On Monday the government made a formal response to the Children's Commissioner Expert Advisory Group Solutions to Child Poverty which were very extensive and costly. Essentially the government has simply reiterated everything they have already done, but I thought it worthwhile highlighting the section about teen parents who are, to my mind, where much of the available government and non-government resources need to go. Generally teen parents get stuck in the welfare rut for longer than most and contribute to the intergenerational cycle more than most. They are teen parents for a short time but single, benefit-dependent parents for many years thereafter. Their children will almost certainly figure amongst the poorest, most deprived in the country:
Investing in teen parents
Budget 2012 set aside $287.5 million over four years for the first phase of the
Government’s welfare reforms to help more New Zealanders into work. Much of this is earmarked for supporting youth, including $80 million over four years for early childhood education, childcare and the Guaranteed Childcare Assistance Payment for teen parents. Another $77.6 million was set aside to support the roughly 14,000 disengaged 16 and 17 year olds, to move them into education or training.
A new Youth Service and reciprocal obligations
The Government has set up a new Youth Service to work with vulnerable young people.
Community-based providers are funded to deliver wraparound support to teen parents and unemployed or disengaged young people, in order to improve their educational outcomes.
One of the groups targeted by the Youth Service is 16-18 year old parents who are receiving financial assistance from the Government. In return for receiving financial assistance, these Young Parent Payment recipients are supported to complete a range of obligations focused on improving their parenting skills, including:
completing a parenting education programme
enrolling every dependent child with a Primary Health Organisation
keeping every child under the age of 5 years up to date with WellChild checks, and
ensuring their children’s attendance at an approved early childhood education
programme or other suitable childcare while they are in education, training, work-based
learning or part time work.
Learning what works for young Māori parents
55% of Young Parent Payment recipients have identified themselves as Māori. Alongside the Youth Service, the Government has invested in a Supporting Intergenerational
Success initiative, which provides tailored support for young single Māori mothers to move into meaningful training and employment opportunities. This initiative is being run by Te Puni Kōkiri for one year. Its focus is on harvesting information to find out what works and identifying the opportunities and challenges for this group.
Supporting Intergenerational Success was designed to complement the Government's
welfare reforms and other initiatives that focus on young mothers with more complex and
entrenched needs. Providers are working with single Māori mothers aged 16-20 years old
who are receiving the Emergency Maintenance Allowance or Domestic Purposes Benefit in
South Auckland, Rotorua, Waikato, and Gisborne.
More Teen Parent Units
The Government is funding the establishment of a further 5 teen parent units in 2013, which will provide more educational options for teen parents in these areas. Not every school can have a teen parent unit, however, so the Government is exploring alternative ways to incentivise teen parents to return to or remain in education.
Dedicated Intensive Case Workers
In 2010, the Government invested $7.9 million in Teen Parent Intensive Case Workers. These Case Workers are working in 19 high needs communities to support the most vulnerable teen parents and their children.
Their aim is to help teen parents stay in education, and work with those on benefits to prepare for future employment. They link teen parents and children to the services and support they need, such as antenatal care, services that help prevent repeat teen pregnancies, housing, budgeting, and home visiting and parenting services (parents aged under 18 are prioritised for the limited available places in Family Start). They also help ensure children of teen parents are participating in Well Child services and early childhood education.
Volunteer Neighbourhood Support
Volunteer Neighbourhood Support initiatives assist the Teen Parent Intensive Case
Workers in nine priority communities. They provide support for teen parents who are not facing major challenges, but who may be isolated and able to benefit from greater
connections with their neighbourhoods. Improved access to parenting and mentoring programmes has been a focus of most of these initiatives.
Parenting Support for Teen Fathers
This programme focuses on helping teen fathers to be responsible and nurturing parents.
In 2010, the Government provided $730,000 for it. A resource created for service
providers brings together what is known from research and good practice, and enables examples of effective parenting support to be shared. This resource is being used by communities across New Zealand to develop support services for teen fathers.
The Government has also funded support services for teen fathers in nine high needs communities. These services provide teen fathers with information and skills to prepare for the birth of their child, parent their children effectively, and identify and respond to their children's health, education and social needs.
Supported Housing for Teen Parents and their Children
In 2010, the Government invested $6.2 million in Supported Housing for Vulnerable Teen
Parents and their Children. This initiative provides housing with adult supervision and support by trained staff 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. It addresses the needs of the most vulnerable teen parents and their children.
The houses are for teen parents (ranging in age from 13-19 years) who are unable to be
supported by their parents/caregivers and who lack the resources to find a stable and suitable place to live. Teen parents in these homes receive parenting support and social work support, learn budgeting and other life skills, and get help to plan for their futures.
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4 comments:
Lindsay
I suspect that so long as the Government continues to provide economic incentives for teen parents, and fatherlessness, we will continue to have this blight upon our nation, and poverty amongst their offspring.
No amount of money or State intervention is going to fix this, it's precicely this money and intervention that's the problem.
The latest Quadrant magazine had an article about moderate Islam and in that the author made commentts about people not doing sensible stuff unless economics forced it. It was an interesting concept and seems applicable here. Does this concept mean you will always have X number of problems as a base line but fixing them simply raises the base line?
Let 10 starve to avoid feeding 1000?
3:16
Brendan, The US limits cash incentives more than any other modern welfare state but teens continue to have babies, albeit the teen birthrate is dropping. While the desired behavioural response develops I'm not averse to non-cash assistance going to those girls who still have children without the emotional or financial wherewithal to raise them. I am hoping that all the obligations teens now have to meet will discourage them from going onto a benefit. This is as good as it gets right now.
Anon, only the govt has the capacity to (be expected to)'feed everyone'. Perhaps they should have a policy that agrees to "let 10 starve to avoid feeding 1000", because as experience has already shown, the private sector, business or charity, will step up to prevent the starvation of a small number.
I completely agree with Brendan.
It is indeed the money and intervention that is the problem.
Hearing that the teen birthrate is dropping in the US is powerful evidence that the "get tough" approach to welfare *works*.
The young are not completely stupid, so if there are big. loud warnings that "if you have a baby in your teens, YOU pay for it" - that message will eventually get through, as it seems to be doing in the US.
I'm still not convinced (yet) that the "obligations" that teen mothers here will have to meet will discourage them from benefits. "The truth will be in the benefit-number pudding" in the next year or so.
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