Dunedin North Intermediate principal Heidi Hayward has written an explosive open letter to Government Ministers Anne Tolley, Paula Bennett, Nikki Kaye and Hekia Parata, to express her ``deep concern'' about the lack of Government funding and resources to help a number of ``at-risk'' children at her school.
The letter has elicited assurances from the Government that the issues raised are being addressed. An extra $347 million has been made available to fund cost pressures and the transformation of the care system.
Ms Hayward detailed the living conditions of two of her pupils.
One was living with their drug addicted parent, where regular drug deals took place in the home.
The child was removed from the home by Child Youth and Family Services (CYFS) and placed in the only bed available.
``They ran away from this carer after two nights and has subsequently been returned home where they have now been for a month.
``Their behaviour and general demeanor has deteriorated hugely in this time and, at 12 years old, the child has now started regular drug use.''
She said the child was attending school only about twice a week and was hanging around with 15-year-olds who were frequently in trouble with the police.
``We have made numerous CYFS notifications. When I spoke to CYFS again yesterday to express my growing concern. I was told that there was simply nowhere else for this child to go.''
She said another child (12) was living with a parent who had serious mental health issues, and had started drinking and falling asleep in the early evening.
Recently, the parent was asleep while an older family member shared ``a bong'' in the living room with friends.
``The issues we are faced with currently, are not new. They have been around since I started teaching," she said.
``However, there was a time when I took solace in the belief that while I could not educate some of the at-risk children, I could at least provide comfort, safety and security for them five days a week.
``More and more, I feel that this is no longer possible and it is truly heartbreaking to be able to offer so little support, let alone an education, to these children.
``It is this sense of hopelessness that prompts my writing to you.''
She said the parents loved their children, but did not have the capacity to parent, or the support to manage.
``Consequently, these children are becoming more and more interested in gangs, and I can understand this given that they have so little support from the adults in their lives.
``While incredibly saddening, I am aware of the low probability of supporting these children in time, to prevent them from an almost inevitable prison sentence."
Ms Hayward said she had written to MPs in the past, held meetings with local social services agencies and made countless phone calls, but nothing changed.
``I simply can not sit by and be a party to yet more children being let down by the adults and service agencies involved.
``I write this letter knowing that, in time, at least one of these children will come before the court and will cost the country hundreds of thousands of dollars in, crime, drug dealing, prison costs and the myriad of other costs associated with the children we are failing.
``I want to be on record as having warned you. I want to be on record as having formally asked for the resources to support these children now, and prevent them from a predictable future of crime, drug use and dysfunction.
Ms Hayward hosted a meeting at Dunedin North Intermediate this week, with police, CYFS, contributing schools, Otago Youth Wellness, Salvation Army, Resource Teachers of Learning and Behaviour, Ministry of Education, Child and Family Mental Health Team and Te Hou Ora Whanau Services representatives.
``Without exception, these services gave the message that they are overwhelmed and under-resourced. We are hamstrung.
``One worker at CYFS told me that `we have no beds, no facilities, this country has the best website of any I've worked in, but the worst resources to back it up, we are a third world agency'.
``Consequently, both of the children I have detailed above continue to live in dangerous and dysfunctional homes.''
Ms Hayward said her school was just one of thousands struggling to keep its head above water in ``a tidal wave of social issues'' it is not funded or equipped to deal with.
``This is the real deal in any average New Zealand community.
``If we really want to see change, we have to start funding the cliff top and not providing the ambulance at the bottom.''
- See tomorrow's ODT for the full story.
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Comments
Never forget that this is Dunedin and the bigger the place the bigger the problem. The school I worked at in Christchurch dealt with many similar young people 10 years ago. I know that the resources they had then were drastically cut by Anne Tolley when she slashed millions of dollars from the education budget in the first year of this Government as the Minister of Education. They see more of these children now will less ability to help. We need a new Government, not the architect of underfunding. Bill English won't help. He believes in targeted funding (code for spending as little as humanly possible). I imagine this extends to the social services as well. While National reshuffles the deckchairs the Titanic of our society is still sinking.
If 246 million is suddenly available it was always available. If the children you speak of are heading to jail it will finance the jobs for Serco and is intended. What about asking fellow humans aka parents to take the children for a night so they have a bed at five homes and only two bed nights at home. Do these kids not have a single friend whose home they would be welcome in? What about hugging or inviting the parents, yes the drug addicts, they are human too, to come to school and see what opportunities are available for their child, if only they will allow them to be children. What about becoming a community again and caring at grass roots level. What about requiring the drugged parents to mow lawns for the parents who help them or some other form of contribution. CYF probably can't place 12 year olds - unless with generic homes of other drug taking or other abused kids. A kind of mini gang culture. If CYF aren't smashing down the door to remove the children its because they can't. Maybe they have reached their quota for that office for the month? It really is game over for these kids unless we see that collectively we are the root cause of the problem.