Child welfare concerns on the rise in Hawke's Bay, according to Oranga Tamariki figures

Monday, 1 April 2019

Another child taken from their parents, another sad story of abuse, neglect or serious welfare concerns.

Despite a flurry of recent headlines regarding Oranga Tamariki revealing the extent of abuse of children in state care, and changes to the way the children's ministry operates coming into effect in July, there's still concern from experts about the cascade of factors on the ground contributing to the harrowing statistics.

When a child is taken or uplifted by the state from their parents, it's due to serious perceived concerns for the welfare of the child. This could include neglect, previous abuse of older children, domestic violence, addiction or mental health issues. The Family Court is always involved.

The state becomes responsible for the child in the way a parent would be. They may be put into foster care or the care of other whānau, or – for the most vulnerable and challenging children – a ministry-operated care and protection secure residence, or a youth justice facility.

* Where is Oranga Tamariki headed?

* More than 200 kids abused in state care

When Oranga Tamariki takes children from their homes, they tend to be put into foster care or the care of other whānau. The most vulnerable and challenging cases can go into ministry-operated care and protection residences, or a youth justice facility.

* Newborns removed from their parents rising

* 10,000 child removals in five years**

Some of these children return home once a situation improves, while others remain permanently with their new caregivers.

Academics point to housing and employment pressures, drugs and addiction, crime, higher levels of surveillance, racial bias and inconsistent approaches between ministry offices across the country as just some of the intersecting reasons behind the number of kids in state care.

In one particularly affected region of the country, Hawke's Bay – which has been described by the Children's Commissioner as a land of milk and honey 'somewhat literally' – the figures give pause for thought.

At June 2018, Hastings and Napier were the two ministry office sites throughout New Zealand with the highest numbers of individual children in state care.

Hastings was at 218, and Napier not far behind at 200. They make up only a fraction of the more than 6000 children currently in the custody of the state, and other areas have higher percentages compared with their population densities.

However, it begs the question: What is going wrong at the grassroots level in our most vulnerable communities for these kids to be taken in the first place?

DRUGS, ADDICTION AND CRIME

'Hawke’s Bay does face a challenge of multiple indicators that make it hard for some families to have positive lives; and so the impact on their children, the family and family harm comes from multiple areas, there's no one cause,' says Inspector Dean Clifford.

Hawke's Bay police district prevention manager Inspector Dean Clifford says the region's family harm rates are some of the highest in the country, and rising.

'[The drivers of family harm] come from a range of issues – housing, addictions … unemployment, general deprivation, they're all stresses … that drive adverse behaviour on families. The symptom of that is family violence, abuse.'

Clifford recalls cases in which children have died before they could be removed from a bad situation. But for him, any case where a child is affected by violence, physical or psychological, is bad.

The region's police are trying to ramp up their early intervention services by having more officers across their family harm, child protection and youth staff teams. They all work closely with the ministry and health providers on individual harm cases.

Clifford says having conversations with families 'really early in the cycle' about violence, and trying to prevent potentially violent situations escalating, are both crucial to reducing the statistics.

Gang presence and influence also affects life for many vulnerable communities in Hawke's Bay, such as Flaxmere and Maraenui.

'Gangs are involved in distributing drugs, and that's just one of the factors that is impacting on family life.

'We've got to find a way to [get consistent responses] with recognising that communities also are different, and have different needs and perspectives,' says Otago University's Dr Emily Keddell.

'It's one of those pressures on the communities that we're trying to tackle, because that will have the consequence of less drugs, less violence, which takes some of that pressure off families.'

Youth crime, while reducing in Hawke's Bay, also concerns police, particularly serious offending. In recent years, Sandeep Dhiman, Kelly Donner and Mark Beale have all been murdered by teenagers.

INCONSISTENT APPROACHES, RACIAL BIAS

Emily Keddell, head of the University of Otago's social and community work programme, says particular areas of the country have higher levels of state surveillance, in which a lot of non-governmental organisations operate in clusters.

This often means better harm prevention, but more notifications to child protection services.

Thresholds on when to intervene in particular cases also differ, because different ministry offices have 'different kinds of cultures'.

'We've got to have a better handle on having consistency in the way we respond to cases. I think we've got to find a way to do that with recognising that communities also are different and have different needs and perspectives.'

Amanda Kvalsvig, senior research fellow at Otago's Department of Public Health, says it's difficult to tell from Hawke's Bay's uplift figures alone whether differences between it and the rest of the country are due to different proportions of Māori/Pasifika children in its population, or whether there's a true difference.

Māori children make up 59 per cent of those in state care.

As for differences between the ministry's response in different regions, Kvalsvig says it could be a case of under-resourced agencies delivering services based on resourcing constraints, 'rather than the best interests of children and their whānau', as well as a lack of culturally appropriate services.

The number of Māori children being taken into state care, while disproportionately high, is also increasing. Keddell says institutional racism, and bias, is a factor.

From July, the ministry will legally be required to improve and report on outcomes for Māori.

HOUSING AND POVERTY, SOCIAL STIGMA

Auckland University's professor Tracey McIntosh MNZM said the issue of kids being taken into state care was complex, and the result of intersecting issues, including for areas like Hawke's Bay the impact of seasonal work and high numbers of gang whānau and surveillance.

