The Central Otago couple left ''devastated'' after Child Youth and Family removed two children from their Home for Life programme were among almost 10,000 people who made submissions on amendments to the Vulnerable Children Bill.
The Act, passed into legislation on July 1, aims to improve the wellbeing of vulnerable children and strengthen New Zealand's child protection system.
The amendments had not gone far enough, the woman said.
Included in the changes was the ability for guardianship of birth parents to be curtailed if they ''unfairly disrupt their children's lives in the new placement''.
The Children's Action Plan website says that happened in ''a variety of ways and frequently''.
''Some parents who've had a child or children removed because of serious abuse or neglect continue to disrupt the new family home.
''This can mean upsetting and aggressive contact visits, vetoing overseas holidays, and vexatious and prolonged challenges to court orders imposed to protect the child.
''These children deserve to live in a safe, calm environment, where they have a chance to thrive without disruption''.
The Central Otago couple had two children removed from their care in February because they were not comfortable with the amount of access the biological father had sought and was granted. The couple made submissions on the amendments last November.
The changes, they say, are not enough and the programme either needs to be ''abolished'' or be subject to ''massive changes''.
''It's all the biological - if you don't have buy-in [from the biological parents], you're on a hiding to nowhere,'' the woman says.
''There are some people in the Home for Life programme who can't even cut their kids' hair without asking the biological parents.
''When biological parents aren't up [for it], if they've broken the law and then done stuff that's not appropriate to raise children, for the safety of our children, they need to earn the right back.
''We need to change this so other people don't have to go through it. It's appalling.''
