MSD update on developing new child protection model

Thu 24 Nov 2016

The Ministry of Social Development (MSD) has published information about the development of the service and practice model that will replace ...

The Ministry of Social Development (MSD) has published information about the development of the service and practice model that will replace Child, Youth and Family services.

The reforms of Child, Youth and Family are being led by MSD's Investing in Children Programme. The programme is currently working on designing the five core services of the new Ministry for Vulnerable Children, Oranga Tamariki. The five core services are:

  • Prevention services
  • Intensive Intervention services
  • Care Support services
  • Youth Justice services
  • Transition Support services

The "Investing in Children Programme" webpage provides an overview of the approach to designing the services. This included how some NGOs, government agencies and children are providing input to the design. The programme webpage on the service and practice model states:

"There are a range of ways we are looking to involve people in the service design process, including:

  • cross-agency workstream teams: design teams include cross-agency, NGO and frontline representation
  • cross-agency working groups - design: provide advice and feedback on proposals/champion design in respective agencies
  • regional service design hubs: utilise pre-existing regional groups to support testing, developing and refining of discrete pieces of work
  • project specific subject matter expert groups: bring relevant professional, academic and cultural expertise to specific aspects of the design
  • Youth Advisory Council: engage to test and refine during design phases
  • expert interviews: a range of New Zealand and international experts
  • existing stakeholder forums (including Māori and Pacific leadership and NGO/provider reference groups): help generate and test thinking
  • collaborative design workshops: groups of people, across the country, brought together to generate ideas, test and/or refine specific aspects of design."

According to the programme webpage, a series of national workshops have been held to gather feedback for the design of the new model:

"We’ve just completed the first phase of workshops, which involved staff from Child, Youth and Family, Community Investment and the Children's Action Plan, stakeholders from across government, NGOs, Māori/iwi and community groups, and caregivers. Workshops were held in Whangarei, Auckland, Hamilton, Gisborne, Hastings, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin.

The next phase of workshops, beginning in October, will involve children, young people and whānau."

The webpage also provides a brief summary of common themes from the workshops so far. For more information see the MSD website on the Investing in Children Programme.

For more information about the reforms see the previous NZFVC stories:

Image: Pixabay