White Paper for Vulnerable Children: Physicians offer qualified support, but still concerned

Friday 19 October 2012

The Royal Australasian College of Physicians (RACP), whilst supportive of many elements of the New Zealand government’s recently released White Paper for Vulnerable Children, is concerned that the steps outlined fail to include preventive measures, acknowledge the role of poverty and social depravation, or offer tangible support to families at risk of poor outcomes.

“What is missing in our view are actions to support attitudinal change on a whole-of-society level, and to address the social and economic contributors to children’s wellbeing,” Chair of the RACP New Zealand Paediatric & Child Health Division (P&CHD) Committee, Dr Adrian Trenholme, said.

“We anticipated a greater focus on prevention, whereby parents and communities were better supported to do their best for children in their care, for example inclusion of publically-funded parenting initiatives.”

The RACP commends the cross-agency, whole-of-government focus; however this must be supported by stringent processes and systems.

“We are concerned that the success of the proposed actions will be compromised without a demonstrable commitment to address the foundations of family dysfunction, such as the far reaching impact of living in stress and poverty.”

According to Dr Trenholme, sustained resourcing will be essential to the success of the actions identified.

“The RACP is excited to see a strong focus on training in the recommendations, and is pleased that New Zealand can expect more and better training of frontline staff to recognise signs of child neglect and abuse.

“Given the immediacy of health and other professionals reaching families in the early stages of dysfunction, we trust this training will be of high quality, conducted in a supportive manner, and offered as often as required – not as a once off,” Dr Trenholme said.

The RACP is supportive of work planned around standardising vulnerability and assessment tools and creating or expanding on Local Children’s Teams, however would liked to have seen the introduction of legislation for child impact assessments.

According to Dr Trenholme, this measure could have provided a systems-based oversight to ensure policies and initiatives put children at the centre of decision making and serve children’s needs. The RACP provided a submission on The Green Paper for Vulnerable Children earlier this year. To view this submission please visit the RACP website.

Ends

© Scoop Media