Social welfare tour ‘unique’ mission

Press, Volume CXVI, Issue 34151, 12 May 1976, Page 24

Social welfare tour ‘unique’ mission

The effectiveness of the new child boards and the need for greater decentralisation of social welfare services were two main facets the Government caucus committee on social wel- i fare was looking at dur-1 ing its two-day visit to Christchurch, the chairman (Mr G. P- A. Downie) said yesterday.

The seven-member committee, which includes Miss C. E. Dewe (Lyttelton) and Mr D. F. Quigley (Rangiora) as wel! as the Minister for Social Welfare (Mr Walker), was in Christchurch yesterday and today on a factfinding tour. Mr Downie, who is the M.P. for Pakuranga, said the tour was aimed at getting an appreciation of the welfare system in New Zealand. The committee had just toured Auckland, and would next go to Invercargill. Last night the committee met representatives of 40 voluntary welfare agencies in the citv.

The meeting was to get a ;clear picture of local aims and problems. Mr Downie said.

"One thing in which we are particularly interested in, is the effectiveness of the child boards — they vary a lot from district to district — and to see what, if any, amending legislation is needed.

j "Another thing we have to look at is the need for greater decentralisation of social welfare services — an awful lot can be done within the present structure, both financially and administrattively,” Mr Downie said. The need for preventative social work — reaching the potential trouble areas before the problems grow to large proportions — was spelled out by the social workers at the meeting. Job training centres for “unemployables” were suggested as a solution to the growing numbers of young people who had employment difficulties. The acting City Missioner, the Rev. R. Thompson, said he felt these centres were essential for those young people who- did

not know how to work, let alone how to find a job. There w-as a strong feeling in the social services that communication between the Government and the services needed improvement.

Many people did not know what rights they had to social welfare, a problem emphasised by the complicated wording of legislation and the language used in Government publicity.

A representative of the St Vincent de Paul Society suggested that a booklet explaining what benefits and services were available be produced in the language of the layman. The terminal care of disabled people was of concern to the Crippled Children Society. It was suggested that a register of disabled people be drawn up to see just what provisions should be made for their care. There was a need to coordinate the activities of the organisations while they each retained ther own autonomy, said Mr Downey. There was a large amount of untapped voluntary aid available within the communitv which could be put to good use.