Statement of Intent 2005 - Children and Young People
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High Level Outcome
All children thrive in childhood, are respected and valued, have the opportunity to reach their full potential and participate positively in society now and in the future.
Context
‘Whole child’ and youth development services
New Zealand’s long-term social and economic wellbeing depends on achieving better social outcomes for children and young people. Children and young people need a wide range of social services to support their needs, from early intervention to services for children and young people experiencing serious problems. Providing strong and effective services requires us to build the capability of the care and protection workforce.
Key government strategies for children and young people include the Sustainable Development for New Zealand Programme of Action - Investing in Child and Youth Development, the Agenda for Children and the Youth Development Strategy Aotearoa.
These strategies are underpinned by the Government’s ‘whole-child’ and ‘youth development’ approaches to improving outcomes for children and young people, and acknowledge the need to celebrate the achievements of young people by focusing on the good and positive rather than pointing out the negative. The whole-child approach is about focusing on the child’s whole life and circumstances; taking a long-term view of what the child needs for healthy development; and working across government to improve outcomes. The youth development approach is about investing in young people now to pave the way for a positive future for all New Zealanders, as today’s youth are the parents, workers and adult citizens of the future.
The wellbeing of children and young people
In recent years, we have seen many improvements in the overall wellbeing of children and young people in areas like health, housing, employment, and economic status. However, our progress is still poor in some areas, and disparities remain for Maori and Pacific young people:
- Poverty for children and young people has decreased since the mid-1990s, but still remains high compared to the mid-1980s. The Government’s Working for Families package is predicted to improve this situation.
- Obesity is a significant problem for children and young people.
- Child abuse and neglect rates have not changed for the past six years. The number of child deaths by maltreatment in New Zealand is higher than the OECD average, and Maori and Pacific children are more at risk of abuse and neglect.
- Teenage smoking rates have declined in recent years, and are now low by international standards; however, smoking is increasing among young Maori women.
- Compared to other OECD countries, New Zealand has a high birth rate for under 18 year olds, and a high youth suicide rate (although this has declined in recent years).
- Participation in early childhood education has increased, particularly among Pacific children, but their participation rates are still slightly lower than rates for all other ethnic groups.
- The proportion of school leavers with no qualifications fell sharply in the late 1980s, from 26% in 1986 to 16% in 1989, but fluctuated between 16% and 19% over the decade to 2002.
- Youth apprehension numbers have remained at around 22% of apprehensions over the past decade. Maori are over represented in this group.
- The youth unemployment rate in December 2004 was 8.8%. The youth unemployment rate has declined steadily from 14.6% in 1998 but is still higher than it was in 1986 (7.9%) and substantially higher than the overall unemployment rate (3.6% in December 2004).
A changing profile
In 1991, children who identified as Maori, Pacific, or Asian made up 30% of the population under 18 years of age. This increased to 42% in 2001, and is projected to rise to 60% by 2021.
The Ministry's role
To improve outcomes for children and young people, the Ministry:
- provides advice on child and youth policy, including the care and protection of children and young people, and youth justice issues
- co-ordinates policy across government sectors such as health, education, and care and protection
- leads the Agenda for Children, the Investing in Child and Youth Development action area within the Sustainable Development for New Zealand Programme of Action and the Youth Development Strategy Aotearoa
- co-ordinates Government’s work programme implementing the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCROC)
- provides information and funds programmes to support parents and to prevent, or to mitigate the impact of, violence within families
- funds and manages youth development programmes such as the Conservation Corps and the Youth Services Corps
- co-ordinates the Government’s Youth Transitions Service pilots
- provides employment services and training opportunities, along with income support and entitlements
- enables young people to access tertiary education by providing access to Student Loans and Student Allowances.
Our focus for the next three years
Social services for children and young people must form a continuum that can provide support of appropriate intensity, duration and focus, depending on the needs of the child or young person.
Our main challenge for the next three years is strengthening this continuum, to ensure that services are properly co-ordinated, appropriately resourced, and accessible to children, young people, and their families. As a contribution to achieving this, our key areas of focus for 2005/06 will include:
- implementing an early intervention programme for vulnerable children and their families
- strengthening care and protection services for children and young people.
