Bennett Paula: Vulnerable Children Bill — In CommitteeText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeBennett Paula: Vulnerable Children Bill — In Committee[Sitting date: 14 May 2014. Volume:698;Page:17892. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Hon PAULA BENNETT (Minister for Social Development): I stand up at the debate on the title clause of the Vulnerable Children Bill and I just want to speak in response to a few of the things that have been raised. This is the Vulnerable Children Bill which is for those children who are most vulnerable. It is for those who are most at risk of abuse and neglect and who are already being abused and neglected. The point that I did want to make in respect of that title and this bill is that this legislation is actually one small part of the work that is going on in this area. You do not have to legislate for everything that you do and in so many ways it is the actions of those who are on the front line and the actions of those non-Government organisations the Children’s Teams and the Government departments and how they are working that are actually going to make the biggest difference. Legislation has a part to play but it is not the only response to what we have to do for children.Members have raised what they consider to be missing from this legislation. I think the work is going on. There is more work that constantly needs to be done but it is not work that needs to be legislated. For example no one denies that some of the causes of child abuse and neglect are around in many cases mental health issues for parents and families ongoing alcohol and substance abuse issues obviously domestic violence long-term poverty intergenerational welfare dependence and I think really a real hopelessness that you see from many of the causes that have now led to the symptoms of people feeling incredibly isolated and not part of a community not part of a family or extended whānau and as a result I think living in extreme dysfunction and chaos. We as the State have a role to step in and work for those children. We do it well and we have amazing front-line social workers who are doing an outstanding job but there is absolutely no doubt that we could do it better.This work is about getting into more preventive action. So when members raise the point that the Vulnerable Children Bill is not getting into the issues around family violence and the issues of what is happening in the home I have to tell them that they are simply incorrect because that is what the Children’s Teams are doing in the work that they do. That is where you see joint chief executives having to have a plan for vulnerable children which this bill does include. If they are not addressing some of the causes and looking at preventing those very children from getting into the places where they are most unsafe then they are not going to be doing their job. I have said that they will have to report transparently to Parliament on the progress that they are making on that plan.Already we are seeing in Rotorua and Whangarei real differences in having one plan for that child and seeing them have faster access to all Government agencies to make sure that we wrap support around them. Whānau Ora is getting on board. It is very much about those vulnerable children—and that is why we called it that—getting into that home. We have examples where they are working with the mum to get her drug and alcohol counselling and are working with dad to get him support for his issues that have led to domestic violence. They are there for the long haul. They have one key lead that they know that they trust and that they work with. We do not dictate who that is. We do not say that it is someone who works for the Government. It can be Whānau Ora or it can be iwi-led. It can be that but they are all connected through this Children’s Team so that we have a group of real experts who are overseeing it from paediatricians to psychologists to social workers to those experts in education—across the board. So you actually do have those checks and balances that are testing back against the plan allof the time and they are also breaking down the barriers. So this legislation is important and I am not saying that it is not.There are things in here that obviously I think need to be done but I do not want this Committee to think that the Vulnerable Children Bill is by any means all the work that is going on for these children. If you wanted me to put a percentage on it this bill is about 25 percent of it. The other 75 percent relates to the Vulnerable Kids Information System which is the hub where we know all of the information is going so that we can then make sure that those children who do not reach that threshold of Child Youth and Family can get a response.I thank members for their contribution through this Committee of the whole House stage. It has been helpful. It has raised I think some interesting debates but as I say it is wider reaching than just this legislation. It is the work that happens on the ground that makes the biggest difference.