Statement of Intent 2007 - Children and young people
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Children and young people are New Zealand’s future. The start they have in life influences how positive that future is – for themselves, their families and whänau, for their communities, and for the country.
Most families – young and old, provide safe, loving and supportive homes for their children. But parents and families can face pressures that can affect their ability to cope. They need support to provide their children with the best start, and support to help their children successfully navigate the journey to adulthood.
Our 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
Every New Zealand child and young person has the right to be safe and secure, to be free from violence, abuse and neglect, and to live in a strong and loving family that gives them the best possible start in life. Not all children enjoy these rights. For these children, they need care and protection and support to prevent abuse and neglect from happening again.
In June 2006 the Department of Child, Youth and Family Services merged with the Ministry. This merger has drawn together the strengths of both organisations to apply a much greater focus on making real improvements in the lives of children and young people. The merger has allowed us to:
- join up service delivery with policy and research, giving us a better picture of what children, young people and families need, and what services work well
- team up with other agencies (both government and non-government) to deliver a full range of statutory protection services, to help us better manage the demand for our services and improve the care provided
While most New Zealand children are safe and secure, some young people face a number of challenges as they move into adulthood – violence, abuse and neglect, crime, drug and alcohol abuse, obesity, suicide, loneliness, teen pregnancy. And some parents, the most significant influences in the lives of children and young people, are also under stress.
What we do
- provide advice on child and youth policy, including the care and protection of children and young people and youth justice issues
- co-ordinate policy across government sectors such as health, education, care and protection, youth justice and adoptions
- deliver care and protection services for children and young people at risk from abuse, neglect and insecurity of care
- deliver youth justice services for young people who have offended
- co-ordinate the Government’s work programme to implement the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child
- deliver adoption services
- provide information and fund programmes to support parents and to prevent, or mitigate, the impact of violence within families
- purchase programmes and services to support the implementation of the Youth Development Strategy Aotearoa – with an increased focus on outcomes for young people
- co-ordinate the Government’s Youth Transition Services
- provide employment services and training opportunities, along with income support and entitlements
- provide access to student loans, student allowances and scholarships for young people entering tertiary education
- provide Working for Families assistance to families with dependent children
- deliver services and programmes to children that ensure they get the best start in life.
The following diagram shows what we will do to achieve our high-level outcome for children and young people.
Managing for better social outcomes for children and young people
How the Ministry improves outcomes for children and young people
What we are trying to achieve
How we do it
Children and young people free from abuse, neglect and offending.
We do this by:
- providing statutory care and protection services
- providing youth justice services
- supporting Youth Offending Teams in tackling youth crime
- developing and delivering initiatives and interventions that support families such as:
- Family Violence Intervention Programme
- Community Action Fund to support ideas and actions being developed at a community level to stop family violence
- providing co-ordinated services for vulnerable families
- supporting positive parenting through interventions such as Strategies with Kids - Information for Parents (SKIP).
Children and young people to have permanent and stable care.
We do this by promoting permanency for children in care.
Children and young to have a secure standard of living.
We do this by providing Benefit and Allowance payments to caregivers, families and some children.
Children and young people to participate in decision making.
We do this by supporting opportunities for young people to be involved in influencing, shaping, designing and contributing to policy and the development of services and programmes such as Youth Parliament 2007.
Children and young people in education, training or other activities.
We do this by:
- funding Youth Transition Services for 15 to 19 year olds
- providing information on financing tertiary studies through On Course and StudyWise.
Children and young people with healthy social relationships.
We do this by managing funding and contracts for youth development programmes and services including:
- Youth Service Corps
- Conservation Corps programmes.
Over the next three years…
We will make sure that legislation is relevant to the needs of children, young people and their families
Nearly 20 years after the development of the Children, Young Persons and Their Families Act 1989 (CYPF Act), the Government has asked us to consider whether we can strengthen its principles and the family decision-making model at its heart. We have looked at how overseas care and protection and youth justice legislation has developed since 1989, including how elements similar to those in our own CYPF Act have been incorporated and, in some cases, strengthened or expanded. We are seeking ideas and suggestions from people who work in the care and protection and youth justice sectors. We have also sought feedback from key stakeholders and will be advising Government on whether changes can and should be made to strengthen the Act. We will develop options for legislative change or changes to policy frameworks by March 2008.
