Minister ignores half of our vulnerable kids

New figures out this week show Paula Bennett’s White Paper on Vulnerable Children is way off the mark with its focus on up to 30,000 “at risk” kids, Labour’s Social Development spokesperson Jacinda Ardern says.

“Statistics New Zealand has just released findings showing some 67,000 Kiwi kids are living in households defined as being ‘high-risk’. A total of 268,000, or one in four children, are living in medium to high risk households.

“The data has been collated using information collected for the NZ General Social Survey 2010.

“The 11 risk factors  believed to adversely affect children’s development or wellbeing – among them health, housing and income – were selected by Ms Bennett’s own ministry as being a useful measure of vulnerability.

“So once again it seems Ms Bennett is desperate to narrow the scope of the problem, focusing only on those she sees as having the potential to be abused.

“By only targeting a small portion of our most vulnerable children she is ignoring what is a much wider problem, and one that will have a far greater long-term cost.

“With income being one of the key determinates of a child’s wellbeing, tackling child poverty shouldn’t be put in the too hard basket. It should be a priority.

“Given Ms Bennett’s Green Paper promised to work towards a society where ‘every child thrives, belongs and achieves’ it is disappointing she has put such limiting parameters into her White Paper

“The Minister needs to look closely at the results of this survey and consider using it as a measure of how well the proposals in her White Paper are working.

“Currently, the public has no way of knowing whether or not Ms Bennett’s plans will improve children’s well-being,” said Jacinda Ardern.