Social Security (Clothing Allowances for Orphans and Unsupported Children) Amendment Bill — First ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeSocial Security (Clothing Allowances for Orphans and Unsupported Children) Amendment Bill — First Reading[Sitting date: 25 September 2013. Volume:693;Page:13761. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Social Security (Clothing Allowances for Orphans and Unsupported Children) Amendment BillFirst ReadingTRACEY MARTIN (NZ First): Kia ora Mr Assistant Speaker. I moveThat the Social Security (Clothing Allowances for Orphans and Unsupported Children) Amendment Bill be now read a first time. I nominate the Social Services Committee to consider the bill.There is a story behind this bill and I beg the indulgence of the House to explain the personal connection that has been one of the drivers behind this member’s bill. In the 1940s my mother Anne was 2 years old and living in Christchurch with her 5-year-old brother Barry and their mother Beverley. Their father Jim was away at war. One day Beverley took the kids to the next-door neighbour’s. Nobody knows what she told them but she left the kids there and that was the last time they ever saw their mother. It wouldbe 45 years later that Anne would be able to make contact with people who would speak about Beverley and what had happened to her after the day that she abandoned her children. We now know that Beverley went on to live a completely new life never mentioning her children to her new workmates or friends until her passing from toxaemia in the 1950s.Some months after Beverley left my mother’s paternal grandmother finally became aware of her grandchildren’s circumstances and showed up at that door. Originally she took only Barry with her because Grandfather had said that she could bring the boy home because he could work but to leave the girl. Thankfully a few months later Granny could stand it no longer and she came back to collect little Anne. As life would have it Anne and Barry were loved and cared for by their granny for approximately the next 8 years. The army deducted a shilling from the children’s father’s pay and paid this to their grandmother. When the war was over their father came home. He took time to readjust to life onCivvy Street. He entered a common-law marriage with MaudeMohi and it was another traumatic time for these children when their father arrived to take them to live with him and his new wife in Hastings. My great-grandmother shifted to Napier to follow the children.I recognise today that although each circumstance might be different grandparents are still grandparents and kids are still kids. Nothing has changed but the times we find ourselves in. It is this personal connection and an innate sense of fairness that has been the driver behind this member’s bill under my name.This bill does one thing and one thing only. Bluntly and in a nutshell it says that if a child has been identified as an orphan or an unsupported child then with regard to the clothing allowance eligibility it makes no difference who is caring for them. A child being cared for by kin carers requires no less clothing than a child being cared for by an unrelated adult. However orphans and unsupported children are not eligible to receive the clothing allowance.This member’s bill proposes to give orphans and unsupported children clothing allowance parity with a foster child. Its goal is to have a single section inserted into the Social Security Act new section 29B: “A person who receives an orphan’s or unsupported child’s benefit in respect of a child is also entitled to receive a clothing allowance for that child at the same rate as is determined by the chief executive from time to time under section 363 of the Children Young Persons and Their Families Act 1989.” That is it. That is all this little bill does but what a difference it will make to the lives of these children and their kin carers.Before I enter into the substantive content of this speech I would like to take a moment to acknowledge the previous and current work by the Minister for Social Development in this area. In 2009 it was the Hon Paula Bennett who took the steps required to raise the main payment that caregivers received to match the orphans benefit and the unsupported child’s benefit to those made to foster carers. This Minister also provided 500 respite care places per year for these children in week-long holiday health camps and I know that the kin carers were grateful for this support.I also wish to acknowledge that the Minister and I have had positive interactions around our mutual desire to recognise and support these kin carers who are very often grandparents raising grandchildren. I am grateful to have recently been a member of a ministerial reference group around the allocation of $35 million over the next 4 financial years. That has been set aside in contingency for extended family members caring for children and in recognition of the difficult job that they do. The Minister however will also concede that if all children are not recognised as equal inside legislation then there is a real danger that at the end of that 4-year period kin carers will once again find themselves back at square one.I also want to recognise that we are as a nation in restrictive financial times and that the select committee will have to take these factors into consideration. However there are times and there are issues where fairness and equity particularly where children are concerned must be the drivers of decision making in the first instance and then a can-do lens around funding should be applied.I want to reiterate what this bill seeks to achieve. The intention of this bill is to recognise in statute that an orphan is an orphan whether placed with foster parents or caregivers and that all State support should be based upon the circumstances of the child not the circumstances of the adult. This must be