Govt most do more for kids in care: report

The Government has welcomed a report that said it needed to make the health and welfare of children in state care a priority because many young people were being shunted around a number of foster homes with little support.

The Children in Care report by the Children's Commissioner's office investigated the quality of care given to about 5200 children in the care of Child, Youth and Family (CYF).

It found almost a quarter of children in care at the end of last year had more than six caregivers, with a maximum of 39.

CYF was also slammed for dropping "significant numbers of young people ... out of care with no support in place" when they turn 17.

Children's Commissioner John Angus said today many children were not receiving the care they deserved and the Government needed to quickly implement the report's recommendations.

"We bring these children into state care because their parents have failed to keep them safe, secure and well nurtured," he said.

"Often their health has been neglected and their education patchy. It's therefore important that government agencies do their job well and meet the needs of these vulnerable children.

"It's not an easy job, and there is evidence of some good work going on. But we're falling short too often."

Mr Angus said he was pleased with a new support programme that aimed to give children "a home for life".

The programme, announced by Social Development Minister Paula Bennett last month, will give foster parents a one-off payment of $2500.

"This is a good start in terms of getting stability into their lives. But considerable more effort is required to get many other aspects of their care right," Mr Angus said.

He said children who received comprehensive health and education assessments prior to placement were much better off than those that did not.

The report commended all children undergo the assessments, currently only done in four pilot programmes.

There was also concern that some children did not have regular contact with a social worker.

Ms Bennett welcomed the report.

"Most of what he's identified we're already doing, we've already identified, but that's where we need to move ahead and address those issues for them," she said.

She said the Government would look at extending the health assessment pilots.

"They turn up with two issues health wise and we find five or more, these are very vulnerable children that need a lot of help."

Mr Angus said the "overwhelming" impression from the report was that too many children were being let down.

"While there are some good initiatives under way in Child, Youth and Family and in health services, more needs to be done," he said.

"I urge the Government, and the agencies responsible for providing services to children in care, to take up the recommendations in this report."