Questions on family environment - Children’s Convention from the United Nations
Question 18
Please inform the Committee about the measures taken to provide support to parents and caregivers in the performance of their child-rearing responsibilities, including counselling, services for the treatment of alcohol or drug-related problems and, in particular with regard to the Maori and Pasifika populations, culturally appropriate services.
Reply to 18
Treatment of alcohol and drug-related problems
Publicly-funded alcohol and other drug (AOD) services are available in each District Health Board (DHB) throughout New Zealand. Around 50,000 people access these services each year. Around a third of people accessing AOD services are Māori, and the DHBs in New Zealand that experience disproportionately higher levels of AOD harm are largely rural DHBs with a high Māori population. The Government has prioritised investment in AOD services for DHBs with a high Māori population, including specific funding for managed withdrawal and post-treatment support through Budget 2019.
Welfare Overhaul
The Government has committed to overhauling the welfare system. Recognising the value of unpaid work, including caring for children, is a key feature of the vision for this overhaul. Welfare overhaul progress has included initiatives that support children and the performance of carers’ child-rearing responsibilities.
In April 2020, the Government repealed section 192 of the Social Security Act 2018, which previously cut incomes to parents and their children if the name of the other parent was not declared to the Government. In May 2019 it was estimated that around 24,000 children would be significantly better off as a result of this change, with many sole parents’ incomes increasing by an average of $34 per week.
Cabinet has also agreed to remove the subsequent child policy from the Social Security Act 2018, planned to come into effect in November 2021. This policy currently impacts eligibility for Sole Parent Support and places obligations on parents to return to work earlier if they have an additional child while receiving a main benefit. This initiative will increase affected parents’ flexibility to spend time with their subsequent children in the critical first 1,000 days of their life and will have a positive impact for Māori (who are currently disproportionately impacted by the subsequent child policy).
Oranga Tamariki
Budget 2020 invested $209.9 million to increase financial assistance for around 22,000 children being looked after by around 14,000 caregivers.
Oranga Tamariki also invests over $150 million per annum with non-government organisations and iwi partners to support the delivery of Early Support and Intensive Response services. Many partners are co-funded with other Government funders and supported by charitable income. Examples include:
- Family Start - a longstanding home-visiting programme. It supports whānau/families at risk of facing health and social challenges to realise better outcomes for their children. Whānau are enrolled in the programme from pre-natal to the child’s first birthday.
- Services in Schools (for example Social Workers in Schools) - a community, school-based social work service, provided in most decile 1-3 primary, intermediate and secondary schools to support individual children and their whānau.
- holistic whānau support services - for example, Waitomo Papakāinga for tamariki and rangatahi Māori in Te Hiku to remain connected to their whakapapa (genealogy). They provide social work, counselling and emergency housing services, as well as budgeting, cooking and literacy classes. Their interventions and decisions are based on knowledge of tikanga Māori (Māori customary practice) and whānau values.
- Strengthening Families - this process develops joint plans with whānau to meet their needs when they require multiple agencies working with a whānau.
Oranga Tamariki are beginning work to develop a new approach to early support, with a focus on supporting iwi, Māori organisations, and communities to develop sustainable, locally-led, and whānau-centred approaches that bring together the right agencies and partners to offer early support.
Oranga Tamariki, TPK and the Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) have recently invested $42 million dollars over two years in Whānau Ora for the development of a whānau-centred early support prototype designed to strengthen families and improve the safety and wellbeing of children. This is part of a wider Ngā Tini Whetū programme, which aims to support around 800 North Island families over a two-year period starting in January 2021. This new collaborative approach is a positive step towards devolution of services to Māori, by Māori, for Māori.
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