Whānau under most stress will suffer from 60% cut in staffing for Family Start

November 7, 2024

A statement from our director, David Hanna, on the decision to cut staffing for the Family Start service we provide to families under stress in greater Wellington by 60%:  

Wesley Community Action is deeply disappointed at having to accept a 60% reduction in staff for the Family Start service it delivers in Kāpiti, Porirua and Wellington. We offered a 30% reduction, but this offer has been turned down.

This decision means that in the coming year up to 60 babies and their families already experiencing hardship will not be supported through Family Start. We believe that this is harmful and likely to increase problems and costs down the track. It is also a signal of deeper systemic issues.

Foremost, our disappointment is because of the long-term harm this will cause to the babies / children and their whānau that Family Start supports. The science is very clear: the early years lay the foundations for the rest of our lives.  Babies in insecure or stressful situations are more likely to experience long-term health and social consequences.  

These ripple across all aspects of life and can ultimately contribute to issues with educational achievement, addiction, health and employment, as well as difficulties maintaining healthy, stable relationships. These represent a compounding cost to future governments.

Family Start supports babies in families who are already under pressure due to mental health or addiction issues, histories of abuse, and engagement with the justice system.

Wesley Community Action has been providing Family Start to whānau in the greater Wellington region since 2012. We’re one of 45 organisations throughout the country providing the service to local whānau and in the last five years our Family Start team has supported almost 1000 whānau. They work alongside parents in their own home, supporting them to identify their strengths as parents and working with them on changes they want to make.

The whānau involved consistently report that the relationship they build with our kaimahi is a key factor in helping them feel more confident as parents. This leads to happier and more stable home environments for babies and young children.

The pressure on the whānau supported by Family Start has increased significantly in recent years. In the face of this increasing pressure, some families are pulling back as the world feels more unsafe and uncertain. This pattern of pulling back is reflected in increasing truancy in schools, no-shows in the health system and non-engagement with helping services. At the same time, whānau are more likely to ‘unplug’ through things such as gaming, drug use and high use of social media.  All adding to the long-term stress and negative outcomes.

Through our many years of experience of working alongside whānau we know that many of their issues flow from previous trauma. What’s needed to heal this is compassionate and respectful services based on a deep understanding of the families.  

We offered a 30% reduction in staffing given the difficult economic times we are all facing. However, Oranga Tamariki has not been willing to negotiate and instead has dictated a 60% reduction, arguing that they “must ensure the children and young people in our care have their needs met first and foremost.”.

We believe that this logic is highly flawed. Reducing Family Start services will guarantee an increase in the number of children who eventually need more direct and costly state care. This will eventually add to the tremendous pressure that Oranga Tamariki staff are already under.

We value the work that Oranga Tamariki does and appreciate that their staff face a massive job. We also know that this decision has not been driven solely by Oranga Tamariki, and that it is wider than the current coalition government. The care system has been breaking down over many years and across many governments.

At the core of this breakdown is the increased disconnection of people and an economy that undervalues the essential role of supporting babies and their parents. Family Start goes some way to filling this gap – though we believe that ultimately the solution lies in changing the system. Perhaps the inevitable negative impact of these funding changes will trigger deeper conversations about how this can be done?

In the meantime, we now face the difficult prospect of having to lay off dedicated staff who are skilled and passionate about working with families experiencing the greatest stresses just as we enter the Christmas season.

David Hanna, November 7, 2024