELINQUENCY

"An advanced state of decay in the parental situation” was to blame for much of the difficult behaviour problem of the adolescent, said Mr D. Sellars, in Christchurch yesterday. Mr Sellars, who is a field officer of the Child Welfare Division of the Health Department, was addressing the annual meeting of the Canterbury Federation of Country Women’s Institutes. “Over the years parents have lost the determination to make home, at home,” he said. “They have lost the determination to bring their children up in a Christian way of life. “Among many young people today, standards of values in essential morals don't exist. Many have no idea of money values, either. With not a penny in their pockets they can go out and buy a house equipped with a refrigerator and washing machine—things that our parents had to save for if they wanted them.

“In jobs these days everyone is looking for ‘perks’ and pillaging goes on everywhere. “When a child goes to school or to church he is taught that stealing is wrong. But what notice will he take of that when goods his father has stolen from employers are put on the table at home? Instead of ‘don’t touch what doesn’t belong to you’ being a strict rule in the home, it is ‘don’t touch Dad's beer.’ “Punishment is not meted out for the crime committed but for the crime of being caught.”

Mr Sellars said that the most difficult behaviour patterns in children could be traced back to character weaknesses in parents. “We. as parents, must look to ourselves as children only react according to the results of the

social structure we have built up at home,” he said. “My advice to parents everywhere is: Let your children stay young for a bit longer. Expect nothing from them that is not natural for their age. Don’t let young girls get around in high heels and lipstick before they are old enough to wear it. and keep your boys in short pants a little longer no matter what other neighbours are letting their children wear. In this way they will stay young and will not be so keen to lead sophisticated lives away from home.”

The results of lack of parental discipline and neglect were mentioned by Mr Sellars as he quoted figures for the year ending on March 31. 1960. There were 3180 State wards on the records and 362 of these were in institutions of various kinds. Children under the supervision of the Child Welfare numbered 1641. For every 10,000 children 83 had committed criminal offences. The more serious crimes against property were committed by children between the ages of 13 and 16 years. It was not uncommon to find one child facing a list of up to 30 charges at a single hearing.

On the other hand, children who were wards of the Court, placed in foster homes, had nearly all “made good.” There was a 95 per cent, correction rate.

“It sounds bad. but the incidence of crime among New Zealand children is really not high compared with overseas countries and it is decreasing,” said Mr Sellars. “But we are always on the look-out for somewhere for these State wards to live. There i. a great need for foster homos for these children.”