Stand Tū Māia charitable trust says it has reached a resolution with Oranga Tamariki (Ministry for Children) that provides a four-month lifeline for its critical service.
The resolution means the parties will not go to court to hear the Stand Tū Māia application for an injunction against Oranga Tamariki for alleged breach of contract: https://www.times.co.nz/news/stand-tu-maia-urgently-sues-ministry-for-children/
Stand Tū Māia and Oranga Tamariki have agreed an end date for present contractual arrangements.
The parties will meet early next year to discuss potential future Oranga Tamariki procurement and contracting processes.
Chief executive Dr Fiona Inkpen says the resolution provides some immediate certainty for the high-risk children and families supported by Stand Tū Māia, but there’s still uncertainty about the long-term future.
“The agreement gives us time to have a further conversation with the Government to determine if there’s a desire to retain the service and what will happen to support these vulnerable children and their families in the future.
“We want to thank Andrew Bridgman, acting chief executive of Oranga Tamariki, for playing a key role in making this resolution happen.
“We’re a service of last resort, and that has been strongly reflected in the outpouring of support we’ve received from staff, referrers, teachers, parents and grandparents, who were shocked by this announcement,” says Dr Inkpen.
“The strong messages of support and the many stories of how we have helped young children and their families demonstrates how valued our specialist services are.
“Our priority right now is continuing to provide a service for these children and families who have been failed by every other part of the system, and to get agreement that our specialist intervention services are valued and can be funded.
“We’re currently contracted to provide specialised trauma treatment, intensive family wraparound support and family therapy for approximately 4000 vulnerable children from 1000 families.
“We want to thank everyone for their support and feedback, particularly the thousands of people who called or emailed us, who expressed their support in the Change.org petition and told wonderful stories about how Stand Tū Māia has supported their children and family members over the years,” says Dr Inkpen.
Since December 10, an independent petition on Change.org has received more than 4000 signatures after Stand Tū Māia announced it was at risk of closing.
Dr Inkpen says it’s critical the Government fully understands the outcomes Stand Tū Māia is consistently achieving throughout New Zealand.
Stand Tū Māia is a charity set up in 2000 when Children’s Health Camps ceased to exist following the dissolution bill passed in Parliament.
It says it proudly received the 80-year legacy of Children’s Health Camps and at the request of government transformed that legacy over the next 24 years from a universal child health service to a specialist social service providing wraparound services to children and families with complex needs, living with multiple forms of adversity.
Stand Tū Māia does the work in collaboration with iwi and hapū, other agencies and providers across the country.