Aneta Rangirangi, of Te Whānau Rangimarie, says family violence, poverty and homelessness are all intergenerational issues.

'Working with whānau to stop the cycle can be an enormous task. As you may work with whānau, however, their main support networks are their whānau, and the wider whānau may not be willing to seek or take support.'

Current systems are set up as 'a Band-Aid approach', and 'ambulance at the bottom of the cliff', but as far as she was aware the Government was looking at ways to be more preventative, rather than reactive.

'Dysfunctional as their house may be', children being with their siblings and whānau 'is often their protective factor' when it comes to abuse.

'When this is taken away from them, and they are put into care and separated, this can destroy a child.'

New laws in July will require siblings to be placed together where possible.

Rangirangi says there needs to be more robust processes for selecting carers, to ensure abuse within state care stops completely.

'If you've got a salary coming in you can take advantage of bulk buying or plan a holiday, if you don't ... you're constantly scrimping and saving and even parents who are trying really hard to protect the children from worrying about that, that anxiety does spill over to the children,' saysPhilippa Howden-Chapman, from University of Otago's Department of Public Health.

Professor Tracey McIntosh, from the University of Auckland, says a community's own value perception is often negatively affected if it has high concentrations of children being put into care.

'What is the sense of more collective whakamā [shame or embarrassment] and the fact for whatever reason it's been determined … that a child needs to be placed in care? In many ways it might undermine the value experience and knowledge within a community to effect positive social change.'

The process of marginalisation and stigmatisation is often more keenly felt in areas with such concentrations.

'We really feel the grief of those communities … in the loss of those children, who often return to them and are damaged, or more damaged.'

Professor Philippa Howden-Chapman, from the University of Otago's Department of Public Health, says housing remains 'a really big problem', particularly in Hawke's Bay.

By the time an authority such as the ministry determines 'something's going on in that house', it's 'much harder' to get a family back in equilibrium.

Everything is now 'geared to people in the workforce', unlike in the 1950s, when things were geared towards families with children.

With the loss of people who came into the home 'that were nothing to do with the threat that something might happen' – weighing babies, doing checks – people are 'a bit on their own now', she says.

'Things can go wrong without anybody being able to help at a very early stage.'

Lack of money, and 'not particularly generous' benefit levels, means families often can't save. A simple car breakdown can lead to losing a job, and an income.

'Things can easily cascade from not enough money, house cold, children getting sick, getting behind in your work … We're looking right at the end of a cascade of things that are happening and wondering why it's raining, when in fact, we've got to fix the roof and make sure the house is warm.'

Mental health issues also often 'spill over' to children, particularly anxiety if a parent is 'constantly scrimping and saving'.

THE POLITICAL RESPONSE

Children's Minister Tracey Martin is aware Hawke's Bay has a high number of children in state care.

'Children want to be with their families, and what we need are more early and intensive intervention services to help families who are struggling.'

Safety of kids is 'paramount', but there would always be some need for Oranga Tamariki, she says.

'As it builds new services and works with community and iwi providers, we will see better results.'

'The great majority of children do really well and prosper and flourish, but we’ve got a small cohort that don’t and I think New Zealanders are waking up to the fact that to that extent, we’re a divided country with too many families that are marginalised and disadvantaged and are struggling,' says Children's Commissioner Judge Andrew Becroft.

From July, the ministry will begin providing transition services to help young people move from care to independence – something Martin says has been a 'significant gap' in the system.

'Even more importantly, intensive intervention services to work with those children and families who are most at risk are being developed.

'Like all of the new initiatives, this will require extra Government spending, but it is the key to helping children and families with the greatest need and reducing the numbers of children who come into state care.'

Te Pare Meihana, Oranga Tamariki East Coast regional manager, says the high numbers of kids from Hawke's Bay in state care isn't a new issue.

The ministry is continuing to build partnerships with agencies across the region, including police, schools, health providers, iwi and community organisations.

WILL THE CHANGES BE ENOUGH?

Children's Commissioner Andrew Becroft says there are incalculable advantages for good later-life outcomes for children if they're brought up by their own whānau.

In terms of ministry offices, Hawke's Bay isn't an area where there's been a 'stream of complaints and concerns', which the ministry did have for other areas – Porirua being one.

'Hawke's Bay, which is in one sense a land of milk and honey and plenty, we also know has its pockets of serious deprivation. And that's the reality of Hawke's Bay, it's the reality of Porirua – it's the reality of the country.'

High rates of abuse, neglect, child removal, domestic violence and bullying are 'all part of the same shadow that's thrown over New Zealand', he says.

There needs to be 'much better' early intervention and support, rather than knee-jerk, 'dump and run' uplifts.

Becroft also wants to see a reduction in the amount of foster and stranger care – currently at 48 per cent – to wider whānau whenever possible.

And while the Government explicitly targeting child poverty through its Child Poverty Reduction Bill won't be an immediate panacea, 'if night follows day, it ought to reduce the levels of removal'.

'This is early days. And I wouldn't want to over-egg the pudding of good news. What I'd want to say is in just about all fronts which we monitor and we investigate, progress has started.'