The Green Paper for Vulnerable Children - Ministry of Social ...

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Reservations about evidence-based funding: A minority of submissions provided somequalifications about what the “evidence base” should include, and when it was appropriateto fund activities that were not evidence-based. These submissions were concerned that whatcounts as evidence is too narrow, and questioned who decides what counts as evidence andon what basis. This included arguments that:• what counts as evidence should be broadened to include the hands-on experienceof people dealing with vulnerable families• current ideas about evidence were often based on a “Western” ideas of evidence,and should take into account other traditions, such as Māori worldviews• the Government should fund programmes that are relevant to the people they are serving,and a focus on evidence may result in a greater reliance on programmes sourced from overseas• focusing on evidence might exclude initiatives that are working well, but do not havea formal evidence base yet• the current evidence base only tells us about things that have worked in the past,and an emphasis on evidence should not stop us trialling new and innovative approaches• we need to evaluate what we already have• getting hard evidence for social services is difficult, and evidence for change in outcomesaccumulates over time.No. That would mean that new ideas or those that simply haven’t been thought of yetwould go unseen. I think that chances have to be taken to get to the heart of the matterin a way that is more productive than the status quo. (general public)Evidential-base thinking is incredibly Westernised. Again for generations now traditionalvalues have continuously had to be accountable to mainstream systems. I believe itis time to empower our whānau, communities, children and young people again witha key focus on identity and understanding the significance of cultures to which webelong. Imposing evidential-based programmes on whānau and communities doesnot necessarily achieve sound outcomes. (frontline worker)114 Make Child-Centred Policy Changes
Review government spending to get better resultsfor vulnerable children: Free-form submissionsIn this section we discuss suggestions from the free-form submissions about reviewinggovernment spending to get better results for vulnerable children under the followingthree broad headings:• Targeting vulnerable children• Early intervention• Evidence-based funding.Targeting vulnerable childrenSubmissions showed support for providing tailored services to individual vulnerable children.Progressive/proportionate universalism: The position with the greatest level of supportwas progressive/proportionate universalism. This position argues that every child should receivea core set of services that funnel into extra services for children with further identified needs.A large minority of other organisations and NGOs supported this.Any action plan should be for all children and should ensure that all children are cared for andtheir basic individual needs for safety, health, housing and education are met…. We recognisethat some children will need additional support to achieve some of the above. (NGO)Progressive universalism is a fairer process than simple targeting. It reduces therisks associated with targeting, such as the inadequacies of risk assessment tools,some children falling through gaps, and stigmatisation. (NGO)To adequately protect our children, we therefore need a) to create a social and economicenvironment that is supportive to all children, as well as b) to have flexible funding andsupport systems to meet the greater needs of children who have particular weaknessesin their immediate environment or need particular support and intervention to protectthem. Such support needs to recognise the uniqueness of each child. (NGO)Support for targeting: A minority of submissions voiced support for targeting tailored servicestowards vulnerable children. Most of these submissions talked about targeting services to theneeds of individual vulnerable children, in combination with universal services for all children.Fairness is when everyone gets what they need, not when everyone gets the same. (NGO)A small number of these submissions talked about targeting preventative services to specificgroups considered to be high risk.Children and families in disadvantaged groups (e.g. Māori and Pacific populations, andlow income families) are particularly at risk. Actions to improve the wellbeing of children,should give extra priority to improving the lives of these children, will improve socialequity. (general public)The groups offering the highest support for targeting were NGOs and other organisations.Frontline workers were half as likely to talk about targeting as these groups. Submissions fromthe general public were least likely to explicitly support targeting. Submissions argued threemain reasons why targeting tailored services to vulnerable children was a smart policy strategy:Practice Changes Policy Changes Show Leadership Share Responsibility Children / Young People Executive SummaryThe Green Paper for Vulnerable Children Full Summary of Submissions115
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Published by the Ministry of Social
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Ministerial forewordWhen I launched
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MethodologyHow submissions were ana
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The role of government: Children an
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Features of an action plan: Some su
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Make child-centred policy changesTh
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Mandatory reporting: A small number
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Improving service deliveryWe want t
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The community and government: In th
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What does it mean to thrive, belong
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When abuse is occurring: A minority
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A third party that would act as a m
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What kind of information can be sha
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A good school, with good teachers w
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Children and young people: Free-for
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Meet their physical needs: Adults s
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SchoolsChildren and young people wa
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Lower taxes, increase income: Relat
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Listen to usI reckon adults should
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Q&AParents and caregivers:Question
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There must be better financial supp
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Clearly something is wrong because
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When a child is notified or abuse i
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The gap between rich and poor is to
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Mental health: A small minority of
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I would love to see a strengthening
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Increase community action on child
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Not allowing alcohol to be readily
Page 65 and 66: Some submissions specified the poss
Page 67 and 68: Supporting familiesMoney and resour
Page 69 and 70: Through paid employment: A minority
Page 71 and 72: This theme was raised by a large mi
Page 73 and 74: Other submissions echoed the idea o
Page 75 and 76: We believe that the primary respons
Page 77 and 78: Show leadershipAn important element
Page 79 and 80: Q&AA Vulnerable Children’s Action
Page 81 and 82: Raise awareness: A minority said an
Page 83 and 84: • Improving education.Fund altern
Page 85 and 86: A Vulnerable Children’s Action Pl
Page 87 and 88: Goals and actions for a Vulnerable
Page 89 and 90: School ageEducation: A small minori
Page 91 and 92: Q&ALegislation changes:Question and
Page 93 and 94: What other actions or principles wo
Page 95 and 96: Other: A small minority of submissi
Page 97 and 98: • reviewing child support provisi
Page 99 and 100: families in. Service-based strategi
Page 101 and 102: Vulnerable Māori children need to
Page 103 and 104: What could be improved to ensure th
Page 105 and 106: Are the children aggressive (there
Page 107 and 108: Work in partnership to deliver serv
Page 109 and 110: Similar to the question and answer
Page 111 and 112: Reallocating funding: Submissions c
Page 113 and 114: Reduce funding when not child-centr
Page 115: • new motorways and bike tracks
Page 119 and 120: Support for universalism: A small m
Page 121 and 122: MSD has funded a vast array of inte
Page 123 and 124: SummaryPrioritising carers, family
Page 125 and 126: • prioritisation should be consid
Page 127 and 128: What services do you think should b
Page 129 and 130: • carers needed a realistic, live
Page 131 and 132: Q&AWatching out for vulnerable chil
Page 133 and 134: Ten years ago I would have said “
Page 135 and 136: This should be managed by key peopl
Page 137 and 138: What negative consequences are impo
Page 139 and 140: How much personal information shoul
Page 141 and 142: Under what circumstances should the
Page 143 and 144: Health professionals: A small minor
Page 145 and 146: As much as is fiscally practical. I
Page 147 and 148: from community meetings, other orga
Page 149 and 150: The ‘one child-one-record’ syst
Page 151 and 152: needs assessment, culture, mental h
Page 153 and 154: Removing funding and contractual ba
Page 155 and 156: Need to link agencies that have peo
Page 157 and 158: To support New Zealand families we
Page 159 and 160: The primary level services Plunket
Page 161 and 162: Q&ABetter connecting vulnerable chi
Page 163 and 164: All services should feed through sc
Page 165 and 166: Improving service deliveryThe Green
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What other opportunities exist to d
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Practice ChangesPolicy Changes Show
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