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

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The role of government: Children and young people want government to provide equalopportunities and access to services, and for government to ensure that schools are supported.They want government to help keep families together by providing services and increasinghousehold incomes. Children and young people also want government to address inequalityand to provide safe and secure environments. They saw a role for government to provideopportunities for them to have fun locally, build capacity within local organisations, and toensure agencies and organisations are connected. Children and young people also want tohave a say in developing laws and policies.General submissionsThese summaries include both question and answer and free-form submissions.Share responsibilitySharing responsibility is the first of four key themes structuring theGreen Paper. The questions in this section were about the responsibilitiesof two particular groups:• parents and caregivers• communities.Parents and caregiversYou can’t make the child ok if the family is not ok. (other organisation)If we want to deal effectively with the problem of child abuse we need to act on thegeneral socioeconomic causes of stress and help the many parents who have themselvesbeen damaged by abuse, who are a significant proportion of the population. (NGO)Submissions broadly agreed on the types of services and supports that need to be available tofamilies and vulnerable children.Support for parents and caregivers: Submissions strongly endorsed parenting programmesand identified the need for better maternity services and support early in a child’s life.Submissions identified a need for more specialised services, including treatment for addictions,family violence and mental health. Arguments for universal services and targeted services wereboth present in the submissions. Some submissions drew attention to the needs of particulargroups of carers; for example, grandparents, foster parents, teen parents and carers of childrenwith disabilities.Improvements to Child, Youth and Family: Submissions called for improvements to Child,Youth and Family practices. Suggestions included better monitoring and screening of families,and upskilling and requiring formal qualifications from people who work with children.Submissions also argued for Child, Youth and Family to provide the resources necessaryfor appropriate decisions to be made on behalf of children and their families (for example,by reducing caseloads and providing more support from experts).10 Executive Summary
Balance not right: Submissions argued that government did not have the balance rightbetween supporting families and protecting children. Submissions were most likely to arguethat the needs of children should come before the needs of parents and caregivers, particularlywhen children were at risk. Other arguments included supporting families so children did notbecome vulnerable, that negative statistics prove the balance is wrong, and that better supportis needed for Child, Youth and Family to make good decisions about child wellbeing.When to step in: Submissions argued that government should step in “as early as possible”,particularly where risk was identified.Address the wider causes of vulnerability: Submissions emphasised the need to address thewider social and economic causes of vulnerability. Submissions recognised the disproportionateburden of poverty and inequality experienced by Māori, Pasifika, and immigrant families.CommunitiesSubmissions endorsed the view that government should support communities and communitygroups – including parents’ groups – to enhance the wellbeing of their children.The Government can support community groups such as mothers’ groups, play groups,Playcentre and schools to offer the best service possible. If these are strong, communityspirit should grow and hopefully this will provide a feeling of responsibility for thechildren that live in that community. (general public)Communities of place, culture, need, and faith: The strongestcall was for government to build and support communities in theirdevelopment. Submissions recognised diverse types ofcommunities, including communities of place, culture, need andfaith. Submissions argued that programmes and initiativessupported by government needed to work with the circumstancesof people’s lives, be adequately resourced, and be located inplaces where people naturally gather.Strengthen communities: Submissions argued that responsibility for vulnerable childrenneeded to be shared more with the community, and that the community needed to have greaterinvolvement in the lives of families. A commonly mentioned phrase was “it takes a village to raisea child”. Submissions suggested more support from local and central government.Working with community leaders: Submissions argued for working with community leaders andencouraging information-sharing and collaboration between government and community agencies.Strengthen families: Submissions advocated policies that would help strengthen families andencourage nurturing of children. Ideas included more support and training for parents, and thatgovernment policy should better recognise the role of parents and caregivers.More programmes and services: Submissions argued that government should introduce orexpand specific programmes and services. Arguments were made for an expansion of supportto parents through education and training programmes, various services that support parentsand intervene early in a child’s life (including early childhood education) and informal forms ofsupport such as mentoring programmes.Practice Changes Policy Changes Show Leadership Share Responsibility Children / Young People Executive SummaryThe Green Paper for Vulnerable Children Full Summary of Submissions11
Page 2 and 3: Published by the Ministry of Social
Page 4: Ministerial forewordWhen I launched
Page 9 and 10: MethodologyHow submissions were ana
Page 15 and 16: Features of an action plan: Some su
Page 17 and 18: Make child-centred policy changesTh
Page 19 and 20: Mandatory reporting: A small number
Page 21 and 22: Improving service deliveryWe want t
Page 23 and 24: The community and government: In th
Page 25 and 26: What does it mean to thrive, belong
Page 27 and 28: When abuse is occurring: A minority
Page 29 and 30: A third party that would act as a m
Page 31 and 32: What kind of information can be sha
Page 33 and 34: A good school, with good teachers w
Page 35 and 36: Children and young people: Free-for
Page 37 and 38: Meet their physical needs: Adults s
Page 39: SchoolsChildren and young people wa
Page 42 and 43: Lower taxes, increase income: Relat
Page 44: Listen to usI reckon adults should
Page 47 and 48: Q&AParents and caregivers:Question
Page 49 and 50: There must be better financial supp
Page 51 and 52: Clearly something is wrong because
Page 53 and 54: When a child is notified or abuse i
Page 55 and 56: The gap between rich and poor is to
Page 57 and 58: Mental health: A small minority of
Page 59 and 60: I would love to see a strengthening
Page 61 and 62:
Increase community action on child
Page 63 and 64:
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
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Raise awareness: A minority said an
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• Improving education.Fund altern
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A Vulnerable Children’s Action Pl
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Goals and actions for a Vulnerable
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School ageEducation: A small minori
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Q&ALegislation changes:Question and
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What other actions or principles wo
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Other: A small minority of submissi
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• reviewing child support provisi
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families in. Service-based strategi
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Vulnerable Māori children need to
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What could be improved to ensure th
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Are the children aggressive (there
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Work in partnership to deliver serv
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Similar to the question and answer
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Reallocating funding: Submissions c
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Reduce funding when not child-centr
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• new motorways and bike tracks
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Review government spending to get b
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Support for universalism: A small m
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MSD has funded a vast array of inte
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SummaryPrioritising carers, family
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• prioritisation should be consid
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What services do you think should b
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• carers needed a realistic, live
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Q&AWatching out for vulnerable chil
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Ten years ago I would have said “
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This should be managed by key peopl
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What negative consequences are impo
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How much personal information shoul
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Under what circumstances should the
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Health professionals: A small minor
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As much as is fiscally practical. I
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from community meetings, other orga
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The ‘one child-one-record’ syst
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needs assessment, culture, mental h
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Removing funding and contractual ba
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Need to link agencies that have peo
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To support New Zealand families we
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The primary level services Plunket
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Q&ABetter connecting vulnerable chi
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All services should feed through sc
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Improving service deliveryThe Green
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What other opportunities exist to d
Page 169 and 170:
Practice ChangesPolicy Changes Show
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