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Pene Frost believes in her modest friendly way that her recent King’s Birthday Honour, a King’s Service Medal, is unique.
“The fact that the honour is for services to children and social work is really quite special,” she says.
“Stand Tū Māia has always done very solid social work. The conduit into the families is the children. And often, for whatever reasons, adults tend to blame the children.
“They haven’t connected the dots that it’s their behaviours that’s impacting children.”
Frost has been a career social worker specialising in children’s welfare and safety for 47 years.
She’s been with Stand Tū Māia, formerly Stand Children’s Services, throughout that lengthy service that commenced in 1978 when it was the Pakuranga Health Camp.
Stand is a specialist not-for-profit social services organisation that started in 2000 and she’s the Auckland regional manager.
“We provide trauma capable treatment and intensive support to help children and families heal scars of adversity, build resilient family life and take their place as equal citizens.”
The work that Frost and her team at Stand does is “really important”, she says, as it’s facing up to and trying to deal with problems and issues within families.
“I know that because I’ve been there for so long. There’s always been a call. That call is deeply rooted in knowing we make a difference.
“A lot of what we do is telling the stories about what can happen, parenting, attachment, and it’s also looking deeply at the family harm, family violence space.
“There are a lot of metrics that give us the ability to service the lack of safety.”
The official honour citation reads: ‘Mrs Frost has mentored many new Māori, Pacific and overseas social work students from Sweden and Germany into the social work profession.
‘She has practiced in roles including residential social work, family social work and as a parent educator, trainer and manager, with her team having worked with more than 8000 vulnerable children in Auckland over 20 years.
‘She has maintained a relationship with Panmure Medical Centre to support the health needs of tamariki.
‘She’s a member of the East Health Trust PHO, the Otahuhu Oranga Tamariki Care and Protection Panel, and the Social Work Stakeholders’ Advisory Group at Manukau Institute of Technology.’
Frost told the Times she retains enthusiasm for the work.
“I leap out of bed every morning and love what I do, because I know there’s going to be a child walk into my office.
“If the team has the resources and the support they need, they can do their best work. My job is to source all of those things.”
She still gets a kick out of being recognised by people out in the community who remember her and the Stand team’s efforts to help them earlier in life.
“Walking through Manukau City Centre and these big men call out ‘g’day Pene’. There is that absolute respect, ‘you made a difference to me’.”
Frost also pays tribute to the many groups and individuals in the community that have supported Stand and continue to.
“The long-standing relationships with Rotary, the Inner Wheel, Freemasons, the wonderful knitting-in-public ladies who knit jumpers and warm clothing for children.
“All the people that just drop off things that are useful for the families we’re working with.
“Our community has held us. During Covid I was the only one working in that building and we had so many people asking for food and blankets.
“Sometimes people have the opportunity to give but they don’t know the outcomes. You’ve got to hold on to that even though you don’t know you’ve made a difference, particularly at Stand.
“My whole life has been full of amazing people.”
Frost says she’s enjoyed the favourable reactions she’s had from family and friends since the King’s Birthday Honours recipients were announced on June 2.
“My beautiful daughter’s reaction was, ‘why do you have to be such a high achiever, Mum?’
“Over the years, the sacrifice the children and my husband James have made to allow me to do what I’ve done, it’s all about them as well. Really proud.”
- For an earlier Times feature Q&A interview with Pene Frost, read: https://www.times.co.nz/news/qa-with-pene-frost-of-stand-tu-maia/
