Children most at risk of harm 'fall under radar'

The children most likely to die from neglect and abuse are falling under the radar of the government agencies that should be protecting them, research shows.

A study of Masterton families that rely on social services found support was failing to reach those most at risk.

The research, commissioned by Social Development Minister Paula Bennett, showed most families were resilient and used social services to make themselves stronger.

The Families Commission study focused on Masterton and looked at 400 families and 33 social service agencies. High-risk, dysfunctional families were among those interviewed.

But the most severe cases – families in which children had died – avoided contact with social services and fell under the radar, the report said.

Figures from key agencies show that, on average, 60 babies a year throughout the country are being admitted to hospital because of abuse.

Abuse reported to Child, Youth and Family last year increased 119 per cent in the past five years. Last year, 110,000 cases were reported to CYF and, by the end of this year, the figure is expected to be about 125,000.

But Ms Bennett said she was not too concerned that the hardest-to-reach families were not part of the study.

"I don't undermine that they are the hard end, the most vulnerable and the children most in need, but there are mechanisms in place that we are continually working towards to get to those families."

The report was more about addressing the majority of families that needed some support and help, she said. "There has been a lot of work done on the most chaotic and complex and dysfunctional families, which doesn't mean it is exhausted. There is still work to do but I did purposely look at a broader picture."

Just what services are available to Wairarapa families has been debated and criticised after the deaths of children at the hands of family members.

But Chief Families Commissioner Carl Davidson said the study found no evidence of an overlap in services, that families got what they needed most of the time and that there were few gaps. The report looked at which services families did and did not rely on when they needed help and whether there were barriers to accessing what they needed.

"What they told is that most people don't approach social services from a point of dysfunction, but rather as a tool to maintain the strength and wellbeing of their families and whanau."

The report writers said the hard-to-reach group would remain at risk of tragedies.

"This would be likely to include families most similar in risk profile to those that have experienced the death of children through neglect ... They avoid social services and then fall below the radar."

Ms Bennett said the research did not offer any major surprises. "We would go around talking about these thing anecdotally and that can be dangerous, so I am quite thrilled that we now have evidence that there are really services out there to support families."

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