Southland at-risk kids need help, rector says

A government-funded team needs to be brought to Southland to help the growing number of vulnerable children, a school boss says.

Southland Boys’ High School rector Ian Baldwin said the number of children at risk of becoming disengaged from their schooling and society was increasing.

‘‘It still seems to be a mystery to many people in our province that we have a significant and increasing number of children who are at risk.

‘‘That’s children who have been neglected, abused, emotionally scarred, psychologically troubled, abusing substances, malnourished and living in very, very trying circumstances,’’ Baldwin said.

‘‘Those of us that have been in education for some time know we have, comparably, the same ratio of such students as South Auckland.’’

That information was not known to many people because agencies, many of whom did great jobs, often worked in isolation instead of a team approach to provide specific care to the most atrisk families, Baldwin said.

Schools, by default, were often the first agencies that dealt with at-risk children.

Southland Boys’ High School was working with the Poppycock Trust, which launches initiatives to help people in the community, to address the problem. A wraparound pilot program had been introduced to help the school’s most at-risk students, Baldwin said.

‘‘It’s about supporting a group of students who are most at risk and bringing all the agencies together to support that development.’’

But the Government needed a ‘‘vulnerable children’s team’’ in the south to deal with the issue in a wider sense, he indicated.

The Vulnerable Children Act, passed a year ago, was set up to make a better life for the most vulnerable children in New Zealand.

‘‘The vulnerable children act is a real attempt to provide wrap around services to the most at-risk children. We want vulnerable child teams brought down here,’’ Baldwin said.

A Children’s Action Plan directorate spokeswoman said the government had established four children’s teams in Rotorua, Whangarei, Horowhenua/Otaki and Marlborough and was currently establishing six more in other parts of the country. Southland was not on the list. Children’s teams brought together frontline professionals from health, education, welfare and social service agencies to work with vulnerable children and their families who did not require intervention from CYF, she said.

Though Southland was not due any child teams, the Government had in 2011 established a social sector trial focused on improving the outcomes for 12-18 year-olds in Gore and 15 other areas across the country, the spokeswoman said. The trial, which was extended to 5-18 year-olds last year, will run until 2016.

Invercargill Salvation Army Captain Annette Bray agreed many people did not realise the extent of poverty in parts of Invercargill.

The army gave out 71 food parcels to 62 families in May, slightly more than in May 2014, and the first few days of June had been busy, she said.

Families were struggling to feed their children nutritious food, which was often more expensive, and this affected the concentration levels of children at school.

She also saw families who were neglecting some bills to pay others, such as higher early-winter power bills.

Aurora College principal Robyn Hickman said between 80 and 90 of its 384 students took advantage of the school’s free Weet-bix breakfasts and some went back for more at lunchtime.

Most had no breakfast to eat at home, she said.

Southland schools attendance officer Lindsay Thomas, who often deals with financially strapped families whose kids are truant from class, said if families needed help, agencies were available.

Some families constantly used such services but others were too proud to ask, he said.

Some financially struggling parents had their priorities wrong, with cigarettes and alcohol put ahead of necessities.