We will intervene early
Preventing or reducing risk factors early in the life of a child ensures that they have the opportunity to develop. A large body of international research demonstrates the effectiveness of early intervention in achieving wide-ranging improvements in children’s lives.
Kia Puäwai (The Blossoming): Giving Children the Best Start in Life is a suite of early intervention initiatives that contributes to progressing the Government’s priority theme of families – young and old. It builds on a strong existing foundation of universal, targeted, intensive and statutory services, including Well Child: Tamariki Ora, early childhood education, parenting support, services for children with disabilities, and care and protection services. Kia Puäwai seeks to build a co-ordinated progression of services for children and families, focusing on the most vulnerable. Strategies include:
- Severe Anti-Social Behaviour Strategy
- intensive home visiting services
- parent education information
- early identification of risk
- Early Years service hubs, providing families in high need areas with access to a full range of services
- Teenage Parent Service Co-ordinators, who help teenage parents gain access to health and education and social services
- Roots of Empathy, a programme that uses contact with babies to help children understand and name feelings and resolve problems.
We will also continue to deliver early intervention programmes to families in need, including the positive parenting initiative Strategies with Kids - Information for Parents (SKIP) and Family Start. Through Family Start, trained workers visit the family home to give advice and support to caregivers of children from birth to six years to improve the outcomes for vulnerable children and families.
We will strengthen care and protection
Notifications to Child, Youth and Family have doubled in the last four years, each requiring individual consideration. The rise is partly due to New Zealanders’ lower tolerance of abuse and neglect of our young. A greater focus on family violence and its effects on children has also added to the increase.
We are working with the New Zealand Police, the Ministries of Health and Education, and non-government organisations to improve the effectiveness of our response to children and young people who have experienced abuse or neglect. In fact, many notifications do not result in the need for our services, but require the assistance of other agencies. We are developing a differential response approach that is about getting the right services to the right child at the right time, and allowing us to focus our resources on the cases that need a statutory response.
The approach recognises that we are part of a wider child welfare community. It involves an upfront assessment of notified cases to determine if we, or one of our partner agencies, need to become involved with a family. It then offers a range of service options to meet a family’s specific needs. The approach, being trialled in two of our Child, Youth and Family sites, is adaptable, so that each site can develop local responses in partnership with local community organisations.
Where care and protection plans are needed, we develop these through family group conferences. We are working to enhance the effectiveness of the family group conference process and family decision making. The family group conference has been adopted and adapted around the world as a best practice model. We are revisiting the original intent of family group conferences, giving the families their statutory right to have a say, and make decision concerning their own children. This helps families, by allowing them to have an opportunity to voice their own ideas and solutions, to address the care and protection concerns, or to put right the wrong their child or young person has caused.
We are setting up systems and environments to make sure that referrals for family group conferences take place as early as possible. This will help maintain options for families and ensure that the outcomes for children are improved.
We will support the building of primary relationships
The cornerstone of every child’s development and wellbeing is a lasting primary relationship with an adult who is nurturing and protective, and who fosters security and trust through predictable responses, especially in times of distress. The stronger this relationship, the more secure a child becomes, building their capacity for healthy relationships in later life.
Events such as moving between multiple caregivers, unsuccessful or temporary return to family care and ongoing disruption can impair a child’s mental development and psychological adjustment. Our Permanency Policy for the placement of children seeks to avoid such events. Always, our first priority is to find ways to return the child home or keep them there. This is the most effective means of establishing enduring living arrangements and building a child’s sense of belonging, attachment continuity and stability. If this is not possible, we then look to:
- improve permanency with kin or family group, research shows involvement of family improves the likelihood of permanent placement with family
- improve permanency with caregivers who are not kin or family group
- ensure a successful transition to independent living with suitable family-like support.
These goals also hold for our work on behalf of disabled children. It is particularly important for caregivers to understand and manage the needs of these children and young people. Our efforts to lift understanding includes the Heath and Education Needs Assessment Framework, which provides an overall picture of a child’s health, disability and educational needs to help caregivers look after these children and young people.
To ensure our work with children is well informed and reaches all families we are currently developing specialist resources to ensure access to Maori and Pacific family networks.
