Call for better welfare training

Press, 22 July 1989, Page 9

Call for better welfare training

By

OLIVER RIDDELL

in Wellington

The training of staff working with children and young people in Social Welfare institutions is inadequate, according to a report prepared for the Human Rights Commission. Recommendations made by the commission would be addressed by his department, said the Minister of Social Welfare, Dr Cullen. Ms Rae Julian, a commissioner, said that if children and young people were to continue to be placed in these institutions, much more attention had to be given to staff training. This was particularly so in areas such as behaviour management, cultural awareness and the involvement of families and whanau, she said. The report contained 35 recommendations to the department. It was the result of extensive research during which young people in institutions, or recently discharged, plus institution staff and department officials were interviewed.

Another concern which emerged was the difficulty in locating many of the young people two months after they had left the institution, said Ms Julian.

Some were aged only 13 or 14 but in many cases their families did not know where they were. “They return to the underground world of the street kids until they reoffend,” she said.

This report had clear implications for

those implementing the new Children, Young Persons and Their Families Act.

While it seemed that institutions and secure care were still needed in very limited circumstances, the institutions had to change to meet the real needs of young people, said Ms Julian. Dr Cullen said his department would carry out a full review of the 1986 regulations which defined the rights of children and young people in social welfare institutions.

The recent legislation reduced the use of secure care in institutions. It stipulated that such care could only be used to prevent young people from absconding or to prevent physical behaviour which could cause physical harm to them or other people.

Staff in the institutions had to face daily the reality of young people bent on self-destruction or likely to reoffend or cause mayhem if constraints were not applied, he said. The report found that “an atmosphere of violence pervades some institutions.” Staff are unable to contain or control bullying among residents or use too much force themselves.

But progress was being made year by year and in 1988 the number of admissions to secure care had been down 27 per cent on 1987.

The Commission said that if the 35 recommendations in the report were implemented, the use of secure units could be reduced to the point where they were no longer needed.