Eight new Children's Team locations announced

Social Development Minister Paula Bennett has announced the locations of eight new Children's Teams. These will be in place by June 2015.

Part of the Children's Action Plan, Children's Teams bring together professionals and NGOs across sectors to address the needs of vulnerable children and their families. A lead professional is tasked with developing a plan for the child's wellbeing and coordinating support from each of the agencies. The locations for the new teams are:

• Horowhenua
• Marlborough
• Hamilton City
• Clendon/Manurewa/Papakura
• Gisborne
• Whakatane
• Whanganui
• Christchurch

The establishment of new Children's Teams follows the demonstration sites established in Whangarei and Rotorua last year. These now support more than 100 children. Minister Bennett says the Children's Teams make a difference for vulnerable children that do not require a statutory social work response. She says "Right now, Child, Youth and Family is the service carrying the lion’s share of responsibility for what happens to children and young people at risk of abuse and neglect. That’s because the public perception is that it’s a general child welfare agency, when it’s actually there to deal with the most serious cases."

The government has committed $33.2 million in Budget 2014 to protect children from abuse and neglect, including:

• $16.4 million for the Children's Action Plan implementation
• $3.2 million allocated for the Vulnerable Children's Bill implementation
• $13.7 million to improve Child Youth and Family services

Minister Bennett said "We are putting millions of dollars into child protection and services for vulnerable children because we know serious abuse imposes enormous costs, both personal and financial."

More information on the Children's Teams including a factsheet and FAQs can be found on the Children's Action Plan website.

Media:

Children’s Teams Expected to Work for Free, Press Release: New Zealand First Party, 04.06.2015

New team works on care for at-risk children, Marlborough Express, 25.09.2014

Team to target neglect, Marlborough Express, 26.05.2014

'Children's teams' cautiously welcomed, The Press, 23.05.2014

New Children’s Teams announced, Beehive, 22.05.2014

Budget promises to tackle child abuse, 3 News, 15.05.2014

Investing to protect our most vulnerable children, Beehive, 15.05.2014

Budget 2014: Child abuse prevention increases, police budget remains, NewsTalkZB, 15.05.2014

Image: Full Spectrum Team Waving by lumaxart. Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic