The big news last week was the Whanau Ora announcement. Alas, the Taskforce’s paper leaves most of us none the wiser, so bereft of detail is it. The idea of better co-ordinating social service delivery to families in need is clearly a good idea, albeit not a new one. Various attempts to do better, like Strengthening Families, have not found the solution. It’s not clear, though, that Whanau Ora is it either.
The attention has all been on service delivery, but the real aim of Whanau Ora is surely more to do with Maori whanau self-management and autonomy. Certainly that has been Tariana Turia’s overwhelming policy objective ever since she entered Parliament. Quite how that will work alongside various agencies with either a statutory role (like Child Youth and Family, which are required by law to investigate allegations of child abuse or neglect) or a highly specialist role (like Special Education) remains a challenge for all concerned. At least the bad idea of setting up a separate trust to handle the money has been quashed. Lower accountability plus higher cost and more bureaucracy – a bad idea and not surprising to see the government crush that notion at the outset.
One big area of challenge for the Whanau Ora Governance Group will be around workforce and provider skills. The report says that the private providers that will be funded under Whanau Ora will need to demonstrate a high level of expertise in whanau interventions to succeed. That’s true. So why just one sentence – the very last in the report – referring to workforce development and provider capability and capacity?
Our concern is that contracting private providers to provide social services might be used as way of cutting costs by reducing workers’ pay and conditions. Poor pay and conditions leads to poor service delivery and Whanau Ora will not succeed if the government allows this to happen.
June 14, 2010 at 12:35 pm |
Whanau ora A Definite strong focused Team powerful passionate committed Trustworthy people to lead this for professional Development to suceed
I would love to be a part of this new Dynamic change
June 23, 2010 at 2:33 pm |
Treaty o Waitangi, Maatua Whangai, Puao-Te Ata Tu, Te Pounamu, Whanau Ora.?
Treaty o Waitangi, ( First P’) Protection of all children
Second P’, Participation of all providers working together to keep our tamariki safe.
Third P’, Partnership. Goverment Agencies sharing resources, workshops,
Keeping all children together and safe, Child Abuse presentation. Stop Family Violence. Involve all Community Providers working with children from babies to Young people. Day Care Centres, Kohanga Reo, Kura Kaupapa Maori, Pacifica Providers, all schools, Residential Centres, etc.
Residential Centres social workers, feild social workers, social workers in all schools, Pasifica Providers.
Strengthening whanau, find key people of each whanau hapu and iwi
June 28, 2010 at 11:57 am |
I am the Cultural Advisor at Lower North Youth Justice Residential Centre Palmerston North, I also see myself as the Kuia for all young people in Lower North Youth Justice Residential Centre. It does matter to me that all young people of ethnical cultures are given the opportunity to learn about their identity, who am I, where am I from, who are my parents, my grandparents, my extended family on my father’s side, as well as my mother’s side- uncles aunties, cousins. Whanau-hapu-iwi, know my pepeha.
Keeping it simple so that young people can understand.
Networking is crucial, get to know who the key people are in your local community, and the wider community. Key people in other agencies.
June 28, 2010 at 12:33 pm |
I see the Maatua Whangai concept being a major part of Whanau Ora. Firstly, I want to thank the Porirua Youth Court Judge for his recommendation that Corrections, Child Youth & Family, Porirua Community Provider, work collectively with the young person, and his family.
Initiate a two year plan, rather than the young person go to prison for a period of five years. The caseworker and I visited after three weeks placement to make sure that the young person is ok. Next visit after three months. These are the gaps that we need to follow up, and support all involved with the polacement.