Child Homelessness and a care system funded to fail / A.J. Hendry
With more children experiencing homelessness the Government cannot afford not to act!
The recent Experiences in Care report has highlighted an increase in children who are experiencing homelessness being placed in motels by Oranga Tamariki.
The number rose from 135 children in the 22/23 reporting period, to 176 in the 23/24 period. At the same time the report highlights that Social Workers are being discouraged from using motels (even when they have no other alternatives for shelter) due to budget cuts.
That is an absolutely shocking revelation. Can you imagine leaving your child without shelter, because you didn't want to move things around on your budget?
If you or I treated our own children with such lack of concern, care or love, the State would be at our door asking us questions.
And yet, while 176 children experiencing homelessness while in state care is bad enough, in reality we don't really know how many tamariki in the states care are unhoused.
Oranga Tamariki has not been keeping accurate data on this and it is very likely that the number of children experiencing homelessness while in care is much higher!
What we do know is that in a Youth19 it was found that of those children who reported involvement with Oranga Tamariki, 60% had experienced housing deprivation in the last 12 months, and in a report conducted by Oranga Tamariki in 2022, of those transitioning from the Care System or the Youth Justice System, they estimated that 1 in 10 were experiencing housing insecurity. We also know, that of the over 112 thousand or so of those who experience homelessness in Aotearoa, about 50% are tamariki and rangatahi.
And though that data doesn't give us specifics on what percentage of those children and young people are in care, it does highlight a confronting reality.
We are not taking this crisis seriously enough.
Tamariki Homelessness is not an issue that has gotten enough attention in Aotearoa.
Kick Back is meeting an increasing number of children who are experiencing homelessness. These are tamariki, some as young as 11 years old who are without shelter and experiencing significant harm as a result.
Accessing shelter for these children is difficult, their situations are complex and currently Oranga Tamariki does not have the resources or services designed to adequately meet the needs of these tamariki. As a result, some of our most vulnerable children are being left on the street, couch surfing in and out of hostels and emergency housing, and exposed to dangerous and at times life threatening situations.
The problem is not Oranga Tamariki's alone, notably the Experiences in Care report highlights that multiple Government agencies are neglecting their responsibility to support our tamariki, schools were specifically mentioned in the report for the manner some school boards discriminate against kids in care by refusing to enrol them and thus denying our own children access to education. This of course only excerbates issues for these children, incressing their vulnerability.
The other key problem the report highlights is that Oranga Tamariki is not adequately resourced to care for our kids.
Think about that, the Government is just not investing enough of our collective resources to ensure that our children are safe and able to be adequately cared for.
Our Social Workers are over worked and overwhelmed with the level of need in our communities, and when it comes to responding to Tamariki Homelessness, Oranga Tamariki doesn't currently have the services in place to respond appropriately.
These children have every reason in the world to distrust the system and require a well resourced, tailored approach to ensure they can access shelter and get the care they deserve!
And yet, instead of investing in ensuring our children can thrive, the Coalition Government has cut resources from an already under funded and underpressure system. The Government's cuts to Oranga Tamariki, to the community sector, to Public Housing, their decision to block access to Emergency Housing, and to cut 20 million dollars worth of funds that were tagged to address this very issue by providing increased housing options for rangatahi experiencing homelessness, these decisions are all having an impact.
Our community is under pressure, and it is our most structurally marginalized kids who are paying the highest cost.
The Government can't side step their responsibility here.
As the report highlights there is a lot Oranga Tamariki can do to improve, however until the Government decides to resource Oranga Tamariki appropriately, providing the resources needed to support our children to thrive, nothing will change!
#LoveIsTheWay #KidsInCare
Unfortunately the coalition can and will sidestep their responsibility to tamariki. The reality is that our politicians live in a parallel universe to those experiencing poverty and therefore can't relate to it. To solve a problem you first have empathy. Most of our politicians have one or more rental properties for which they reap generous tax free benefits. They gave 3 billion to landlords in tax breaks. They gave tax reduction to people who least needed it. School lunch's let's spend $3 the cost of half a cup of coffee.! Our PM trusts Trump that tells you everything. Get the picture these people just don't get it because it's so totally outside their manosphere. In a trickle down economy the haves will never share with the have nots, growth is the mantra but only for themselves. Welcome to NZ under an extreme right wing government.