After last year’s budget cuts to social services, including a NZ$14 million cut to early home visits, social services providers in New Zealand raised concerns about what the move would mean for children and families needing support.
But in-depth interviews with nine social and family workers completed in 2023 reveal a sector that has struggled under successive Labour and National governments to protect children facing neglect and violence in the home.
In the 12 months to March 2023, New Zealand’s protection services agency, Oranga Tamariki, received notifications of concern for 51,600 individual children and young people, yet only 780 children entered out-of-home care.