We will seek solutions for troubled youth
The Youth Justice Residential Services accommodate the most difficult young people who cannot, because of their behaviour, be placed in the community. The Government is investing over $12 million over two years to redevelop the lower North Island youth justice facility with more places available to house smaller, more manageable groups of young people.
The redesigned facility will provide a safe and high quality environment that meets the needs of the young residents. This will assist them to concentrate on participating in the education and other programmes and services designed to address their offending behaviour, and begin to learn some life skills.
Child, Youth and Family’s mandate is to reduce the rate and severity of youth reoffending and hold the young person accountable for offending. More and closer collaboration with communities and our social sector partners is key to reducing the rate and severity of reoffending. We all have the same interests at heart and we can get better results by working together.
We are forming dedicated multi-disciplinary Youth Justice Teams which will enhance the family group conference process for youth justice. The focus of these teams will be not only to make the young offender accountable for their crime, but to address the underlying reason for the offending. The teams will consist of a co-ordinator, social workers and a resource assistant along with Police Youth Aid and services from other government and community agencies working within the same community. Through this collaboration we work to ensure young offenders are accountable for their actions and that they and their families receive the right support to help prevent reoffending.
Youth offender programmes are among ongoing initiatives focused on preventing youth crime. These interplay with a number of broad-based programmes provided by the community with our and other agencies’ support. These programmes are predominately early intervention such as SKIP and Family Start.
We continue to work collaboratively with others to develop solutions that address escalating youth gang activity and violent assaults. As one example, we are applying a wide-reaching cross-sectoral response to the needs of young people in Counties Manukau. The Action Plan for Improving Outcomes for Young People in Counties Manukau, released in September 2006, will be a model for our future work.
From 1 July 2007, we will manage the contract funds for Te Puna Whaiora Children's Health Camps on behalf of the Government. Children's Health Camp services include tailored programmes that build the resilience of children and families with health, education, social or behavioural needs. Children's Health Camps are located in seven locations around New Zealand, ensuring that around 1,700 primary and intermediate school aged children who are at risk of poor health, education or social outcomes have access to the services.
We will help young people transition to adult life
How successfully a young person moves from compulsory school into employment or further education or training strongly influences their transition to adult life. Those leaving school without qualifications find they have less choice. We have strategies in place to help young people broaden their choices. Through our Sustainable Employment Strategy and Industry Partnerships we will continue to target sustainable employment opportunities and address issues such as literacy problems.
Through our On Course programme we will continue to help young people make wise decisions about their transition into tertiary education. Our Youth Transitions Service draws together community resources to provide 15 to 17 year olds with support as they move from school to work, or training.
Through the Youth Development Strategy Aotearoa we provide leadership, co-ordination and facilitation of youth development. The Strategy encourages youth engagement and their participation in schools, communities, local councils and government. We are assisting the training and development of youth workers to help progress the Strategy’s aims.
We will help young people understand what goes on in the government
Youth Parliament has been held every three to four years since 1994. New Zealand’s fifth Youth Parliament is taking place in July 2007. Government personnel and procedures are maintained during the Parliament, so that the participants’ experience is as close to reality as possible.
The objectives of Youth Parliament are to:
- give young people the opportunity to have their views heard by key decision-makers and the general public
- help young people to understand and actively participate in parliamentary processes
- help young people learn how to influence governmental decision-making as active citizens
- highlight the importance of helping young people to understand how decisions are made and how young people can be involved in influencing their worlds.
How we will measure cost-effectiveness
Our outcomes for children and young people focus on ensuring they have a secure standard of living, that they are safe from abuse and neglect and that they do not engage in offending behaviours.
Secure standard of living
Reducing levels of child poverty is an important focus for the Ministry. Our efforts in this task include getting parents into sustainable employment, and making sure that families get access to all the assistance available to them, such as through the Working for Families package.
We work jointly with Inland Revenue in this area and during the coming year we will review the range of resources we are committing to outcomes and identify how we might measure the overall effectiveness of our programmes.
Safe from abuse and neglect – reduced offending
We commit over $400 million each year to delivering services and programmes to children and young people. This activity is undertaken in the Ministry’s policy, research and evaluation, and service delivery arms (Child, Youth and Family, Family and Community Services and the Ministry of Youth Development). We also fund providers to deliver services on behalf of Government.