Early Intervention
The early years are the most important for child development. Effective early intervention can improve vulnerable children’s health, learning ability, and social and emotional development, and can reduce neglect and insecurity.
To provide all children with the best start in life and to enable them to reach their potential, the Ministry is leading a multi-year, cross-agency early intervention programme to improve support to vulnerable children from before birth until they start school. The programme will increase support to vulnerable children by building on universal services, by improving the coverage, effectiveness, and co-ordination of targeted services, and by improving access to services for vulnerable families.
Strengthening care and protection services
The 2003 Baseline Review of the Department of Child, Youth and Family Services (CYF) highlighted the need to focus on the safety and security of care for children. Over the coming year, we will assist CYF to implement a new model that will enable them to improve their response to notifications of child abuse, neglect and violence.
We are facing a severe scarcity of appropriately skilled, qualified, and experienced social workers for children and young people, as well as early childhood workers and early childhood health workers. We need to plan and take action now, to ensure that effective, competent and appropriately qualified people continue to be available to meet the diverse needs of children, young people and their families.
To strengthen the overall care and protection sector, we will support non-government organisations to build their capability both to prevent emerging problems from escalating and to provide effective post-CYF support to families.
Seeing results
The results our work aims to achieve, today and for future generations, are that children and young people:
- are loved and supported
- experience an adequate standard of living
- enjoy good health
- have opportunities to build important knowledge, skills and behaviours
- are in work, education, training, or another activity that contributes to their long-term economic independence and wellbeing
- have lives free from violence, crime, bullying, abuse and neglect
- are valued and have their views respected, and can take part in decisions that affect them.
Our six contributing outcomes will help us to bring about these results and to achieve our high-level outcome for children and young people. We have reworded these contributing outcomes so they align with the outcomes framework of the Government’s Sustainable Development for New Zealand Programme of Action - Investing in Child and Youth Development.
Children and young people enjoy a secure attachment to family and whanau and other nurturing relationships where they are valued, respected and supported to explore and develop
Parents and families are primary sources of nurturing, protection, support and guidance for children, particularly in the early years of a child’s life. Over the next three years, we will work on a range of activities to help foster an environment in which all children and young people are loved and supported.
The Early Intervention programme aims to address problems early, to avoid the need for statutory intervention later. Early Intervention pilots will include:
- a programme providing education, support, and outreach activities for vulnerable parents of children aged 0-3 years
- a universal parenting support service that focuses on preventing behavioural problems in young children, identifying parenting problems, and linking families to intensive services.
From 1 July 2005, Family and Community Services within the Ministry will be responsible for funding support programmes for children in vulnerable families. The support programmes include:
- Family Start - the Government’s major targeted support programme for families with infants. Budget 2004 provided funding to expand Family Start from 16 to 27 locations, over three years to 2007. Budget 2005 also provides for a further expansion to 4-6 small towns or rural areas.
- SKIP (Strategies with Kids: Information for Parents) - promotes positive parenting and provides practical knowledge for parents and caregivers of children aged 0-5 years on safe, effective, non-physical ways of disciplining children. It includes resources for parents, training packages to strengthen parent support and education programmes, and a Local Initiatives Fund for community-based programmes. We have established a partnership with Barnardos to strengthen support for staff and parents, and will:
- continue to build relationships with other national providers, including Plunket, Parents Centre, Kohanga Reo, and Parent to Parent
- complete the development of training modules and resources for distribution to organisations working with parents
- continue funding community initiatives for positive parenting through the Local Initiatives Fund; 65 initiatives have been funded so far.
- Strengthening Families Local Collaboration - is a well established initiative that promotes integrated service provision for at-risk families at a local level. We have recently conducted a review of the programme to enhance its effectiveness and consistency as a model for future service development. Budget 2005 also provides funding to extend the average number of paid hours of work for Strengthening Families Co-ordinators.
Children and young people enjoy a secure standard of living that means that they can participate in society
Economic hardship can reduce the quality of children's lives and have an adverse effect on their development outcomes. Our work to reduce and prevent hardship for children and young people ranges from improving family living standards to helping young people take part in study and move into employment.
Working for Families is a government package that aims to lift living standards and make it easier for people to work and raise a family. Around 300,000 families with dependent children gain from the Working for Families package, when fully implemented. Young people in employment will also gain from the Working for Families’ changes to the Accommodation Supplement. We will continue to promote, implement, and evaluate Working for Families.
