There is no excuse for giving children nothing but the love and care they need.
That doesn’t stop some people neglecting or abusing them which is why there’s a need for the Vulnerable Children Bill which was passed into law yesterday.
Social Development Minister Paula Bennett explains:
. . . This Bill is a critical step in giving effect to changes in the Children’s Action Plan.
These include ensuring joint accountability across Justice, Health, Education, Police and Social Development, for the wellbeing of vulnerable children.
They also include the new requirements for the screening and vetting of Government workers and contractors who work with children.
All up these new requirements will cover around 182,000 New Zealanders.
There are also new workforce restrictions to prevent those with serious convictions, who pose a danger to children, from coming into contact with them.
The legislation will also switch the onus on parents who have killed, or severely abused or neglected a child, and they will now have to prove they are safe to parent subsequent children.
But let me be very clear, the legislation contained in this Bill is a small part of work already underway.
We can pass laws to improve screening and vetting.
We can pass laws that place restrictions on dangerous people where there currently are none.
But we cannot pass laws that stop children being beaten, neglected, or sexually and emotionally abused.
We cannot pass laws that stop children being killed, by those who should love and protect them.
We cannot expect that throwing more money at this problem – without changing how we work – will actually fix anything.
Accepting that this is as good as it gets will not cut it.
This is where the Children’s Action Plan, of which the Vulnerable Children Bill is just one part, will make a difference.
It is multi-dimensional, cross agency and community driven.
It has more than 30 interwoven initiatives and it will:
• bring the right people together in communities around our vulnerable kids.
• give us a whole lot more options to respond to the different needs of children.
Firstly, we want to support vulnerable children and work alongside their families to keep them safe so that they never reach the point where they need the involvement of Child, Youth and Family.
That’s where our new Children’s Teams come in, along with the Hub and the Vulnerable Kids Information System, or ViKI.
Children’s Teams bring together frontline professionals from health, education, welfare and other agencies to wrap services around children and their families.
They work with children and young people who are vulnerable, but are best helped outside Child, Youth and Family’s statutory service.
As well as doctors, teachers and social workers there is Plunket, Family Start, Whanau Ora, parenting services, and budgeting services to name a few.
But too often vulnerable children are at the back of the queue for these services.
They have parents or caregivers who don’t know enough, or simply don’t care enough, to prioritise and advocate for their needs.
These children need to be at the front and centre of the queue,
What I have had to consider is whether these vulnerable children should get to jump the queue, and get in front of other children whose needs may be as pressing, but who have parents or caregivers fighting in their corner.
I am unapologetic in saying that yes they should, because it is they who are most at risk.
Children’s Teams will understand the unique needs of each child they deal with, and pull together a team who can make the most difference to get alongside the child and family.
They will be able to fast track access to services, and carve a clear path for vulnerable children to the support they need.
Our two pilot teams in Rotorua and Whangarei have worked with over 110 children so far and we are hearing about:
• better attendance at health appointments
• better parenting
• re-enrolments at early childhood and school
• better access to welfare support
• happier children
• better behaviour
• and reduced offending.
There’s been a lot of learning, and some hurdles along the way, but it’s clear that the mix of services and the early support is making a difference to children’s lives.
And by the middle of next year we will have eight new Children’s Teams in action.
Alongside this we’re developing a Vulnerable Kids Information System where frontline professionals like doctors and teachers can go online to register concerns about a child.
ViKI will help us join those dots into a picture about what is going on for a child.
We’re also setting up a Hub where people can report their concerns about a child quickly and easily, or get help and advice.
Depending on what’s happening for each child, the Hub will triage them to the level of support they need.
The initiatives contained in the Children’s Action Plan are all connected to each other and firmly place vulnerable children at the front and centre.
These are the children who have no one to speak up for them.
If they are not the core work and priority for police, paediatricians, social workers and community workers, then who is?
I would like to thank the Social Services Committee and all the New Zealanders that made submissions for their valuable contribution to this bill.
This legislation goes beyond this House, and beyond politics.
It goes into the home of every New Zealander whether they have children or not, because the wellbeing of our vulnerable is the measure of the heart of this country.
As proud as I am of the opportunities and support available for most of us, there are too many left out and too many let down.
As I said, there are 23,000 cases of substantiated abuse each year.
There are eight children killed by the people who should hold them, love them, and care for them.
As Minister, I expect the results of our work with vulnerable children to be that by which I am judged, and I am investing everything I have into this.
It is crucial we get it right – not in a few years, or ‘in the future,’ but now.
This legislation is a crucial step underpinning a much wider piece of work that will fundamentally change the way we work with vulnerable children and their families in New Zealand.
It will make a difference.
The law can’t be in every home, nor should it be.
But it does need to be able to act to protect children who are let down by their families.
You’d think this would be something that would get cross-party support, but it didn’t:
The Vulnerable Children Bill passed its final stage by 105 – 10 votes in Parliament on Wednesday afternoon after only the Green Party and Mana Party’s Hone Harawira voted against it. . .
Green Party MP Jan Logie said Ms Bennett had failed to deal to the main problem of child poverty. . .
Poverty is a problem but it is not an excuse for the neglect and abuse of children.
The Minister said, the Bill is just one part of a much bigger programme – the relevant piece from the extract above explains:
. . . But let me be very clear, the legislation contained in this Bill is a small part of work already underway.
We can pass laws to improve screening and vetting.
We can pass laws that place restrictions on dangerous people where there currently are none.
But we cannot pass laws that stop children being beaten, neglected, or sexually and emotionally abused.
We cannot pass laws that stop children being killed, by those who should love and protect them.
We cannot expect that throwing more money at this problem – without changing how we work – will actually fix anything.
Accepting that this is as good as it gets will not cut it.
This is where the Children’s Action Plan, of which the Vulnerable Children Bill is just one part, will make a difference.
It is multi-dimensional, cross agency and community driven. . .
The Green Party and Harawira put their blinkers on and voted against a Bill which isn’t pretending to give all the answers but will address part of the problem.
Shame on them.
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