A collective of families is calling for the repeal of parts of the Care of Children Act that it says "dehumanises a child" in allowing forceable uplifts during custody battles.
Known as Humans of Family Court Aotearoa, the group's lodged a petition at parliament calling for the repeal of sections 72 and 73 of the Care of Children Act 2004, so that warrants allowing social workers and police to uplift children can not be issued.
Spokeswoman Jody Hopkinson says the practice is "barbaric and outdated" and there should be better ways of enforcing custody arrangements. "We have to lift the bar so that custody orders are stuck to," she says. "That [custody agreements] are individualised to suit each arrangement rather than a cookie-cutter approach."
The section of the act the petition refers to enables courts to issue warrants that allow a "constable, social worker or any other person named" to take the child - using reasonable force as necessary.
It's used in cases where a parent has either not followed a custody order or has refused to allow the parent contact as per the court orders.
Officials say it's an option of last resort among the estimated 16,000 children that the Ministry of Justice says are exposed to family court disputes each year.
Figures provided to 1News shows each year hundreds of warrants are issued to enforce custody or contact orders - often without notice. In the last year to June, there were 500 granted - compared to 280 that were withdrawn or dismissed.
University of Auckland law professor Carrie Leonetti says that is far too many - and says there are other ways to manage those who are in breach of custody orders.
In the United Kingdom, for example, generally, police will not get involved when there has been a breach of a child custody order.
Instead, it's reported to the court, and the non-compliant parent will be held in contempt of court, which could lead to being fined, or in extreme cases imprisonment.
Leonetti says she was shocked to discover that here, custody breaches could result in the child being taken in by police.
She's not connected to the Humans of Family Court Aotearoa group but supports its call to put an end to the practice of child uplifts.
"They should be authorised only when a child is in real harm, and then we have an agency whose job it is to deal with that and that's Oranga Tamariki."
The child protection agency has faced criticism in the past over child uplifts. This led to a law change just last year to make the practice the last resort.
And Leonetti says the government agency often faces a higher bar to get a warrant - unlike those seeking an order under the Care of Children Act.
In that case "..the person who seeks a warrant is a litigant, in a private litigation, they have a stake in the matter," she says. "And there is no requirement that the child be at risk... all the parent has to prove is that 'my kid is not here yet'."
And often she says the practice is used as a threat. "It constantly comes up in proceedings, the parent is commonly told get your kid to that parent's house, or the police will do the job for you."
The law professor says if a parent tries to raise issues of abuse with the court, they are often accused of parental alienation - in other words turning a child against a parent.
It's a response she says increases the risk for children.
"When a child discloses abuse, or expresses fear of abuse, from a risk assessment point of view that needs to be taken incredibly seriously."
The use of parental alienation in New Zealand's family courts has drawn criticism from the United Nations, which a 2018 report that urged New Zealand to "limit its usage in child custody disputes".
The use of the term has also been discouraged in US courts, something Humans of Family Court Aotearoa are asking to happen here too.
Launched in October, with a nationwide billboard campaign, the group's also hoping to educate the wider public about the Family Court experience through a series of stories they've also shared online.
One of those spoke to 1 News about her experience. Legally there's little we can tell you about her specific journey. But the emotional toll is clear - sharing her experience the tears flow freely and she has to pause often to regain enough composure to continue talking.
And while the justice minister Kiri Allan didn't respond specifically to the proposed changes, she did acknowledge those who had lodged the petition.
"Issues that involve our kids and our whanau going through the family court are inherently traumatic, and more often than not there's a lot of conflicts," says Allan.
"These are really complicated hard, traumatic challenging areas, that in the broader sense the Government has been really focused on."
The Government has invested money into improving the family court, including $15m in its 2021 budget to be spent over five years - with a stated goal of improving the well-being of the thousands that go through the Family Court each year.
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