one of the only pieces of legislation where a distinction is based upon blood and not on any other criteria.For a variety of reasons more and more children are finding themselves in the unenviable position of being declared an orphan or an unsupported child by the State. Kin carers are being targeted by social services to step up and take in these children which they do. We should recognise that the majority of kin carers looking after the day-to-day needs of these orphans and unsupported children tend to be grandparents who are now raising their grandchildren.So these kin carers step up only to find that these children are deliberately disadvantaged through lower support due to this very kin relationship. Children are being discriminated against by the State due to circumstances beyond their control. I do not believe that there is a member in this House who would argue that if you are raised by your grandparents or auntie you therefore wear fewer clothes than a child placed with people to whom they are not related. So if we do not argue that then upon what does this discrimination stand?Just to make sure we are all clear on how these children find themselves in these circumstances I would like to outline the criteria for the two separate categories. A child is considered an orphan by the State if their parents have died or cannot be found or when they cannot look after their child because they have a long-term illness or incapacity. A child is considered an unsupported child when their parents cannot support them because of a family breakdown. Children must be expected to be in caregivers’ care for 12 months or more for support even to be accessed. These criteria have raised their own set of issues for those children whose parents are imprisoned for sentences of 3 6 or 9 months and who are placed with caregivers. These children are not eligible even for the base support outlined here but that is for another day.It is worth noting at this point that when a child is supported by the State in either of these circumstances the natural parents are required to pay child support through the Inland Revenue Department child support scheme should they be earning. I would request that the Social Services Committee take this revenue into account when considering this bill and its expenditure.I would also request that the select committee recognise that more than half of these children are reported as having serious physical and psychological problems as a result of the abuse and neglect they experienced prior to coming into their grandparents’ or kin carers’ homes. However research shows us that 86 percent of these children report significant improvement over time and that this is directly attributed to the stability of care the resilience and the commitment of these caregivers. We ask the select committee to consider the cost savings these kin carers facilitate for the State by stepping up to the proverbial plate. It is because these individuals do step up that we as a State are not looking at creating orphanages up and down New Zealand in which to house these close to 10000 children.Reports have also revealed alarming statistics that show that for 40 percent of caregivers their total family income was less than $30000 per annum. Almost 39 percent were solo carers weighted heavily towards women who were particularlyfinancially compromised. Several described their struggle to feed and clothe themselves and the children adequately. One stated a wish not to go to bed hungry and for clothes that fit. The incidence of kinship care varies across cultures with 53 percent of Māori children in need of care placed withwhānau and 59 percent of Pacific Island children placed with fono compared with 31 percent ofPākehā children placed with extended family.This study evidenced that the children inwhānau or family care do well but that the lack of parity around the application of the clothing allowance is contributing to the difficulties their children and their caregivers experience. The State has calculated the rate at which the clothing allowance is required inside certain age brackets for children but the Act creates a situation where if you are related to the person who steps up to look after you then you apparently no longer need that support. There are no other criteria that affect this decision. It is completely based on blood relationship.A Labour Government acknowledged this issue. A National Government has acknowledged this issue. It is time to stop talking about it and time to take action. On behalf of these children and carers I implore all parties in this House to support this bill’s referral to the select committee. I commend the bill to the House.Peseta SAM LOTU-IIGA (National—Maungakiekie):Malo lesoifua. It is a real privilege tonight to speak on the Social Security (Clothing Allowances for Orphans and Unsupported Children) Amendment Bill. May I first commend the member in charge of the bill Tracey Martin—first for sharing your personal story with us and with the nation in terms of why it is important to you and second for bringing this bill to the House. National will support this bill in its first reading.It is about equity as you have outlined in your speech. It is about aligning the rights of orphans and unsupported children to those of foster children. For that I certainly commend you. It is also about supporting children in need. As the member has stated our Government this National Government has put in place a number of measures to support young children vulnerable children in need. But there is much more to be done in this area and certainly this bill goes some way to addressing the needs of our children.Thirdly this bill assists kin carers those grandparents and thosewhānau members who are looking after children sometimes through no choice of their own and sometimes to support a parent as the member has said who may be incarcerated may be missing or may be