Funding ‘gaps’ put victims on waiting lists

Not-for-profits that support child victims of sexual abuse had to run waiting lists or turn people away after a decision by a government agency led to ‘‘gaps’’ in funding for specialist services.

Funding for sexual violence crisis support services for survivors of all ages had historically come from one pool of money from the Ministry of Social Development (MSD). However, from 2017/2018, Child Youth and Family (CYF) was responsible for allocating funding to crisis support services for children while MSD continued to fund adult services.

However, during its Budget 2016 bid CYF, which was then part of MSD and has since been replaced by a new ministry, Oranga Tamariki, did not request funding for these services from the Government, documents obtained by Stuff under the Official Information Act showed.

That meant ‘‘providers who historically supported child victims were no longer contracted to do this,’’ an Oranga Tamariki staff member said in an internal email.

After organisations that provided the services raised the issue with MSD and Oranga Tamariki, the agencies told them ‘‘not to turn children and young people away’’, but did not give them any extra money.

During the year ending June 2018, not-for-profits were forced to stretch the funding for adults to provide services for children too.

An Oranga Tamariki survey of sexual violence support services in May 2018 found many providers were ‘‘supporting children and youth at a cost to their organisation’’.

Demand for children’s crisis support services was very high and some providers did not advertise for fear of creating demand they could not manage.

‘‘Some providers have wait lists. It is noted that waitlists can be unethical and . . . providers may opt to turn clients away instead,’’ a summary of the survey responses said.

A head of a sexual violence support provider for child survivors said the sector was still dealing with the effects of the 2017/2018 funding decision. It struggled to keep up with demand and victims were having to wait ‘‘huge lengths of time’’ for support.

‘‘People aren’t getting the services they need. To not be able to provide those services to young people when they need them is just terrible because the earlier you get assistance, the earlier you get your life back on track, then the less damage is done across the course of your life,’’ she said.

Oranga Tamariki spokeswoman Celia Patrick said when CYF was making its Budget 2016 bid, then-social Development Minister Anne Tolley ‘‘said that crisis services for children would be maintained on the basis and at the level they existed at the time.

‘‘In line with this decision a bid was not made for funding for the 2018/19 year.’’

Tolley told Stuff she had ‘‘always anticipated’’ MSD funding for sexual violence support services would be for adults and Oranga Tamariki would support children.

In July this year, Oranga Tamariki allocated $500,000 per year in funding to sexual violence crisis support for children for the 2018/2019 and 2019/2020 financial years to relieve some of the financial pressure NGOS were under.

In a letter to service providers, Oranga Tamariki acknowledged the funding would not be enough to meet all the costs involved with supporting child victims of sexual violence.

‘‘To not be able to provide those services to young people when they need them is just terrible because the earlier you get assistance, the earlier you get your life back on track.’’