Supporting Vulnerable Children

All children belong in families that love and nurture them. We will re-orient the way we provide social services to focus on Government Priorities and to drive results for vulnerable families, children and young people.

What we want to achieve

The Government Theme of Supporting Vulnerable Children has three specific result areas. The Ministry co-ordinates the cross-agency effort to achieve all three result areas including Government Result Area Number 4 Reduce the number of assaults on children.

With support from the Ministry of Education, we co-ordinate the cross-agency effort to deliver on Government Result Area Number 2 Increase participation in early childhood education. 

With support from the Ministry of Health, we co-ordinate the cross-agency effort to deliver on Government Result Area Number 3 Increase infant immunisation rates and reduce the incidence of rheumatic fever. 

We will achieve this by working across government and delivering strong and effective social services to keep children safe. We also provide communities with the tools they need for children to thrive and families to succeed.

Specifically, in our context, we will deliver on Ministry Outcomes: 

• Fewer children are vulnerable
• More efficient and effective allocation of government resources to meet community needs.

Fewer children are vulnerable

Linking it all together

Government Theme	Supporting Vulnerable Children
Ministry Outcome	Fewer children are vulnerable
Ministry intermediate outcomes	Fewer babies, children and young people are harmed	More children are in safe, permanent care	More children in care have improved health and wellbeing	More children experience good parenting
Ministry interventions	Provide information and resources on improving parenting Deliver in-home parenting support for parents of children more likely to have poor outcomes Provide in-home intensive services for at-risk families with young children Provide intensive case workers for the most vulnerable teen parents and their children who live in areas with high numbers or high rates of teen births and high deprivation Work with hospitals and health providers, schools, the New Zealand Police and non-government organisations to identify and respond to at-risk children as soon as possible Find a new safe and secure permanent place to call their own with extended family/whanau in the first instance or non-family/whanau thereafter for children and young people in care who are unable to return home Comprehensively assess all children and young people in care to ensure they get the right services to address their needs Explore new initiatives to help families manage on low incomes and to reduce stress on families
Ministry Output Expenses that Contribute	Vote Social Development Adoption Services Care and Protection Services Children's Action plan Development and Funding of Community Services Family and Community Services Planning, Correspondence and Monitoring Prevention Services Social Policy Advice (MCOA) Youth Justice Services

Fewer children are vulnerable

Too many children have a childhood that makes it unlikely that they will thrive, belong and achieve. We help build stronger families and support parents to do better for their children. For those children who need it, we provide protection.

The next three years

action for children…

The Children’s Action Plan will deliver the solutions outlined in the White Paper for Vulnerable Children by fundamentally changing and improving the way we identify, support and protect our vulnerable children.

Agencies, families and the wider community all jointly share the responsibility for protecting vulnerable children. 

changing the law…

We will use legislation to make children safer. Legislation will enable us to introduce civil orders to keep our children safe from abusers, and special guardianship orders for safe and stable permanent care for children who have been removed from their parents.

Legislation will also provide an agreed framework that covers agencies working with children and require them to have policies and reporting systems in place that recognise and report child abuse and neglect. It will also introduce a requirement for mandatory safety checks to be made on those working with children to reduce the risk of harm. 

joint accountability…

The Chief Executives of the Ministries of Social Development, Health, Education, Justice, New Zealand Police, Business, Innovation, and Employment (Housing) and Te Puni Kōkiri are already working together in this space. Further changes will see some Chief Executives jointly accountable for achieving better results for vulnerable children.

The Vulnerable Children’s Board is chaired by the Chief Executive of the Ministry of Social Development. The Board reports to a Ministerial Oversight Group, chaired by the Minister for Social Development, comprising the Ministers of Finance, Justice, Health, Education, Police, and Whānau Ora.

standing together…

The National Children’s Director, appointed by the Vulnerable Children’s Board, is responsible for establishing the regional arrangements to support the new Children’s Teams and

co-ordinate the delivery of the Children’s Action Plan. The Regional Children’s Directors provide regional strategic leadership ensuring Children’s Teams and services are effective for those vulnerable children who sit below the Child, Youth and Family threshold.

Progressive roll-out of Children’s Teams in regions has begun with two Demonstration Sites being established in Rotorua and Whangarei. 

community action…

Safe homes start in the community and we have a role of support. The Child Protect Line will be a way to report concerns by phone, email, text or online. 

sharing what we know…

Often, when a child has been abused or maltreated, it is found that many people held pieces of information, which if put together would have shown how unsafe the child was. An information management system will be established across key government and non-government agencies to draw together information on the most vulnerable children. This will be a tool that agencies and professionals on the frontline will use. The security of the information management system will be paramount. 

focusing on what works…

Our purchasing decisions will prioritise vulnerable children and we will be funding only those programmes and services that make a difference. The Families Commission helps to grow the effectiveness of programmes in the community through the newly established Social Policy Evaluation and Research Unit.

