July 12, 2022
Cooperation call in Oranga Tamariki action plan
The Minister for Children says his Oranga Tamariki Action plan has been a long time coming.
Kelvin Davis wants government agencies dealing with children and young people to work more collaboratively and to give priority to children and whanau Oranga Tamariki is involved.
He says he’s long heard stories from social workers frustrated with dealing with a cluster of problems that depend on the decisions of other agencies.
“People have said ‘what will it take for families to start trusting Oranga Tamariki?’ and I’ve said when they see the Oranga Tamariki social worker, instead of coming in and saying ‘you’re a bad parent or whatever, instead they’re saying come on, let’s go and find that house or let’s go to the Ministry of Education and we’ll demand a teacher aide or let’s go to the Ministry of Health and get them to find a counsellor’ so they start seeing the social workers advocating for them and fighting for them and trying to get others to meet their needs,” Minister Davis says.
He’s particularly concerned about the needs are met of young people transiting out of care into adulthood, such as their need for housing, education and psychological support.