Anger at lack of child abuse funding

Press, 14 September 1987, Page 9

Anger at lack of child abuse funding

By

SUE LANCASTER

Participants at a recent conference on child abuse have lashed out at the lack of Government funding to tackle the problem.

The mood at the Mental Health Foundation’s national conference on child-abuse prevention was that of frustration and anger, said the conference organiser, Dr Max Abbott. Remits from the conference expressed anger at the lack of funds from the Government to support the expansion of prevention and treatment programmes, he said. Funding was needed to enable effective services to be provided by both voluntary and statutory organ-

isations. More than 150 people attended the conference on child abuse held in Auckland recently as part of the foundation’s biennial conference on mental health. Dr Abbott said there was a greater recognition by the public and the Government of the needs in the child-abuse area than there was at the national seminar five years ago. However, many community groups ■ working with child-abuse victims,

and their families, were struggling to survive at a time when the demand for their services was escalating rapidly. “Many volunteers have been victims of abuse themseleves and are on low incomes or benefits. The workload carried by these people is immense,” he said. “They are engaged in highly skilled, emotionally demanding work. The low level of Government support, by way of funds, means that much valuable time js wasted in efforts

to raise money.” Funding for the training of people who worked in the area of child abuse was also discussed at the conference. It was decided that training should be funded for all groups working in the area. The Children and Young Persons Bill, which included the mandatory reporting of child abuse to child protection teams, was described as “unworkable” by the workshop on the reform of the law because of inadequate resources.