Newstalk ZB
Minister for Children Karen Chhour is heaping praise on social workers after completing her goal of visiting all 72 Oranga Tamariki frontline sites across the country. Chhour said she was “absolutely in awe of the bravery, courage, and determination” of frontline social workers, who the minister added “have to deal with things every day in their workplace, that often, most everyday New Zealanders wouldn’t even comprehend.” She admitted working as an Oranga Tamariki social worker or case worker could be a “thankless job” at times. “Sometimes the decisions they’re making may not necessarily be something that they want to do - but it’s for the best interests of that child and young person.” In an interview, Chhour said she had set the goal of visiting each site when she first became a minister. “It’s easy as a minister to visit the main city centres, where these sites get a lot of visits from ministers, and they have a connection with Wellington.” “There are many small towns like Timaru or Oamaru, which were my last two visits, that probably haven’t seen a minister or even a leadership team from Oranga Tamariki,” Chhour said. “I thought it was really important to make that connection and bridge that gap.” The minister said some youth justice and care residences in smaller towns had probably “been ignored for a while”. She said the conversations she had with people on the ground revolved around making the process for getting Oranga Tamariki support as streamlined as possible, for less populated areas of the country. The minister was also told rolling out electric vehicles across the board may not be practical for those in rural sites - and a change of vehicle could be more suitable to the terrain they’re working in. She agreed. Chhour said in some cases, the agency is “shipping services” such as social workers into small centres that don’t have an Oranga Tamariki site like parts of the West Coast. She also said people are having to travel quite far to receive help in some cases, which can be a problem. Speaking about her visits in Parliament, Chhour thanked staff for their work: “They make the lives of children and their families better.” Chhour said, “no disrespect to my [Oranga Tamariki] officials on the Terrace” in central Wellington, but said there were extraordinary benefits to visiting the sites in-person. By the numbers The latest annual report on the Government’s Child and Youth Strategy points to a reduction in youth offending rates - but also shows positives around education and parenting. The Government appears confident it can achieve a 30 percent reduction in the number of serious and persistent youth offenders, compared to a June 2023 baseline figure. The offending rate per 10,000 children and young people aged 10 to 17 was 140.3 in the 2024/25 year. It was 163.1 in 2023/24. Offending rates have fallen significantly since the 181.9 people per every 10,000 children in the 2019/20 period, officials noted. The report also showed 169,300 - or 14.3% of children and young people - were in material hardship in 2024/25, 6% categorised as severe - a 0.8% increase on the year prior. In addition, the number of children in benefit-receiving households rose again, from 222,285 in 2023/24 to 230,700 in 2024/25. Minister for Child Poverty Reduction, Louise Upston, was quoted in the report acknowledging a range of challenges remain. “We are focused on practical solutions, including breaking cycles of welfare dependency, creating more jobs, and improving outcomes in areas such as education, health, housing and law and order to help keep children out of poverty in the long term,” Upston said. The minister added she would continue to work and support those outside of Government who work directly with children and young people, to give them a good start in life. Upston added it was pleasing to see most parents were coping well with parenting - and rates of food insecurity have improved. In addition, 2024/25 is the third year in...
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