Our interventions are focused on preventing instances of abuse and neglect occurring and, when they do occur, on providing quality services that effectively minimise the likelihood of recurrence. Our focus for youth offending is on providing quality interventions and programmes to minimise the likelihood of reoccurrence.
We are currently developing measures to provide solid data on the cost and effectiveness of the interventions we deliver. Firstly we are focusing on developing robust indicators that will help paint a picture of the recurrence of abuse, neglect and youth offending. Our next step is to build evidence around the trends and costs associated with the recurrence of any one of these events
Monitoring progress
| Indicators - Living standards of children and young people | ||
|---|---|---|
| Indicator | Current | Trend |
| Percentage of dependent children under 18 years experiencing lower standards of living | 38% (2004) |
Steady |
| Percentage of Ma-ori families experiencing lower standards of living | 33% (2004) |
Steady |
| Percentage of Pacific families experiencing lower standards of living | 54% (2004) |
Steady |
| Source: Social Report 2006, Table EC4.1. | ||
| Source: New Zealand Living Standards 2000 Note: Lower standards of living refers to Economic Living Standard Index levels 1-3 Note: The 2000 Living Standards Survey has been re-weighted and figures published in previous SOI have been revised. | ||
| Indicators - children and young people at risk | ||
| Indicator | Current | Trend |
| The number of children assessed as abused or neglected following a notification to Child, Youth and Family per 1,000 | 11.8 (2006) |
Unknown |
| Source: Data provided by Child, Youth and Family. Statistics New Zealand population estimate data for mean year ended 2006. | ||
| Suicide deaths per 100,000 15-24 year olds | 19.1 (2004) |
Decreasing long-term |
| Source: Ministry of Health: Suicide Facts, 2004-2005 Statistics, page 23, Table A5 | ||
| Percentage of young children participating in early childhood education | 94 (2005) |
Increasing |
| Source: Social Report 2006, page 34 | ||
| Births to females under 18 years per 1,000 females aged 15-17 years | 14.5 (2005) |
Declining |
| Births to Ma-ori females under 18 years per 1,000 Maori females aged 15-17 years | 37.9 (2005) |
Declining |
| Source: Statistics New Zealand, age-specific fertility rates by single year of age, births to females under 18 years per 1,000 females aged 15-17 years, rates calculated by the Ministry of Social Development. | ||
| Sources: The Social Report 2006; Statistics New Zealand/ Ministry of Social Development. | ||
| Indicators - young people in transition to adulthood | ||
| Indicator | Current | Trend |
| Estimated percentage of 15-19 year olds not in formal education, training, work or looking after children | 6.6% (2006) |
Steady |
| Source: Statistics New Zealand Household Labour Force Survey customised data, annual average for the year ended December. Rate calculated by Ministry of Social Development | ||
| Percentage of young people aged 15-24 years in the labour market who are unemployed | 9.6% (2006) |
Steady |
| Percentage of Mäori young people aged 15-24 years in the labour market who are unemployed | 17.9% (2006) |
Steady |
| Percentage of Pacific young people aged 15-24 years in the labour market who are unemployed | 12.6% (2006) |
Steady |
| Source: Statistics New Zealand, Household Labour Force Survey, annual average rate for year ended December. | ||
| Percentage of young people aged 18-24 years undertaking tertiary education | 37% (2005) |
Decreasing |
| Source: Ministry of Education/Statistics New Zealand, rate calculated by Ministry of Social Development for The Social Report 2005, page 38. | ||
| The 14-16 year old youth justice apprehension rates per 10,000 population | 1,636 (2005) |
Steady |
| Source: Ministry of Justice, Conviction and Sentencing of New Zealanders, 1996-2005, Table 7.1b. | ||
| Sources: Statistics New Zealand, Household Economic Survey, Census, Household Labour Force Survey, Ministry of Education/Ministry of Social Development, Ministry of Justice. | ||
Over the next year we will be working to develop outcome indicators on the following areas:
- Rate of substantiated re-abuse and re-neglect per 1,000 children aged 0-16 years
- Re-referral of Youth Justice clients.
