In New Zealand, a formal inquiry has determined that the state failed its most basic obligation — to find and protect children known to be in danger. Tom Phillips kept his kids hidden in forest conditions for years, yet moved through towns openly enough to spend thousands of dollars in daylight, while police and child welfare officials, working in silos, never connected the threads. The inquiry's findings do not merely assign blame; they raise the older, harder question of what it means when the systems societies build to protect the vulnerable quietly cease to function.
New Zealand inquiry faults officials in forest hideaway case
Children were forced to live in forest conditions for years under custody of a fugitive father, experiencing prolonged deprivation and neglect.