Stand Tū Māia Agrees Short-term Funding Agreement With Oranga Tamariki

Friday, 13 December 2024, 12:20 pm
Press Release: Stand Tu Maia

Stand Tū Māia charitable trust says it has reached a resolution with Oranga Tamariki that provides a four-month lifeline for its critical service. The resolution means the parties will not go to Court to hear the Stand Tū Māia application for an injunction against Oranga Tamariki for alleged breach of contract.

Stand Tū Māia and Oranga Tamariki have agreed an end date for current contractual arrangements at 22 April 2024. The parties will meet early next year to discuss potential future Oranga Tamariki procurement and contracting processes.

Chief Executive Dr Fiona Inkpen says the resolution provides some immediate certainty for the high-risk children and families supported by Stand Tū Māia, but there is still uncertainty about the long-term future.

“The agreement gives us time to have a further conversation with the Government to determine if there is a desire to retain the service and what will happen to support these vulnerable children and their families in the future.

“We want to thank Andrew Bridgman, Acting CE of Oranga Tamariki for playing a key role in making this resolution happen.

“We are a service of last resort, and that has been strongly reflected in the outpouring of support we’ve received from staff, referrers, teachers, parents and grandparents, who were shocked by this announcement. The strong messages of support and the many stories of how we have helped young children and their families demonstrates how valued our specialist services are.

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“Our priority right now is continuing to provide a service for these children and families who have been failed by every other part of the system, and to get agreement that our specialist intervention services are valued and can be funded. We are currently contracted to provide specialised trauma treatment, intensive family wraparound support and family therapy for approximately 4,000 vulnerable children from 1,000 families.

“We want to thank everyone for their support and feedback, particularly the thousands of people who called or emailed us, who expressed their support in the Change.org petition and told wonderful stories about how Stand Tū Māia has supported their children and family members over the years,” said Dr Inkpen.

An independent petition on Change.org has received more than 4,128[1] signatures since Stand Tū Māia announced it was at risk of closing on Tuesday, 10 December.

Dr Inkpen said it was critical the Government fully understood the outcomes Stand Tū Māia is consistently achieving throughout New Zealand. Independent analysis by ImpactLab shows that Stand Tū Māia services “reflect truly significant impact for the whānau you support regarding total social value, social value per person, and social value per whānau.” Other recent reviews of our service have also strongly reinforced the high standards of care and value we constantly deliver. This means we are already delivering on the Government’s social investment strategy.

“We make a sustainable and positive difference by helping children and their families stay together, achieve significant change and move forward together. They are able to avoid statutory care, manage stress better, problem solve, make better decisions and get help when they need it. Many of the children referred are not attending school and getting these children back to school and learning is a key outcome of our service.

As we have mentioned previously, Oranga Tamariki valued our specialist services and it did not have any questions about our performance, or the outcomes we consistently deliver.

We would also illustrate the value of the service through stories listed on the petition page, and through feedback received to the team:

Comments from the Change.org petition from people about Stand Tū Māia services (with links):

• “Putting resources into our tamariki now saves futures & costs including social costs, which end up costing Govts. Why can't they see the wider picture? Or just choose not to!” – Derene Clarke, Christchurch Supporter comment from Derene Clarke · Change.org
• “We have accessed this service and it was literally life saving!” Linda Prattley, Christchurch Supporter comment from Linda Prattley · Change.org
• “The work done by STAND is essential for the safety and well-being of tamariki and whānau. A country without this organisation and the incredible work they do would be a very very large backward step for our country. This service in my local community has played a massive part in strengthening whānau and at times, keeping whānau together. Keep all the funding given to Stand - they do exceptional work.” Sue Vaughan Supporter comment from Sue Vaughan · Change.org
• “As a teacher we are just seeing more and more children who are in need of greater support. These services are vital and we seriously need to be putting more into supporting our tamariki, whanau and staff that work with these individuals. It is time we stop with the ambulance at the bottom of the cliff scenario.” Jane Clarke, Teacher, Timaru.

Background

Stand Tū Māia is a charity that was set up in 2000 when Children’s Health Camps ceased to exist following the dissolution bill passed in Parliament. It proudly received the 80-year legacy of Children’s Health Camps and at the request of government transformed that legacy over the next 24 years from a universal child health service to a specialist social service providing wraparound services to children and families with complex needs, living with multiple forms of adversity. Stand Tū Māia does this work in collaboration with Iwi and hapū, other agencies and providers across New Zealand.

[1] As at 11.45am 13 December 2024

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