This annual report - Taranaki District Health Board

Social Workers in SchoolsIn 2011 the Government announced additional funding to extend the Social Workers inSchools (SWiS) Service to all decile 1–3 primary schools [379,380]. The SWiS service isaimed at children who are poorly engaged with school and/or frequently absent, childrenwho are experiencing grief and loss, children with behavioural and/or social problems,families who are struggling financially and/or in other ways, and children and familiesknown to CYFS [381]. The social workers are employed by various NGO social serviceproviders, including a number of Iwi social service providers, Presbyterian Support andBarnados, under contract to the Ministry of Education, and they work in partnership withschool staff as part of the school community [382]. They provide help to children and theirfamilies in situations where social or family circumstances are leading to a child havingdifficulties in education, health or social development. Referrals to SWiS may be made bychildren and families (self-referral), the school, the community or Government agenciessuch as CYFS and can only be made with the family’s consent. There are three keycomponents to the work of SWiS: individual casework with children and their families,group programmes, and service coordination and community liaison [381,383].Conduct Disorders Services Funded by the Ministry of SocialDevelopmentThe Ministry of Social Development contracts various providers to deliver Multi-SystemicTherapy (MST), Functional Family Therapy (FFT), Multidimensional Treatment FosterCare (MTFC), and Residential Care to Young People from 10–16 years of age who havebeen diagnosed as having a severe conduct disorder, and to other Young People whohave been assessed as having significant conduct problems [384]. Referrals to theseservices are made by Child, Youth and Family Social Workers.Multi-Systemic Therapy [385] is an intensive home- and community-based family/whānautreatment method which uses an ecological approach to supporting and up-skilling theYoung Person and their family/whānau in order to reduce violence, criminal offending anddrug and alcohol abuse, and reduce the need for out-of-home placements. It can includestructural family/whānau therapy, strategic family/whānau therapy, behavioural parenttraining, and cognitive behaviour therapies. Treatment typically lasts about four months. Ateam of three clinicians proving MST would see up to 30 Young People and theirfamily/whānau per year [384].Functional Family Therapy is manualised intervention that has been used in a number ofcountries. The intervention focuses on strengthening relationships within families/whānauthrough improving communication, reducing negativity and blame, improving parentingskills and identifying community resources the family might access. FTT typically involves8 to 12 one-hour family/whānau therapy sessions for mild cases, and up to 30 hours formore complex/severe cases, delivered over around three months [384].Multidimensional Treatment Foster Care (MTFC) involves placing the Young Person withspecialised foster parents who provide a highly-structured and supervised environmentwhere positive and negative behaviours are translated into points (gained or lost) whichcan be traded for privileges. A MTFC Family Therapist works with the family to reduceconflict and increase parenting skills to create a favourable environment for the Youngperson after they leave MTFC. A MTFC home has one placement at any one time [384].Residential care is for Young People who have extreme behaviours which mean that theycannot be contained in a less restrictive placement. A Residential care home has four tofive high needs Young People in it [384].Other Child and Family Services Funded by the Ministry of SocialDevelopmentFamily and Community Services manages and/or funds over 600 organisations to providea range of programmes and services to support families and communities. These include,among others, Te Punanga Haumaru which provides funding for community action thatencourages positive social behaviour and reduces bullying of children and young people[386], Family Start (a home visiting programme for at-risk parents and children) [387],In-Depth Topic: Mental Health Issues in Children - 374