Despite being told three times that the information was wrong, in 2015 CYF filed another report in the Family Court stating the man had been in prison as a result of sexual abuse charges.

Child Youth and Family continued to tell the Family Court a man had been jailed for sexual offending, despite being told three times the information was wrong.

In 2016, a CYF regional manager acknowledged in a letter that the agency had made errors in the case and apologised, the Privacy Commissioner said in a case note.

The manager also accepted that all the information complained about by the man was indeed wrong and that CYF had been told twice by the man and once by his lawyer.

MORNING REPORT/RNZ Child Youth and Family faces having to make a payout to a man it wrongly accused for 15 years of being a sex offender. The wrong information was repeated over and over in reports to the Family Court, and in the file the agency had on the man's son. Child Youth and Family has now had to apologise.

The man told the Privacy Commissioner some of his relationships with family and friends had been irreparably damaged. Family members, including his son had believed he was a sexual offender.

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Other family members, friends and community members found out about the report, the man told the Privacy Commissioner. He said he was assaulted by an extended family member and his house was damaged several times.

The Ministry of Social Development (MSD) told the Privacy Commissioner the man had received a 12 month suspended sentence for assaulting children in his care after he found them engaging in sexualised behaviour.

MSD said it believed those events had been misinterpreted by CYF staff.

The man's son was placed in CYF's care in 1999. From 2001 to 2012, CYF social workers noted in reports to the Family Court there were allegations of physical abuse and inappropriate sexual conduct by the man.

In 2012, a CYF social worker reported the man had been imprisoned as the result of sexual abuse charges. This information was then repeated by subsequent social workers, despite the man having never been charged, prosecuted or jailed for sexual offending, the Privacy Commissioner said.

In 2013, the man contacted CYF twice to advise it the information about him on his son's file was wrong. A lawyer acting for the man also informed the Family Court of the incorrect information at a hearing.

Despite being told three times that the information was wrong, in 2015 CYF filed another report in the Family Court stating the man had been in prison as a result of sexual abuse charges.

"We considered the stigma associated with convictions for sexual offending is such that to have it inaccurately recorded was sufficient to have caused him significant humiliation, significant loss of dignity and significant injury to his feelings," the Privacy Commissioner said.

The complaint was referred to the Director of Human Rights Proceedings for the case to be considered before the Human Rights Review Tribunal.