Statement of Intent 2006 - Our Outcomes focus
Abuse, Neglect and Offending
Child, Youth and Family’s legislative mandate means our contribution to these outcomes is mainly focused on children and young people who suffer abuse or neglect, and on those who offend.
Keeping Children and Young People Free from Abuse and Neglect
Most of our work involves preventing the recurrence of child abuse, of neglect, and of insecurity of care – that is, keeping safe children who have already been harmed. For these children and young people who become Child, Youth and Family clients, our work also involves addressing and restoring or improving wellbeing.
We also have a secondary role in working towards preventing the first occurrence of abuse, neglect or insecurity of care.
Our merger with the Ministry of Social Development on 1 July 2006 will strengthen our work to support, protect and care for children and young people.
Keeping Children and Young People Free from Offending
For children and young people to make a positive contribution to society, they need to be free from offending. All of society has a role in steering young people away from offending. Child, Youth and Family works with children and young people who have committed offences.
In contributing towards this outcome, we aim to reduce the rate and severity of child and youth re-offending, and hold young people to account for offending. While working closely with others, we also aim to restore the wellbeing of young offenders.
In working towards both of these outcomes, Child, Youth and Family also aims to achieve secondary outcomes:
- permanency and stability for children and young people who receive our Care and Protection services
- strengthening the resilience of children, young people and their families as a protective measure against the risk of abuse, neglect and offending
- restoration of wellbeing for children and young people who have been abused, and for young offenders.
Our Priorities
Child, Youth and Family has chosen the following priorities for 2006/2007:
Reducing Time in Care for Children and Young People
There has been a steady increase in the number of children and young people in care in New Zealand. Improving permanency and stability for children and young people in care is an outcome for Child, Youth and Family. We will:
- support our family and whanau clients to look after their own children and young people
- work towards achieving more stability and permanency in children and young peoples’ lives
- support early intervention and prevention
- continue to develop a more integrated approach to children and young people who receive our services.
Administering Youth Justice Services
Focusing on improving Youth Justice services and on increasing the options available for addressing youth offending and re-offending is an outcome for Child, Youth and Family. We will:
- enhance our capacity and capability - for example, in delivering quality Family Group Conferences and better implementation of plans and orders
- develop the capacity and capability of Youth Justice providers - for example, in managing placements
- complete and implement the Youth Justice Capability Review.
Responding to Demand
Reports of child abuse and neglect have risen significantly over the last two years. However, it is not certain that these trends reflect higher actual levels of child abuse and neglect. To help determine and manage demand, we will:
- continue to develop effective ways of responding to the demand for our services, for example, by establishing ways of tailoring our services to meet the needs of children, young people and their families
- improve our understanding of the drivers of demand
- continually develop and improve our ability to deliver high quality services
- complete a Responses to Demand External Review (to follow)
- develop our core capabilities to underpin the sustainable delivery of high quality services to children, young people and their families
- develop the capability and capacity of external providers to deliver high quality services
- contribute to the social service sector through our leadership, in ensuring vulnerable children, young people and their families have access to the “right door” at the right time
- consolidate gains in our economy, efficiency and effectiveness.
Responses to Demand External Review
This review was directed by the Cabinet Committee on Government Expenditure. Its primary objective is to improve the performance of the Care and Protection system (and its value for money) in managing demand for services within the resources available. The fundamental goal is to address sustainability of the Care and Protection system by stabilising and then reducing the notifications of abuse and neglect.
The review will be undertaken between March and September 2006 and will focus specifically on two parts of the Care and Protection system:
- the entry point, or “front-end”, of the statutory (Child, Youth and Family) part of the system, and
- the early intervention contribution that community service providers and other government agencies (particularly Police, Health and Education) can make to ensuring the right service responses are directed to the right children and families, and also reduce the pressure on the statutory system.
The review will be undertaken in two phases:
Phase one will deliver a synopsis of what is currently known about the factors underpinning the growth in notifications to Child, Youth and Family, the interface between Child, Youth and Family’s clients and other government sectors, and the current responses in New Zealand and in comparable jurisdictions.
Phase two will develop the “whole of government” and specific organisational responses to those factors including information sharing, improved management systems or cross-cutting responses. Phase two will focus on quick wins and action learning, and will have three work streams:
- Early Intervention – building a continuum of preventative services so the potential clients of Child, Youth and Family have their needs met before they become notifications
- Managing Demand – this will include:
- an examination of the impact of re-notifications on service demand and recommendations for addressing this
- improving the consistency of how the Child, Youth and Family threshold is defined
- influencing notifier behaviour to improve the quality of notifications focused on children and young people seriously at risk
- Smart Screening – reviewing whether there are more effective tools to distinguish genuine Care and Protection concerns from those cases not requiring a statutory intervention, and identifying a multi-service approach to those families most likely to have on-going issues that would increase the likelihood of re-notifications.
What We Aim to Achieve
In working towards achieving our outcomes, we will continue to progress several strategic initiatives aimed at improving our ability to respond to demand, reduce the number of children and young people in care, and build our capability.
