A Porirua mother of 12 has pleaded guilty to wilfully neglecting her eight youngest children so that they were likely to suffer unnecessarily.
The woman pleaded guilty in the High Court at Wellington on Monday to a single charge of neglect covering all eight children.
The 42-year-old mother was discharged last week on other allegations that she had sexually abused some of the children.
The trial of the woman and her partner collapsed last Thursday because the children's evidence was ruled too unreliable and Justice Alan Mackenzie discharged the couple on counts of sexually assaulting their children.
The mother's 56-year-old cousin had two sexual assault charges and an assault charge against him dropped.
However, the mother and father still faced cruelty charges.
After her guilty plea, the mother was remanded on bail for sentencing next month, Fairfax reports.
The father, 55, will reappear in court later this week on the cruelty charges he still faces.
The children were removed from their Porirua home in 2010.
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