MYSTERY: A CCTV still shows the man with the young boy shortly before he was handed over.

DUMPED: The bag which was left with a toddler at a South Auckland Work and Income office.

LEFT: A young boy was handed over to staff at Manukau Work and Income yesterday.

The family of a toddler abandoned at a South Auckland Work and Income office have been found as family services say families are becoming increasingly desperate.

Police said this afternoon that the man who left the child at the Work and Income office yesterday had been identified.

The man had handed the boy to staff at the office and left without providing any details.

RORY O'SULLIVAN/Stuff.co.nz Mangere Budget and Family Support Services chief executive, Darryl Evans, believes more and more New Zealand households are feeling the strain - but leaving a toddler at the doors of a WINZ office is unacceptable.

The boy, thought to be about 20 months old, was left with a bag with some belongings, including a pair of shorts, a T-shirt and two long-sleeved tops.



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The boy was taken to Middlemore Hospital and was described as being in good health.



Child, Youth and Family was working with police on the case, police said.



'DESPERATION'



Mangere Budgeting Service chief executive Darryl Evans said he was not surprised by the incident.



Before Christmas, two families had threatened to abandon their children out of desperation, he said.



"It was more a protest," he said.



"Naturally, families don't want to give up their kids [but] often they're being passed around between pillar and post," he said.



"Families overreact and say stupid things, but I've certainly had people say, 'I'm going to drop my kids [at Work and Income]'.



"I can sort of understand. You get to the end of your tether, and if you can't feed them you think maybe the state will do a better job.



"They're struggling, they're desperate. Everyone is trying to do the best they can do."

He suspected the family would be "feeling terrible".

"They won't be jumping up and down clapping their hands."

RORY O'SULLIVAN/Stuff.co.nz A two-year-old child was left abandoned at the Manukau WINZ on Thursday.

Changes to eligibility assessments between Work and Income and Housing New Zealand and other benefit changes, as well as the pinch of Christmas, meant families were stressed and struggling more than ever, he said.

Yesterday's incident is not the first case of children being abandoned by parents.

A baby girl was abandoned in a cardboard box at Mangere's Massey Homestead in 1993, prompting the creation of the Mangere East Family Service Centre.

The centre's chief executive, Peter Sykes, said the story had stayed in the back of his mind.

"One of the issues that's different now is extended family's goodwill is running out," he said.

"The families around here are quite polarised. The Government at the moment is not particularly seen as a caring government, so I think there are more angry people around."

Some families hesitated to ask for help out of a sense of shame, he said.

"It's not an easy thing asking for help," he said.

"A lot of our families are doing their best. In the past we've had families sharing things a lot more, but I think that ability has been pushed."

'SAD AND TRAGIC'

Family First director Bob McCoskrie said he had never heard of a case so extreme, describing it as "sad and tragic".

"It sounds like a desperate family who are in a really bad space and can think of no other solution," he said.

"I'm hoping that the agency will wrap around the family as soon as possible.

"I don't think any family would just drop a baby off like that if they weren't desperate.

"It's traumatic for the child as well. There are obviously some big issues going on in that family."

It was important for families to know they had options and there was help out there for them.

"It's important to know the system is working correctly so that the family are getting support and that they're not isolated," he said.

For the Sake of our Children Trust founder John Sax said many families were feeling stressed financially after Christmas.

"The Christmas season is a difficult time," he said.

"There's a pressure on merchandising, alcohol; all these things have a very unfortunate consequence on families. It should be a time of rejoicing.

"In this case, without knowing the circumstances, one would hope the father or mother can get great help by someone and the best possible outcome can be achieved for that precious little boy."