Disgust at mother's neglect 

There is wide spread disgust at a mother who locked two children out of her Hamilton home so she could have a night out drinking on the town.

The woman could end up facing cruelty charges.

The two-year-old girl was found naked and wandering along this busy Hamilton street on Saturday night, in the care of her 10-year-old cousin.

Police say they were called by concerned residents on Bader Street who approached the two then had taken the pair inside.

Police found the toddler's 31-year-old mother walking between bars in Hamilton's CBD.

Senior Sergeant Karen Henrikson says the woman became aggressive when they interrupted her drinking.

The mother had apparently locked the youngsters out of the house so she could head out for a night on the town.

But sadly this case is not isolated.

Barnados social worker Sarah Alden estimates that in Auckland alone thousands of children are being neglected.

She had been a social worker for 25 years and regularly sees children who are not being properly cared for.

Alden says it's the emotional scars these children suffer that are the hardest to heal.

"A broken bone can be healed, bruising goes away, but that sort of neglect leaves like a big hole in a child, a gap. They're rejected they're not wanted, and it's very difficult to heal that," says Alden.

Those campaigning against child abuse say the law needs to crackdown on wayward parents.

"It's time we started to deal in a very real way to rotten parents because that's what this is all about. That's what this woman is," say Christine Rankin of the 'For the sake of our Children' Trust.

Hamilton police are still questioning the mother and have not yet laid any charges.

The two children are currently in the care of other family members.