27 April 2017

Porirua working for children and young people

A report by the Porirua City Council on the status of children and young people is the first ever to examine a range of local data that will help the future wellbeing of Porirua’s children.

The Status Report – Children and Young People in Porirua 2017 collates wellbeing indicators for children and young people aged 0–24 years across a range of areas including health, education, employment, engagement, recreation, satisfaction with living in Porirua, housing and safety.

The Council City Direction Committee today agreed to use information from the report when they begin planning our city’s Long-term Plan 2018–28.

City Direction Chairperson Cr ‘Ana Coffey says she is looking forward to discussing the report’s findings further with colleagues during an upcoming Council workshop.

“The status report tells us about how our children and young people find living in Porirua and it provides helpful information on their health, education, feelings of safety and connectedness and (for those a bit older), what their employment opportunities are.

It’s confirmation of the work we’ve been doing in a number of areas. “We’ve been building on the annual workshops with children and young people that look at our annual and long-term plans and have seen an increase in submissions from children and young people.

“We’ve encouraged participation in design projects such as the Aotea Splashpad and Eastern Porirua Recreation Project and we’ve partnered with Rotary for the primary school leadership awards and supported the Porirua Youth2Work movement,” says Cr Coffey.

“The report will help the Council review the way it supports children and young people and make changes if required. It also provides a platform for advocacy for issues outside the control or direct influence of local government.

“In some areas it also includes ethnic breakdowns and national comparisons, which will help us understand our community’s needs better,” she says.

“It enables us to easily identify areas where progress is being made, or where the situation is staying the same or deteriorating. These findings give us a good frame of reference to assess whether or not we need to make changes to the activities and services we provide for children and young people,” she says.

Key findings from the report

1. Overall, children and young people enjoy their quality of life and consider Porirua a great place to live.

2. Satisfaction levels with council events and council facilities popular with children and young people remain very high.

3. The vast majority of infants are fully immunised at eight months and most participate in early childhood education (ECE). There are no ethnic disparities for infant immunisation and very small ethnic disparities for ECE participation. Most young people rate their health positively.

4. Rates of youth offending (court appearance by youth aged 14–16 years) have been reducing both locally and nationally since 2011.

5. The proportion of households connected to the internet has increased and Porirua is now on par with New Zealand. There are lower rates of connectedness in some low-income communities.

6. Areas of concern related to education include relatively poor NCEA level 2 achievement rates. Levels of transience (changing schools) and rates of truancy are also relatively high. Ethnic breakdowns show Māori and Pasifika rates compare unfavourably to Pākehā for most education indicators and this lag has been persistent.

7. Areas of concern related to health include high injury rates for children, high rates of hospital admissions (particularly for under 5s), poor oral health at school entry and high rates of intentional self-harm for youth. Noteworthy however are the lower rates of youth suicide for the Capital and Coast area compared with other district health boards. Porirua also has higher care and protection reports of concern that require further action.

8. Over a fifth of children live in overcrowded houses and a quarter live in homes with damp and mould. A third of young people struggle to afford to heat their home in winter and four in ten children reported shivering inside during winter. Poor housing is a known contributor to poor child health outcomes such as rheumatic fever, skin infections and respiratory illnesses. Wheezing due to asthma and respiratory infections is a common reason for Porirua children to be admitted to hospital.

9. Many children and young people are growing up in homes experiencing housing stress, that is, in homes where more than 30% of gross household income is being spent on housing. This leaves less income to cover other essentials such as food, clothing, heating and medical expenses.

10. While high numbers of respondents (adults) in the Resident’s Satisfaction Survey consider Porirua a safe place to live and a safe place for children, children and young people are expressing higher levels of anxiety about their safety.

11. Young people are also more anxious about social issues in general (pollution, begging, vandalism, alcohol and drugs, unsafe driving) than older people. Levels of stress and loneliness are also highest for 18-24 year olds compared with older age groups.

12. Levels of engagement in Porirua show there is room for improvement, however our young people compare favourably with national data. For example Porirua had higher proportions of young people (aged 18-24 years) enrolled for local body elections, higher voter turnout in general elections and more confidence in Council decision-making than young people nationally. Over half of young people want to have more say in what the Council does, signalling opportunities for greater engagement.

13. We know from talking to young people that children under 12 years engage in many ways with the Council via recreational activities, programmes and facilities. While they raised some concerns about safety and pollution, in general, their customer experience was positive and they felt good about the city.

14. Adolescents we spoke to were less positive about what the city has to offer them. There are fewer city activities tailored for this age group. As young people mature into young adults, they continue to express a desire to live in a city that offers recreational and educational opportunities locally.

Read the full status report here.

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