Q&A: What's different about Oranga Tamariki, the Ministry for Vulnerable Children?

Monday, 3 April 2017

Minister for Children Anne Tolley wants to drastically cut the number of children in state care.

In the greatest shake-up of state care and child protection in nearly two decades, Child, Youth and Family (CYF) is gone - replaced by the Ministry for Vulnerable Children, Oranga Tamariki.

The Government promises that where CYF was failing, this new agency will do better.

It has a new name and a new direction, but can the new agency tasked with keeping vulnerable Kiwi kids safe fulfil its lofty goals?

Here's everything you need to know about the new ministry.

* Eight things the new Ministry for Vulnerable Children must do better than CYF

* Faces of Innocents: CYF to be shut down and replaced by a new ministry**

WHAT WAS WRONG WITH CHILD, YOUTH AND FAMILY?

After years of defending and restructuring CYF, the Government's finally admitted the agency's performance wasn't up to par.

Too often it was the ambulance at the bottom of the cliff, and even then, bureaucratic bungling was seeing children returned to unsafe homes - sometimes with deadly consequences.

Two days before CYF was shut down, it released figures showing a record number of children - 5453 - were in state care in 2016.

SO HOW DID THE CHANGE COME ABOUT?

In December 2015, an expert panel - appointed by the Government - said CYF 'does not meet the needs of vulnerable children and young people, or help them grow into flourishing adults'.

'The performance of the current system, as measured by the outcomes it is achieving, is clearly well below what New Zealanders want for our most vulnerable children,' the panel said.

The same children and young people would keep popping up in the system. They were suffering continuing abuse, missing out on health and education, and turning to crime, before being dumped out of the system once they turned 17.

The Government had no choice but to organise a shake-up.

RIGHT, SO WHAT'S DIFFERENT ABOUT THE MINISTRY?

Beyond having a different name, the Ministry for Vulnerable Children will focus on keeping kids 'at significant risk of harm now, or in the future' safe, as well as looking after those who've committed crimes or are at risk of offending.

Instead of a 'crisis management' approach like CYF took, the ministry wants to work 'intensively' with families before kids get hurt.

Even before a child is born, the Government wants to identify families where kids might be at risk of abuse or neglect, though exactly how it plans to do that isn't quite clear.

Another strategy is to work 'intensively' with families on the ministry's radar to ensure kids' safety. If that fails, social workers will intervene earlier to get children into care.

WHAT ELSE HAS CHANGED?

Crucially, instead of just talking about children, the ministry will talk with them.

The plan is for children to have more say about their own care. There's a new child-centred complaints process, and an advocacy agency, Voyce, will help kids interact with the ministry, as well as giving them general support and advice.

There's a key area where the Government's already listened to feedback from kids and youths: Teens can now stay in care until they're 18, instead of being dumped out of the system when they turn 17. It's hoped this will keep them in school longer, then see them off to university.

The ministry's also seeking more foster carers, and a more diverse group of them. It says it will do more to retain them by creating support networks, but hasn't said whether it'll increase payments to carers.

Crucially, the ministry now has an intensive focus on Maori kids and youth, who were twice as likely to be involved with CYF than other ethnic groups.

WHAT'S GOING TO HAPPEN NEXT?

Further law changes are still before Parliament. Those will let young people stay in care until they're 21, and get support and advice until they're 25.

And 'lower-risk' 17-year-old offenders will be processed via the youth justice system, and kept out of adult courts and prison where possible. There will be extra support to stop them reoffending.

It will also become easier for different government agencies to share information about young people, to stop important details slipping through the cracks.

Within a generation, Minister for Children Anne Tolley wants the number of children in state care to be down in the hundreds, instead of the thousands.

WILL IT GET MORE MONEY? MORE STAFF?

Exactly how much funding the ministry will get - and whether it's more or less than CYF - will be revealed in next month's Government Budget.

Last year's Budget included $199.9 million over four years towards the new ministry and its 'child-centred operating model'.

More social workers are promised within the next six months, though the government hasn't yet said how many. The ministry's new boss Grainne Moss told The Nation at the weekend that she didn't yet know how many were needed.

The ministry currently has about 1250 social workers across the country, and funds another 1500 social workers in communities.

It's also not yet known whether social workers or foster carers will be paid more. Carers currently get between $147.65 and $206.71 per week, depending on the child's age, plus birthday, clothing and pocket money allowances.

IS EVERYONE ON BOARD?

Remarkably so! There's rare political agreement that the new ministry and its new direction are the right move, though not everyone's happy about the new name.

While there's agreement that 'Oranga Tamariki' - meaning child wellbeing - sends an important signal about the ministry's focus on Maori children, critics say the English name should simply been the Ministry for Children.

Children's Commissioner Judge Andrew Becroft warned that having 'vulnerable' in the ministry's name was 'stigmatising' for kids, while Labour's Jacinda Ardern says the name 'unnecessarily narrows the range of issues that ministry can cover'.

'Nothing I've seen suggests to me that they'll be looking at issues beyond child protection,' she says.

That, Tolley says, is the point: 'That is its only job. We cannot shy away from this. We can't hide it and dress it up as something else.'