Children and young people enjoy good physical and mental health with access to appropriate healthcare services
Children and young people in good health are more likely to thrive in other areas of their lives and to realise their potential. Good health encompasses safety and physical and emotional wellbeing, and is influenced by many factors, including socio-economic status and the environment. To help improve health outcomes for children and young people, we will continue to lead work in the following areas.
Following a recent evaluation of the Youth Suicide Prevention Strategy, the Ministry of Youth Development (MYD), located within the Ministry of Social Development, will work with the Ministry of Health to design a more comprehensive strategy that reflects the latest research on youth suicide prevention, and addresses suicide issues across all age groups.
The evaluation found that, overall, stakeholders have a high level of confidence in the Youth Suicide Prevention Strategy, finding it valuable for teaching programmes, training workshops, and as a resource for other suicide prevention initiatives.
MYD is actively working to improve outcomes for young males at risk of poor outcomes such as low educational outcomes, involvement with crime or other anti-social activity, unemployment, or suicide. A literature review on young males at risk of harming themselves or others has provided a solid base for MYD to design and develop positive programmes for young ‘at-risk’ males.
Our delivery of the Family Start programme for parents needing support will also contribute to positive outcomes for children and families.
Children and young people obtain the knowledge and skills to enable them to participate in society, feel secure with their identity, develop socially constructive behaviour and the capacity for economic independence
Education provides children and young people with the knowledge and skills they need to create and pursue opportunities in life. Our contribution in supporting the education of children and young people encompasses a number of areas.
Over the next three years we will implement and evaluate recent increases to Childcare Assistance, designed to enable more parents to access quality early childhood education for their children and to increase their own workforce participation. We will also implement a new pilot project to enable vulnerable children in Family Start and Early Start families to access quality early childhood education.
We are working with the Ministry of Education to pilot parenting education, social support, and outreach activities based at, or closely linked to, early childhood education centres.
We are contributing to the achievement of the goal shared by Government and the Mayors’ Taskforce for Jobs, to get all 15 to 19 year olds engaged in education, training, work or other activities leading to long-term economic independence and wellbeing by 2007. This is achieved through our national co-ordination of the Youth Transitions Service which targets young people at serious risk of missing out on work, education, or training after they leave school. The service consists of 14 pilots around New Zealand. Five pilots are already operational, five will become operational in July 2005 and the remaining four will be operational in 2006.
Budget 2004 provided funding to expand the Social Workers in Schools programme to a total of 330 primary and intermediate schools. The Department of Child, Youth and Family Services delivers the programme and the expansions funded through Budget 2004 will continue to be implemented in 2005/06. In 2006/07, the Ministry will look at the feasibility of further expanding this programme.
Through StudyLink, we will continue to ensure students have access to tertiary education regardless of their financial situation. StudyLink will also work to ensure that students make the right educational and financial choices, and are able to gain a quality education while incurring as little debt as possible.
We will also continue to implement Step-Up scholarships for low-income students studying human and animal health degrees, encouraging participation in tertiary education by low-income New Zealanders, and increasing the retention of skilled graduates.
To encourage socially constructive behaviour we will continue to develop a more effective approach to improving youth justice outcomes, including measures to address problem behaviours in young children before these behaviours become entrenched. We will develop a strategic approach to tackling more established problems in older children and young people, building on work already underway through the Youth Offending Teams.
The 2003 Baseline Review of CYF and the establishment of Family and Community Services (FACS) created opportunities for us to strengthen the implementation of the Youth Offending Strategy. The strategy identified the need for early intervention with children and young people at risk of further offending. We will work with other government agencies and with community organisations to develop local networks of services for children and young people who are at risk or are already offending.
Children and young people enjoy personal safety, and are free from abuse, victimisation, violence and avoidable injury and death
All children and young people have a right to personal safety. Their positive outcomes depend, first and foremost, on their protection from harm. The Ministry provides policy advice on the care and protection of children and young people, and takes part in co-ordinating policy across government. We will lead the Taskforce on Action on Violence within Families, which includes child abuse and neglect as a focus area.
Budget 2005 provides funding for the Ministry to implement new family violence intervention services as part of the Early Intervention programme. These services will include the appointment of 45 child advocates to support children who witness family violence, and the increased availability of effective services, such as education programmes and therapeutic interventions, for these children.
