An inquiry has been launched into the decision by Oranga Tamariki to axe or cut funding to nearly 400 community groups who support the country’s most vulnerable children and whānau.
E Tipu E Rea Whānau, which helps hundreds of families and keeps tamariki out of state care, is among the organisations whose funding is being taken away.
“We can show data — clearly — that we have stopped hundreds of our tamariki ending up in state care,” chief executive Zoe Witika-Hawke told 1News.
“We’ve got them into mahi, we’ve got them into work, got them into housing.”
To cut costs, as directed by the Government, Oranga Tamariki has completely axed funding to 190 providers. A further 142 have had their money reduced.
The Office of the Attorney-General today launched an inquiry into the decision-making process. Oranga Tamariki said it will fully cooperate with the investigation.
The terms of reference include criteria and evidence, communication, and concerns about transitioning to other providers.
Social Service Providers Te Pai Ora o Aotearoa chief executive Belinda Himiona said a lack of transition planning “effectively means that someone may be in a service, including care, and the contract arrangements were being changed, but there wasn’t a transition being put in place for children”.
The ministry is in the process of procuring at least 50 new services for next year, but could not be drawn on the amount the current cost-cutting would save.
However, the community groups say the work they do saves taxpayer money in the long-term.
“This Government has gone ahead and made decisions without any evidence that backs it up, without the research, and certainly without the consultation that it should have had,” Te Kohao Health’s Lady Tureiti Moxon said.
Himiona added: “These are very, very vulnerable children.
“We’ve seen cuts in care placements. We’ve seen cuts in training for foster families. We’ve seen cuts in social workers. It’d be wonderful if we could see that reconsidered.”
It’s unknown at this stage how long the inquiry will take.