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Story: Child abuse

Dr Patrick Kelly

Man with his arms folded wearing glasses and a stethoscope around his neck.

Paediatrician Dr Patrick Kelly was head of the Child Protection Centre at Te Puaruruhou (Starship Children's Hospital) for 25 years. He treated many children who had been admitted as a result of abuse. He also appeared as an expert witness in child abuse and homicide court cases.

Using this item

New Zealand Herald

Reference: 5 December 2008

by Janna Dixon

Permission of the New Zealand Herald must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

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How to cite this page

Bronwyn Dalley, Child abuse – Understanding child abuse, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/30576/dr-patrick-kelly (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by Bronwyn Dalley, published 26 April 2011.

Comments

Christine Pelosi
17 January 2015
50 years ago when my babies were young I felt near to abusing them. Never did. What makes it that way? Loss of own identity Loneliness Loss of work friends Loss of freedom - even to go to a shop around the corner Loss of any sense of being a person in my own right Loss of time to complete any job bigger than a small one Constant demand for attention - Lack of sleep Crying a lot then husband home wants dinner and a quiet clean evening isolated from family and former friends and colleagues Nobody else wants to know or is at all interested. Older women's attitude "grin and bear it - we did". I think it has not changed. The nuclear family locks the young mother up with her kid(s). Not just for a day or two but months on end. Worse if/when short of money. I have always thought that we in NZ need more community support, home visits or a home visitor for new mothers. Even someone to give her an hour or two off in the daytime. If they have family near then fine, but many do not. Not intrusive but something there. A service or a friendship - similar to "caring caller" of ST Johns for the elderly. Even a short daily phone call may help. The churches do pastoral visiting to elderly living alone. It is hard to find the young mothers quickly (they could be referred) and church affiliation may be suspect to some. St Johns or Plunket better to arrange. Plunket did check the baby physically and there is still a mothers group I think . It just doesn't go very far. So these are my thoughts. Christine.