Child abuse and neglect partnership blueprint released

A blueprint to foster much closer partnership between government and community care and protection services has been released today.

The Care and Protection Blueprint 2003 was developed following a recommendation in Mick Brown’s review of Child, Youth and Family. It aims to improve the way government and community agencies work together to respond to child abuse and neglect. A wide range of individuals and organisations are currently working in this area, but are often isolated from each other. To date, there has been no coordinated strategy to ensure vulnerable children and families are responded to in an integrated way.

Social Services and Employment Minister Steve Maharey said the government wants to support social service agencies to work much more closely together to keep children and families who are at risk safe.

“Most children will receive the love, care and protection they need from their families and whânau. But when they don’t, children should be able to expect community and government to work together to provide the necessary support and services.

“The Care and Protection Blueprint starts from the principle that a close partnership between government and community agencies will ensure at risk children get the help they need, when they need it.

“The Blueprint: takes a very broad view of the care and protection community, from child well-being services through to child protection services; reflects the aspirations of Maori to care for their own kin, and the key principles of the Children, Young Persons and Their Families Act and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child; responds to the issues facing the care and protection community; and draws on other relevant government strategies, including Te Rito – New Zealand Family Violence Prevention Strategy.

“The Blueprint was developed cooperatively by the care and protection community. Both community groups and government organisations were involved in its development and a Blueprint Steering Group drawn from across the sector, to be established in March, will lead its implementation. . . / 2 “Projects to implement many of the Blueprint’s actions are already underway. These include establishment of a group to consider issues facing the care and protection workforce and a review of the role of Care and Protection Resource Panels.

“The Steering Group will be holding meetings with the care and protection community around the country to popularise and publicise the Blueprint. The meetings are also an opportunity to receive suggestions for future developments, leading to the publication of a new and revised Blueprint in 2004.

“The current government has been very keen to partner with local communities and community organisations to solve social issues. The Blueprint provides a concrete plan of action to integrate these ‘for Community, by Community’ services with the services provided by government agencies,” Steve Maharey said.

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