taking a break. It supports those family members who take up the challenge of looking after these children in need. I think many people out there and many members here will appreciate the work that kin carers and grandparents do. I have seen it certainly in my own family. Having been raised by my grandmother for a number of months in the very early stages of my life I appreciate those moments and the support that I received personally. But other members here will certainly have stories in their own personal lives and their own families that can relate to this bill specifically. I have also seen the needs of constituents in my electorate office who have come in very much in need and very much wanting to support theirwhānau with limited resources. This bill goes some way to addressing the needs of those people who are looking after these children.But as the member has already stated we live in fiscally constrained times. Certainly it is about using taxpayers’ money in a wise way and in an orderly fashion that is targeted to those kids who need these resources the most. But above all it is about addressing the needs of those individual children and what is in their best interests what their needs are and how the State can through the Government support those children.As Ms Martin has stated negotiations have been going on to address some of these needs and to ask how we can better target the spending in this area. The Minister for Social Development has set up a ministerial reference group of which Tracey Martin is a member along with our own colleague Alfred Ngaro as well as representatives from foster care and iwi and of Grandparents Raising Grandchildren. They all have representatives on this group which is working towards putting together a package of options in order to better give extra financial assistance to and ideas towards better ways of spending the money on these children who require it most. That is part of the Children’s Action Plan which the Minister the Hon Paula Bennett is in the process of implementing.I look forward to the deliberations in front of the Social Services Committee which I chair because we will be looking at some of the options. We will be looking in good faith at building on the work that has already been under way. I certainly look forward to working across the aisle as well with a newly appointed spokesperson for the Labour Party Sue Moroney. I am sure Labour will join other parties across this Chamber tonight to support this bill.It also supports the White Paper for Vulnerable Children which was announced and where this funding—$10 million worth of additional kin carers’ costs—will be covered. Certainly it is part of an overall regime whereby we are implementing laws to address the needs of vulnerable children. We have just heard earlier tonight about another bill looking at sentencing that the honourable memberLe’au Asenati Lole-Taylor introduced. That bill is another part of the jigsaw puzzle that will go towards mitigating just some of the factors involved in caring for our vulnerable children. Also as the member in charge of this bill stated in 2009 National ensured that kin carers got the same weekly amount as foster carers. Again it was about equity in terms of the weekly amounts that these kids received. It was about addressing a need in the community and this Government again responded swiftly to that upon coming into Government to address those inequities in the system.I just want to touch briefly on other parenting support that is out there in our communities. This Government in partnership with Grandparents Raising Grandchildren as well as The Parenting Place which is an organisation that does wonderful work in our communities has developed a tailored tool box programme specifically for kin caregivers at a cost of $600000 per year. It acts as a refresher course for grandparents who are for whatever reason returning to front-line parenting duties maybe many years after having raised their own children and after having taken a break. The course gives a little bit of insight into how children’s early experiences might affect them now and into the future. They are useful tools and it is part of providing not just the resources like direct funding but also the tools to allow kin carers to better look after the kids who are within their guidance and their care.So this bill as I said at the outset is a commendable bill. It is a bill that really does focus on those kids who are in need. I still believe that much work needs to be done in terms of targeting some of those dollars to the needs of children and theirwhānau and when we talk about these kids in particular we are talking about kids whose carers are predominantly from low socio-economic groups. You know every dollar that is dedicated to the kids’ upbringing is certainly valued by thosewhānau and the families who are looking after these young kids. So this bill is commendable. It is a bill that we are certainly looking forward to assessing in the select committee. It will help those many thousands of children out there who need assistance. I certainly commend this bill to the House and look forward to its process through the select committee.JACINDA ARDERN (Labour): I am just so desperate to get my opportunity to put Labour’s perspective on this bill the Social Security (Clothing Allowances for Orphansand Unsupported Children) Amendment Bill on the table before we finish for the evening. I want to start by adding my thanks to the member Tracey Martin of New Zealand First for bringing this really important piece of legislation to this House. We do not often get the opportunity to discuss the really important work that carers in New Zealand do and this is an opportunity not only to raise that but also to highlight the fact that there are some inequities in the way that our system works. So I thank the member for bringing in this bill. I thank her for sharing her personal