Listen Now: 
An umbrella group representing 200 non-government organisations working with vulnerable children, young people and families has told a select committee that downgrading the place of whanau, hapu and iwi in decisions about their children is the wrong approach and risks repeating mistakes of the past.
The committee is hearing submissions on the Children, Young Persons and Their Families (Oranga Tamariki) Legislation Bill.
Social Service Providers Aotearoa national manager Brenda Pilott says members want a stronger focus on supporting families so children need not be taken into care.
Where a child is taken into care, the place of kin care needs to be reinforced and supported.
She says while the Bill has many positive aspects, new information-sharing provisions could lead to an overly complex system with demands for information that undermine professional duties of care and confidentiality.
There are also fears the significant change process will not be adequately resourced, and there won't be enough continuing funding to fully support both the new ministry and the service providers.
Previous reforms have failed, in part because of inadequate resourcing.
Footage of the select committee hearing is on the Waateanews Facebook page.
Follow us on !["p_facebook"]("/site/uma/images/story_img/facebook.jpg")
& !["p_twitter"]("/site/uma/images/story_img/twitter.jpg")
Copyright © 2017, UMA Broadcasting Ltd: www.waateanews.com
RELATED NEWS
