'Aunty' wants niece sterilised

A family group conference is to be held in Auckland tomorrow on the future of a unborn baby being carried by a mentally impaired woman - her third child to three different fathers in three years.

The woman is unlikely to be present. She is believed to be living on the streets of Auckland, The Bay of Plenty Times reports.

Now her "aunty" – not a blood relative – wants the woman to be sterilised.

The aunty received a letter two weeks ago from Child, Youth and Family asking her to attend a family group conference over the unborn baby, due in January.

"When I opened the letter and saw the logo on the letterhead, I had a sense of deja vu. It upsets me and makes me so angry. Same letter, different date," the aunty told the newspaper.

Her niece is known to staff at Auckland Hospital as a drug user, who often came to them to be tested and treated for sexually transmitted infections. It was from staff at the hospital that CYF found out she was pregnant again.

"I think she needs to be sterilised," the aunty said.

"I can only imagine what that's doing to her – getting pregnant, having a child and having him taken off her and getting pregnant again.

"Nothing and no one could convince me she shouldn't be sterilised."

The aunty said she was certain her niece could not care for an infant.

"She's incapable of looking after herself, let alone a baby."

The aunty said the cycle of female family members having babies taken away had become "a generation thing".

"Her mother did it, her grandmother did it. This latest unborn baby is part of the fourth generation. At some stage it needs to stop."

Ministry of Health child and youth health chief adviser, Dr Pat Tuohy, said there was no special legislation surrounding the sterilisation of intellectually disabled woman.

"Any decision regarding the sterilisation of an intellectually disabled woman must consider the rights of the individual and be made on the basis of informed consent," he said.

In cases where women are unable to give consent or give full consent, a number of Acts of Parliament are relevant.

These include the Contraception, Sterilisation and Abortion Act, the Care of Children Act, and the Protection of Personal and Property Rights Act.

A family group conference about the unborn baby is set to go ahead as scheduled tomorrow.

A CYF spokesperson said there may be times when information was obtained before the birth of a baby that highlights care and protection concerns.

When CYF received notifications regarding unborn babies they would be investigated, though there were legal and practical limitations to their ability to intervene before babies were born.

She said it was only in very serious situations when a baby's safety was at risk an infant would be removed immediately upon their birth.

- NZPA