Closure of camp would be ‘shocker’

The proposed closure of two health camps means hundreds of at-risk children will miss out on essential treatment every year, the organisation behind the camps says.

Stand Children’s Services says a lack of funding is behind its proposal to close camps in O¯ taki, north of Wellington, and the Central Otago town of Roxburgh.

Chief executive Fiona Inkpen said it meant 380 primary schoolaged children treated annually for health and behavioural issues because of long-term trauma would suffer. ‘‘They would be a population who are the most vulnerable people in the country.’’

About 63 jobs across the regions would be lost if the camps were to close but, without a rise in government funding since 2009, Inkpen said there was no other option.

An extra $3 million was needed annually but Inkpen said Minister for Children Tracey Martin had told her the funding could not be increased. ‘‘We know this service is working; it is an essential service and surely you would put those together and invest in it.’’

She still hoped the Government would be able to help keep the services open.

Martin had visited a Stand camp and said the service was an ‘‘iconic’’ one. ‘‘I should be clear that there has been no reduction in funding levels for Stand under this Government ... Stand receives more than $20m for its services annually.

‘‘As Stand has said publicly, they want more funding to maintain its existing services. As you will have seen, there is pressure across a whole range of areas including health and education for extra government

The potential closure was ‘‘a shocker for a Government said to be committed to children’s welfare’’. Ka¯ piti Coast Mayor K Gurunathan

spending and it isn’t possible to meet all of these demands.’’

Oranga Tamariki had a set budget for buying services for children and Stand was one of the two highest-funded providers.

With seven camps nationwide, O¯ taki and Roxburgh were picked for closure because they were the only sites that hadn’t been upgraded.

Last year, a court ruled the O¯ taki camp could operate from a property it had bought in Milne Drive, Paraparaumu, despite neighbours opposing the move.

Inkwell said the house had been rented and there were no plans to sell it. She hoped it could still be a ‘‘children’s castle’’ in future.

Ka¯ piti Coast Mayor K Gurunathan said the potential closure was ‘‘a shocker for a Government said to be committed to children’s welfare’’. Vulnerable children deserved to be protected and the money should be easy for the ministry to find, he said.

Central Otago Mayor Tim Cadogan echoed Gurunathan’s statement, calling it a ‘‘calamity for the disadvantaged’’ in the lower South Island.

‘‘To see it in peril of closure, particularly when we have a Government we hoped was going to have a social conscience, is a disaster.’’

A decision would be made next month on whether the camps would close.