The child advocates will be based in non-government organisations across the country by 2009/10. Training will be put in place to support them, and to increase non-government organisations’ awareness of the needs of children who witness family violence.
Strengthening care and protection
We will continue to lead the development of a Workforce Programme for Action to strengthen the statutory and non-statutory care and protection sector, and to ensure a suitably qualified, skilled, and effective workforce. The programme will improve recruitment, retention, training, and organisational development in the non-statutory sector. We will also undertake research to profile the non-statutory sector.
We will work to improve access to advice and information that supports community and voluntary organisations to deliver effective services.
We will continue to take a leadership role across the statutory social work sector, to ensure a consistent and comprehensive approach to addressing workforce issues. This will include:
- working alongside the Social Workers Registration Board, the Tertiary Education Commission, CYF, and training providers, to improve the quality of social work training
- assisting CYF to implement a new model that will allow a more flexible and appropriate response to notifications of child abuse, neglect and violence.
We will ensure that agencies1 meet with the Children’s Commissioner on a quarterly basis to monitor their progress with implementing the remaining recommendations from the 2003 Aplin report, to share information on interagency projects, and to increase interagency cohesion and collaboration.
In February 2006, we will co-host, with CYF and the Children’s Commissioner, the 10th Australasian Conference on Child Abuse and Neglect (ACCAN). The conference theme is: Kia Puawai O Nga Tamariki – Blossoming of Our Children: Resilience, Rights and Responsibilities. This is the first time the conference will be held outside Australia, and we expect that around 600 delegates will attend.
Children and young people are given the opportunity to participate in decisions that affect them now and in the future and their views are considered
The wellbeing, sense of belonging, and sense of identity of children and young people is heavily dependent on them having a sense of control over their lives, being able to participate in their communities, and having a say on issues that affect them.
The Ministry leads the Government’s overarching strategies for children and young people:
- Investing in Child and Youth Development, an action area within the Government’s Sustainable Development for New Zealand Programme of Action
- the Agenda for Children, the strategy for child policy and services
- through the Ministry of Youth Development, the Youth Development Strategy Aotearoa (YDSA), which provides a framework for central and local government to include young people in policy and planning.
A key objective of these documents is to increase children and young people’s participation in decision making that affects them.
Over the next three years, we will:
- continue to monitor the wellbeing of children and young people
- continue to work with local and central government to promote an understanding of the Agenda for Children’s ‘whole child’ approach
- review and update the YDSA
- promote children and young people’s participation with central and local government
- develop resources to help youth development networks further implement the YDSA
- continue to work with other agencies to provide annual progress reports to Government on the UNCROC five-year work programme.
To promote sustainable youth development, we need to work with all the relevant players at national, regional, and local levels. Over the coming year MYD will establish 4 Regional Hubs. They will:
- provide information about access to services for young people
- use local services mapping to lead co-ordinated planning and funding processes across government agencies in local communities, aiming to identify good practice and innovation in youth development
- provide partnership funding to help local government advance the principles of the Youth Development Strategy Aotearoa.
The Local Government Act 2002 requires local authorities to work with their communities in planning for outcomes. MYD will reprioritise baseline funding to establish a Youth Development Partnership Fund, enabling MYD to work with local authorities to:
- trial new youth development initiatives that foster innovation and enterprise
- promote learning and the awareness of youth development good practice in other sectors, to support regional youth development.
With two funding rounds a year, the Fund will give priority to projects that support the principles of the YDSA, including young people’s participation in decision making.
MYD will also continue to organise and promote the three-yearly Youth Parliament that aims to:
- help young people understand and actively participate in parliament
- help young people have their views heard by key decision makers and the general public
- help young people learn how to influence government decision making
- highlight the importance of young people’s participation in decision making.
Research and evaluation
Key pieces of research and evaluation inform our policy and service delivery for children and young people:
- The Youth Transitions Service evaluation will support the development of the Youth Transitions Service, which aims to help young people leaving school make a smooth transition into further education, training or employment. This ‘real time’ evaluation helps us to adjust our initiatives as our findings show us what works.
- Research on Achieving Effective Outcomes in Youth Justice has identified how professional practice can lead to successful outcomes for young offenders attending family group conferences.
