Dept tells why children become State wards

Press, 13 February 1979, Page 22

Dept tells why children become State wards

Wellington Child offending, loss of control, and a failure to exerase parental duty account for most of the children in Social Welfare Department foster homes and residential placements. The department hopes that the International Year of the Child theme activities for February — “Child in Care" Month — will draw the attention of parents, potential parents, and the community to the reasons children enter the care of the State.

In a pamphlet published for the month, the department said that 9500 (1 per cent) of New Zealand’s children are unable to be cared for in their own family. About 1000 of these children are adopted, 7200 are in State care, and the rest are informally adopted/fostered or cared for by church or other voluntary social service groups. A child enters State care by either a magistrate’s order in the Children and Young Persons Court (84 per cent of cases) or by formal agreement between the parents/guardians and the Director-General of Social Welfare (9 per cent), or by a police of social workers’ warrant or court remand (7 per cent). A magistrate will make an order for State guardianship on the following grounds: child beyond control (39 per cent), offending by child (25 per cent), failure to exercise parental duty (21 per cent), neglect or . ill-treatment (7 per cent), inadequate training and control, and truancy (3 per cent), and failure to comply with a supervision order (2 per cent). Most children in care — 41 per cent — are in foster homes, where the family provides care for an extra child (from baby to teen-ager) in an “ordinary’ home setting.”

“A high level of caring and understanding is required of the foster fam-

ily, as both the new child and the existing family will have difficulty adjusting, especially if the foster child has already had disturbing experiences.” the pamphlet said.

A successful return to the original family is the most desirable outcome of the separation, and fostering is seldom permanent. “Very often the child’s emotional bonds to his/her own parents are of much greater importance to the child than the comfort and security of what may be a more wellordered environment in the foster home. For that reason. foster parents must recognise the importance of continued contact with the real parents if a successful return home is to be achieved,” the department said.

“This is sometimes difficult for a fostering family to accept — particularly where strong attachment's have been formed, or where foster parents believe that the child’s own home offers fewer opportunities.”

The department pays the foster parents a weekly board rate and a clothing allowance for the foster child, pocket money, and payment for special extras if needed, and provides its full social work resources.

The practical aspects of the State’s guardianship role are performed by individual social workers who:

—Try to find a suitable foster home to meet the child’s specific needs; —Support the foster family;

—Arrange any possible family contacts that may be in the child’s interest: * — Discuss with all concerned parties their rights and responsibilities; — Consider and review problems and progress. Foster parents frequently find support in regularly meeting other foster parents, and associations are being formed throughout the country

under the Foster Care Federation (formed in 1975), which has particularly contributed towards training opportunities for foster parents. Also in the department’s community placement programme are 700 children in “family homes.”

Groups of foster children (sometimes six or eight at a time) live with the foster parents and their children in 130 family homes in this country. The house (which although larger than most, is intended to blend in with the local community) is furnished and maintained by the department. The foster parents pay no rent and receive board payments for the children.

Children come into these homes for temporary care, if private foster care or institutional care is inappropriate, if they need a “half-way house” after institutional care, if they are awaiting a court appearance, or have recently been placed in care awaiting assessment for a private foster home.

Family homes are also used where several children from one family are in the State’s care and are usually kept together. “These homes combine the advantages of a foster home and a small institution, and some foster children need a less intense relationship with adults than that of a foster home.”

Of the 900 children in foster homes, about 500 are cared for in 17 shortstay homes and reception centres. Here, they are assessed by department staff and other professional advisers as a step in planning for their future, the pamphlet said. “They may need just a brief period in a secure setting, for their own or the community’s sake — they may need emergency shelter and care, or they may be on warrant or remand awaiting a court appearance.”

Children in these centres usually continue their education on the premises, as they could be there from several days to several months. An assessment of the child determines whether it returns to their own or a foster/family home, or go on to long-stay centres. There are seven of these centres, caring for about 400 children aged 9 to 16, in Auckland (Weymouth and Manurewa), Napier (Beck House), Wanganui (Holdsworth School), Levin (Kohitere and Hokio), Featherston (Fareham House), and Christchurch (Kingslea). The young people there can continue schooling, or do vocational training. The centres play an active part in the local communities and home leave is arranged for the children where, possible, and if it is desirable, the pamphlet said.

After a review of the department’s residential homes in 1978, a programme for improving conditions for children in care, and easing the pressures of staff was begun. Visiting committees were appointed to act. as lay advisers on all short and long-stay residences. New Zealand has been slow to develop adequate training in residential social work, 'but a staff training school was opened in 1970 in the grounds of the largest centres — Kohitere — near Levin.

During I.Y.C. the department will continue funding and staffing help to I.Y.C. administration, produce a film to increase parent awareness of children’s needs, run pilot projects in foster care in South Auckland, Auckland City, Christchurch and Wellington, continue a “close liaison”' with the Foster Care Federation, and hold open days, where practicable, in its foster centres.