"Commissioner For Children’s Hands Tied"
Friday, 31 August 2001, 12:39 am
Press Release: Commissioner For Children
Hon Roger McClay
Commissioner for Children 31 August
2001
"The law prevents me from becoming involved in
this current sad ‘tug of war’ involving the McLaughlin
children being sent back to the United States today," said
Roger McClay, Commissioner for Children.
Mr McClay’s
office has been inundated with appeals from angry and sad
New Zealander’s about the courts decision to send the
McLaughlin children back to the United States.
"My heart
goes out to these little children whose lives have been so
traumatised by their predicament. Like so many children,
they are the innocent victims of an adult world."
"It is
difficult to accept that the Hague Convention intended that
convicted paedophiles could in fact bring about the
separation of innocent mothers from their children," said Mr
McClay.
"However, New Zealand law prescribes that the
Commissioner for Children has absolutely no authority to
investigate any decision or recommendation made by, or any
act or omission of, any Court," he concluded.
Ends
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