The Government's flagship welfare policy for Maori, Whanau Ora - worth $40 million this year - is designed to lift families out of poverty and dysfunction, but it has been criticised as a waste of money and an opportunity for some to rort the system. In a four-part investigation reporter Yvonne Tahana speaks to those at Whanau Ora's frontline.
Keen to make sure young mums don't slip into long-term benefit dependency, social worker Kylie Urwin head-hunted teenage mothers in a South Auckland carpark.
A mother herself at 18, the Manukau Urban Maori Authority social worker is in charge of a $100,000 Te Puni Kokiri (Ministry of Maori Development) contract. It is not funded by Whanau Ora but Ms Urwin has applied the principles to her work - that families need to be helped, not just individuals.
Ms Urwin went looking for young people and told them they couldn't stay on the benefit forever. She warned them that changes to the domestic purposes benefit, where cash would be replaced with a card to pay for basic needs, should be spurring them to take positive steps towards a self-sufficient future.
She steered them towards a foundation course at Manukau Institute of Technology and plans are under way to enrol them in full-time trades courses from February.