It will work also with the Ministry to build on our knowledge of effective parenting programmes.

We will look at our current funding and identify how Well Child/Tamariki Ora and Family Start can be better integrated.

resolution…

The Minister for Social Development commissioned an independent review of complaints processes relating to Child, Youth and Family as a key part of implementing the Children’s Action Plan. This review will determine whether changes to current complaints processes need to be made and include the possibility of establishing an independent complaints mechanism. The Recommendations of the review are to be released before the end of 2013.

early childhood education…

Parents are the first teachers of their children. Our support programmes will help parents be better at helping their child’s early development and learning.

From July 2013 legislation changes will introduce new expectations requiring beneficiaries with children to take all reasonable steps to ensure their children take advantage of early childhood education opportunities. These new obligations are consistent with the Government’s key Result Areas and the White Paper on Vulnerable Children.

For teen parents the Guaranteed Childcare Assistance Payment ensures that they can get access to quality early childhood education for their children. It also ensures that young parents can either meet their youth activity obligations or return to, or remain in, secondary education.

We will also work actively with caregivers and early childhood education providers to increase early childhood participation for children in vulnerable families and for those in care. 

stronger social work frontline…

We are providing social workers in all decile 1-3 schools to ensure that we are getting the right support in schools to meet the needs of at-risk children and young people.

To increase the capability of Child, Youth and Family social workers, we are implementing a workforce strategy to develop the right skills needed for working with our children. This will be supported by continuing our drive to have a social work workforce that is registered.

home for life…

We understand the importance of providing a safe and stable place for a child to call home. We will work with families to enable the return of children safely to their care. Where this is not possible we will look to find a home for life with extended family/whānau in the first instance or non-family/whānau.

Strengthening our partnerships with iwi will be key to increasing the placement options for children that cannot return home or be placed with extended family/whānau. This will be achieved through the development of strong relationships and clear goals. Our Memorandum of Understanding with Ngapuhi is a good example of this. 

services for children in care…

We are working with Government agencies to enhance services to ensure children in care are safe, healthy, achieving, positively participating and that they have a sense of belonging. For children and young people in
care we will:

• develop a multi-agency strategy, under the Children’s Action Plan, with cross-agency responsibility and accountability to deliver results
• develop new frameworks for assessment, care planning, implementation and review of plans
• ensure comprehensive assessments to ensure they have the right services to address their needs.

For caregivers we will: 

• provide child-centred care through high quality placements and tailored support
• establish a national register of approved iwi caregivers
• ensure high quality recruitment, assessment, review and approval processes.

ensuring children’s voices are heard…

We are working effectively with children and young people in care by involving them, listening to them and taking notice of what they say. Feedback is used at national and local level to shape future service delivery and development.

It is key that children and young people are involved in decisions that affect them. This includes processes around the needs, strengths and risks assessment, and integrated care plans.

How we will demonstrate success

We will know that we have achieved our outcome when there are strong and effective social services to keep children safe and provide communities with the information and support they need to enable children to succeed.

We will contribute to Government Result Area Number 2 Increase participation in early childhood education, Government Result Area Number 3 Increase infant immunisation rates and reduce the incidence of rheumatic fever and Government Result Area Number 4 Reduce the number of assaults on children.

More efficient and effective allocation of government resources to meet community needs

Linking it all together

Government Theme	Supporting Vulnerable Children
Ministry Outcome	More efficient and effective allocation of government resources to meet community needs
Ministry Intermediate Outcome	More communities are better able to support themselves
Ministry Intervention	Funding prioritised to the communities most in need
Ministry Output Expenses that Contribute	Vote Social Development Administration of Trialling New Approaches to Social Sector Change Development and Funding of Community Services Family and Community Services Management of Service Cards (MCOA) Planning, Correspondence and Monitoring Promoting Positive Outcomes for Disabled People Social Policy Advice (MCOA) Tailored Sets of Services to Help People into Work or Achieve Independence Youth Justice Services

More efficient and effective allocation of government resources to meet community needs

We will drive positive results for individuals, vulnerable families, children and young people by targeting funding to services and community initiatives that respond most effectively to Government priorities.

The next three years

A key priority for Government is reforming the way agencies contract services, in particular with non-government organisations. Government priorities and community needs will drive funding decisions. This is about focusing on how Government works, the capability of providers and the connection between the two.

Across many communities the way government contracts have developed has led to inefficiencies in some delivery including some duplication of services and gaps in other places. This is obviously not the best for these communities or our providers.

Contracts reflect the Ministry’s relationship with our service providers and represent the goals and aspirations of both parties. Changes made over the next three years, through Investing in Services for Outcomes, will provide a simpler and more streamlined contracting approach.

