Another planted story?

The Herald reports:

Libraries are being inundated with unsupervised children during the school holidays.

A sweeping statement

Clendon woman Therese Luxton said her local library is teeming with unsupervised kids who have been dropped off by parents who can’t afford childcare.

What a miracle. She can read minds. She magically knows why these kids are at the library.

Ms Luxton by coincidence is on the executive of the lobby group, Child Poverty Action Group. Something not revealed by the Herald.

A Kaikohe library employee said that they used to have a big problem but they put a stop to it last year. Now they ask for ID and tell the parents that their children must be supervised.

Very sensible.

The Herald spent some time at Te Matariki Clendon Library and observed most children were supervised inside.

In other words, no evidence observed to support the claims.

But outside at the skatepark there were over 20 children and one adult. Kids as young as 7 said they were there alone. Most seemed to be among friends.

So not finding any unsupervised kids at the Library, we went to a skatepark and found some there.

When asked if they used the library unsupervised as well, they replied yes.

The solo adult, who only wanted to be known as Ash, said he always accompanied his children who are aged 12, 11, 6 and 5.

“Sometimes there’s trouble down here. The other kids might steal their bikes.”

Ash has seen kids younger than 5 come without a parent, but they are often with siblings. He thought some parents used the place as a daycare, and kids use it to get away from troubled homes.

Nowhere in all this were kids asked why they were out by themselves. It is quite possible they all have at least one parent at home, but they prefer to be out playing.

Child Poverty Action Group co-convenor Janfrie Wakim said abandoning children at libraries was the mark of desperate parents trying to survive.

Now we get the comment from CPAG, but of course no mention it was a CPAG member who made the allegations. So you make the allegations and then get to comment on it as a neutral party.