- The Early Intervention for Vulnerable Families research involves reviewing and assessing research literature to identify early intervention efforts that lead to positive outcomes for young children and their families/whanau.
- The Pacific Peoples Provider Development Fund evaluation involves assessing how well the Pacific Peoples Provider Development Fund is improving the management and administration of non-government services funded by CYF for Pacific children and young people.
- The Development Phase for a new Longitudinal Study of New Zealand Children and Families will lay a firm foundation for a new longitudinal study of New Zealand children and their families. The study will provide information on the status of key wellbeing indicators and grow into a solid evidence base for future social policy.
- The Child Wellbeing Indicator Development work has involved developing indicators that will enable us to measure changes in child wellbeing against New Zealand’s Agenda for Children, New Zealand’s Youth Development Strategy, New Zealand’s commitment to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, and the ‘Investing in Child and Youth Development’ component of the Sustainable Development for New Zealand Programme of Action.
- Assessing the social services sector supporting vulnerable children and families research will provide information on capacity, capability and gaps in the sector, including the non-governmental workforce, to help government strengthen service delivery.
Managing Our Capabilities
Our capability to achieve positive outcomes for children and young people has been enhanced over the last 18 months as a result of:
- The establishment of the Ministry of Youth Development (formally Youth Affairs), which operates within our Social Services Policy area
- the establishment of Family and Community Services to lead and co-ordinate services that support families.
Other changes that will further enhance our capability in this area include:
- the development of a future focused Ministry of Youth Development (MYD) Capability Plan that will identify effective structures and strategies to build our policy and operational service delivery capability in this area. This will support the Government’s Youth Development Strategy and enable us to achieve better outcomes for young people.
Monitoring Progress
Outcome indicators
In 2004, we produced the report Children and Young People: Indicators of Wellbeing in New Zealand, as part of our work towards the Sustainable Development for New Zealand Programme of Action. The report has been a key information source for identifying the most appropriate outcome indicators that will provide a picture of some of the aspects of wellbeing for children and young people.
| Indicators - Living Standards of Children and Young People | ||
|---|---|---|
| Indicator | Current | Trend |
| Percentage of dependent children under 18 years experiencing lower standards of living | 29% (2000) |
Not yet available |
| Percentage of Ma-ori families experiencing lower standards of living | 49% (2000) |
Not yet available |
| Percentage of Pacific families experiencing lower standards of living | 42% (2000) |
Not yet available |
| Source: New Zealand Living Standards 2000 Note: Lower standards of living refers to Economic Living Standard Index (ELSI) levels 1-3 |
||
| Indicators - Children and Young People at Risk | ||
| Indicator | Current | Trend |
| Substantiated notifications of abuse and neglect per 1,000 children aged 0-16 years | 7.4 (2003) |
Uncertain |
| Suicide deaths per 100,000 15-24 year olds | 20.0 (2001) |
Declining |
| Births to females under 18 years per 1,000 females aged 15-17 years | 14.9 (2004) |
Declining |
| Births to Ma-ori females under 18 years per 1,000 Maori females aged 15-17 years | 40.1 (2004) |
Declining |
| Sources: The Social Report 2004, Statistics New Zealand | ||
| Indicators - Young People in Transition to Adulthood | ||
| Indicator | Current | Trend |
| Estimated percentage of 15-19 year olds not in formal education, training or work | 7.0-8.4% (June2004) |
Declining |
| Percentage of young people aged 15-24 years in the labour market who are unemployed | 9.4% (2004) |
Declining |
| Percentage of Mäori young people aged 15-24 years in the labour market who are unemployed | 17.4% (2004) |
Declining |
| Percentage of Pacific young people aged 15-24 years in the labour market who are unemployed | 15.6% (2004) |
Declining |
| Percentage of young people aged 18-24 years undertaking tertiary education | 36.4% (2003) |
Increasing |
| Percentage of 18-24 year olds who completed a tertiary qualification | 9.6% (2002) |
Increasing |
| Sources: Statistics New Zealand, Household Economic Survey, Census, Household Labour Force Survey, Ministry of Education | ||
1 Agencies include: the Ministries of Education, Health, Justice and Social Development, New Zealand Police and the Department of Child, Youth and Family Services.
