DEAF BOY LEFT TO CARE FOR 18 CHILDREN

Taupo Times, Volume 23, Issue 55, 11 July 1974, Page 1

DEAF BOY LEFT TO CARE FOR 18 CHILDREN

By

Pat

Liddell

A 14-year-old deaf, epileptic boy claims he has been looking after 18 children since his mother and two other relatives went to a tangi at Waitahanui last weekend — and have not yet returned. The boy said, in tape-recorded evidence made available to the Taupo Times yesterday, that his family had abandoned their Maori Affairs house in Rifle Range Road and had moved in with relatives nearby. ___ The children he is looking after range in age from three to 14. A rlh

In his evidence the boy said he,could not remember thie last time his mother /had cooked a meal for the/ family. He yClaimed she was away most/ of the time at Waitahanui where she "played cards and drank". He, claims an aunt has v given him money to buy food for the children. He said \Vhen the adult * members of the two families were present 21 people shared the house — and seven beds. The Maori Affairs house in Rifle Range Road is now occupied by a number of dogs and puppies which the boy feeds regularly. The boy lip reads and has a hearing aid to * communicate and is in a special class at school. His plight was unfolded ^yesterday in a special interview between the boy, teachers and myself. The Taupo Times was asked to attend the meeting as a follow-up to the series we have been running on truancy and associated youth problems in Taupo. The teachers hope that publicity may result in either the Social Welfare Department or the Department of Maori and Island Affairs taking action on the matter. Both departments have been told of the situation

by the teachers — but so far no action, apparently, has been taken. Speaking quietly into ,a tape-recorder microphone the boy said he usually bought mince, sausages, potatoes and fruit for the children to eat. "I make stews and I don't buy fish. and chips because they are not enough," he said. When the Rifle Range Road house was visited by the police earlier this week all the windows were out and dirty, rotting clothes were piled high in the laundry. The washing machine was filled with cold, stagnant water. Tea leaves had been emptied on to the back porch and a rubbish tjn full of pipi shells had been left inside the house. A piece of carpet nailed to the inside of the front door covers a gaping hole where a window pane has been pushed out. The dogs and the children use the hole to get in and out of the house. The police apparently found both doors locked and all the lights blazing. It is understood they were called to the house because school authorities believed the boy was playing fruant. "The condition of the

house was such that I felt I should draw the attention of the borough health inspector to it," said the police constable who visited the house. "Five pups were inside charging around and furniture had been ripped apart. They had also fouled the . floor." He said the borough health inspector already knew about the condition of the house. "He has had the place under surveillance on previous occasions and,he was going to contact the Maori Affairs Department," he said. Maori and Island Affairs social workers said yesterday they were unable to comment on the situation at the moment.