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Last Updated: Wednesday, 16 May 2007, 13:13 GMT 14:13 UK



How one NZ town stopped smacking
As New Zealand's parliament passes a controversial bill effectively outlawing smacking, Angie Knox goes to Ngongotaha to find out how one local community has already responded to the no-smacking challenge.

New Zealand has a poor record of violence against children

Tourists speeding towards Rotorua tend to give Ngongotaha a miss as they head for the geysers, hot pools and sulphurous tang of New Zealand's self-styled thermal wonderland.

The little settlement on the outskirts of Rotorua is hardly a tourist mecca, with its one main street and a dozen or so shops catering to the 4,000 inhabitants.

Yet Ngongotaha is home to an ambitious social experiment.

Two years ago it set itself the goal of becoming the first smack-free community in New Zealand and the safest place in the world to bring up children.

It is part of a positive parenting initiative, spearheaded by veteran social worker Rose Berge of FamilyWorks, a church-based social services agency with a focus on families and children.

"New Zealand has the third highest child homicide rate among the OECD countries," said Ms Berge in the FamilyWorks' Rotorua office, referring to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

"Our domestic violence rates are horrendous, our child abuse rates are horrendous... If we're going to stop child abuse in this country, it has to start, I believe, with the way we parent our children."


We have a lot of parents who have alcohol and drug difficulties, they also have problems with gambling

Rob Beckett
Ngongotaha social services

FamilyWorks had been seeing a lot of cases from Ngongotaha.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6661823.stm