experiences. I am looking forward to the chance at the Social Services Committee for all of the other members—although I have recently departed that select committee—to start looking at some of those inequities and I wanted to touch on some of that just quickly.There has already been some discussion over the support that exists for foster carers through the Ministry of Social Development. Obviously they receive some basic boarding assistance. But alongside that foster carers do receive the clothing allowance that this bill confers on other carers. They receive some assistance for birthdays and Christmas. That may seem surprising to members of this House but I can tell members that I come across families who are living in impoverished situations where children know only one birthday in the household because the family can afford to celebrate only once. So the children think that they were all born on the same day. That is the kind of circumstance some children grow up in. So I think it is entirely correct that some of our nation’s most deprived children who often end up in foster care are supported to have things that New Zealanders consider are a normal part of a child’s upbringing. They also get support for pocket money education and medical needs.The thing I want to highlight is that foster carers do not raise children for money. They get a very basic allowance that almost entirely across the board does not even cover the cost of taking on that child. They do it for love generosity of spirit and their sense of duty to New Zealand. There are 5000 children at any one time who are in the care of the State and who may be in the care of foster carers. They might be in a residential facility or they might still have Child Youth and Family oversight for kinship care. It is a discrepancy in my view and in Labour’s view that we do not provide that kind of assistance to groups like the Grandparents Raising Grandchildren Trust.But our contention is that rather than just applying one element of what foster carers are able to receive to those who are kinship carers why do we not treat all kinship carers as we do foster carers? Why do we not remove that discrepancy altogether? These are often family members themselves who do not have the resources but do have the desire to support the children of their wider family members in whatever circumstances they find themselves in particularly grandparents raising grandchildren who are often living on a pension and finding themselves dealing with not only legal expenses that come with looking after these children but much much more.There is a distinction I want to make because some people ask what the difference is between a foster carer and someone who is classified as having an unsupported child or orphan. Well actually to qualify if you are a grandparent you cannot be a foster carer because you are a grandparent. It is the same with a kinship carer so that is where there is a distinction there. But the way that it is defined by Work and Income is that it is looking for family breakdown. It will be looking to see whether or not there are reasons that mean that child cannot be with their family. Some grandparents therefore do not even get the unsupported child’s benefit. There might not be a technical breakdown but the grandparent knows that the environment the child is living in is not a good environment for that child to be in but they themselves are often deprived of that support because of the strict criteria that exist. I would hope that the select committee would look at that as well in its considerations because it is a significant issue.I am glad that Tracey Martin has the ability to work with the Government on some of these issues. We would have liked to help too but I have great faith given that the member is there that she is carrying over some of the views that we have. We need to look more generally at foster care in this country. We need to have a look at the fact that foster carers do not receive a lot of support from the State. We need to look at kinship care. Those are all things that Labour will do when in Government.MELISSA LEE (National):Ahnnyung has seyo. It is a great pleasure to rise to support the first reading of this Social Security (Clothing Allowances for Orphans and Unsupported Children) Amendment Bill. Like previous speakers I would like to congratulate Tracey Martin on bringing this bill to the House. I would also like to bid my farewell to Jacinda Ardern from the Social Services Committee. She has actually often brought a very clear view of the Labour position on the bills that we have discussed in the select committee. I look forward to working with the new spokesperson from the Labour Party Sue Moroney.The purpose of the bill is to increase financial support to kin carers who are looking after children such as grandparents raising grandchildren. Many members have talked about the issues earlier and I guess I look forward to the select committee process because often members are exposed to more information about issues that they may not necessarily be familiar with. This particular issue about children being raised by grandparents—orphans and unsupported children—are important issues that we must consider and I am seriously looking forward to the submission process in the select committee.Just to bring a little bit of ethnic perspective into this grandparents often raise children. Even my own mother is I feel raising my child because often as members of Parliament we do leave our homes for long periods of time. Often I am not at home enough to look after my teenage son. My son has just celebrated his 15th birthday and often I do feel very very guilty that he is at the most important time of his life and his mum is actually not at home. And being a single mum is also very difficult as well so having my mother his grandmother at home raising him to provide the emotional support—Debate interrupted.