Improved contracting will transform the way the Ministry operates, ensuring funding is used effectively in a sector with more providers working together to make a bigger and better difference. Investment in Ministry-funded service providers will focus squarely on achieving the best possible outcomes for people, families, whanau and communities. 

re-orienting service provision…

We will invest in long-term programmes and services. For our providers this means changing the way they provide services through focusing on sustainable client outcomes targeted at vulnerable citizens.

From July 2013, we will start shifting to funding for outcomes approach. We will start with the providers receiving more than $4 million from the Ministry. 

The Ministry will introduce a single approval process for all providers. Our intention is to move all providers to a single contract and consistent approval, monitoring and reporting framework. From July 2014, we will focus on reducing compliance and maximising efficiency for the organisations receiving less than $1 million. 

understanding community needs…

We must not lose sight of the importance of understanding local needs and what works best for different communities.

We know we need to do more to understand what actually makes a difference for individuals, vulnerable families, children and young people at a grass-roots level. Currently we have 12 Community Response Model forums that will continue to provide the Minister with advice on community priorities, and opportunities to address the Government’s social development priorities within their communities. We are using Non-government Organisation Advisory Groups which the Minister for Social Development established to support the robust development of the ISO approach. Members are drawn from the community and bring with them a wealth of expertise.

We will continue to look at ways we can work closely with local communities to get their input into what matters and makes a real difference for them.

identifying the right services…

The Ministry will ensure funding is targeted to the right services for the right clients through the best providers.

Our Organisational Self-Assessment Tool will allow our providers to assess their organisational capability for strength and sustainability.

A Capability Investment Resource will support the social sector to work in more flexible, results-focused, innovative and integrated ways. In future years the Capability Investment Resource will encourage and incentivise providers to join up and to effectively and efficiently deliver outcomes.

Sitting alongside this is a Capability Mentoring service to ensure Ministry-funded organisations are aligned with the ISO approach.

streamlining contracting…

We are streamlining our contracting and relationship management approach to reduce compliance costs both for the Ministry and providers. A consistent contracting framework across service lines and a common point of contact for providers transacting
with us will be key.

Providers will have longer-term contracts and a stronger relationship with the Ministry. This approach starts with the Ministry, but could be expanded across government’s investment in the social sector. 

reducing compliance costs…

Streamlining our approach means reduced compliance costs, increased accountability and stability – for providers, communities and for us. We will prevent unnecessary duplication of administration and reporting meaning better value to taxpayers.

responding to family violence…

We will continue to support direct services to families/whānau where family violence has occurred. These services will help restore safety and wellbeing as well as create long-term changes to prevent family violence from reoccurring.

E Tu Whānau: to address family violence works directly with whānau, hapū and iwi to identify solutions and implement them at a local level. It focuses on building the capability of whānau, hapū and iwi, as well as providers to work with

flexibility and innovation in service response so that the needs of a particular community can be responded to. It is supported by the Māori Reference Group, who provide advice on Government’s strategic policies, services and planning priorities that address violence in Te Ao Māori.

We also support Pacific providers to build their capability to provide culturally appropriate interventions to victims of family violence, perpetrators and their families. The Pacific Advisory Group will continue to provide advice on Government’s strategic policies, services and planning priorities that address violence in the diverse range of Pacific communities.

We will maintain our strong commitment to the national Campaign for Action on Family Violence (It’s not Ok campaign). Through the campaign we will support communities to create safe environments for children and families, encourage people to take action when they know violence is happening and motivate people to change their damaging behaviour. This includes providing information about how children are affected by family violence and how they can be helped.

leading at a national level…

We will continue to step in where there are gaps in particular communities. This includes Civil Defence Emergency Management following events such as the Canterbury earthquakes.

By supporting vulnerable and marginalised newcomer communities, such as refugees and new immigrants, we will enable them to participate fully in New Zealand society.

Working alongside the disability community, we are committed to cross-agency efforts to remove barriers and build opportunities, particularly for work. The Enabling Good Lives approach will critically change the disability support system from providing a standard menu of services to a more flexible and tailored approach, where the disabled person and their family retain choice and control over support. It emphasises facilitation of building community support and focusing on achieving ordinary life outcomes.

Community projects help to change the attitudes and behaviour that limit opportunities for disabled people, and we will continue to build partnerships through the Making a Difference Fund.

How we will demonstrate success

We will know that we have achieved our outcome when communities are strong, families are strong and children get the support that they need. We will demonstrate our success by monitoring the proportion of families who receive support and assistance from funded providers.

We will co-ordinate the cross-agency response to Government Result Area Number 2 Increase participation in early childhood education, Government Result Area Number 3 Increase infant immunisation rates and reduce the incidence of rheumatic fever and Government Result Area Number 4 Reduce the number of assaults on children.

To be accountable and demonstrate our progress, we will use short and long-term measures to track our achievement. Our short-term performance will be measured against the performance measures in our key accountability documents. 

*New indicator for 2013/2014