A Tauranga couple say they were rejected as caregivers for their grand-daughter on the grounds they had occasionally smacked an older child.
Hannah and Brian Johnson were told by officials from Child, Youth and Family that a record of even limited smacking was enough to rule them out as caregivers for the child, although they have been left to look after her eight year old brother.
A lobby group, Family First, says the case highlights how the 2007 anti-smacking law is being used to criminalise and persecute good parents