PRESS RELEASE: UNITED NATIONS CHILDREN’S FUND: 22 FEB 2011

UNICEF NZ Concerned By Proposed Changes In Welfare

UNICEF NZ views the changes in eligibility for welfare support with concern.

“We appreciate the references to achieving good outcomes for children and while we do accept that helping parents to become well equipped and work ready when children are three years old can be a path out of poverty, we are concerned that small children may not receive the best care and may be at risk from sub-standard childcare arrangements” said Dennis McKinlay, Executive Director of UNICEF NZ

“We know from studies carried out internationally that when child care is of a high standard, with a high ratio of properly trained, qualified and skilled staff, it’s very beneficial for children. But if parents are required to be at work and can’t afford quality child care they may be forced into making arrangements that put children at risk”

“There are high profile cases where children have been left in the care of ill equipped minders and that have led to tragedy” he added. He also made the point that neuroscientific studies show that intimate, loving, one to one interaction constitutes essential input to the child’s emotional, physical and cognitive development….”and clearly no one can do that better than parents” he said.

There is already pressure on childcare services for spaces and Mr McKinlay commented that demand may well increase and he questions whether this has been well considered in the proposed changes.

Mr McKinlay referred to a recent statement by Justice Minister Simon Power that government spending on police, corrections and justice has roughly doubled to $3.4 billion in the past 14 years with little overall effect on crime and we have a prison population that is bursting at the seams.

“Mr Power has acknowledged that the drivers of crime have their beginnings in childhood and he promotes help for vulnerable young parents and programmes that intervene early to assist parents with healthy child development. A worldwide body of evidence shows that supporting parenting and investing well in early childhood makes social and economic good sense”.

He quoted Mr Power as saying “We all know that if we can stop people from getting on the carousel of crime in the first place then the savings - not only monetary but also in terms of human cost - will be huge,"

Sweden, which tops the international league table of developed countries for quality benchmarks in early childhood care and education, does require that sole parents be available for a return to work when their child is three. However, there are excellent supports to ensure that the person in the parenting role is well supported from the earliest days, is helped to become work ready, receives an adequate wage, that workplaces are family friendly and of course that child care is accessible, affordable and of the highest standard.

“There is no doubt whatever that societies that invest adequately in early years need to spend less on remedial and corrective services” said Mr McKinlay. “Imagine that $3.4b being diverted to positive investment that helps children to become healthy, productive citizens and prevent them turning to crime” he said

He added that he hoped the government would follow through with its commitment to ensure that no child is placed at risk through a policy that fails to give protection from abuse or neglect the highest priority.

“We would like to see a full child impact assessment of all the proposed changes conducted before any new policies are adopted” he said. “The best interests of the child must be paramount in arrangements for welfare support”.

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