Flaws in home support plan lead to closer monitoring

A long-standing home-support programme for disadvantaged families is to be retained but put under closer scrutiny after a review found significant variations in its effectiveness.

Social Development Minister Paula Bennett says she supports the $29 million Family Start programme but will ensure that providers are scrutinised more closely.

It follows a review which found that delivery to families by individual community providers is highly inconsistent, with immunisation rates and health checks varying widely.

The review was ordered after research on the Hawaiian programme it was modelled on found it failed to reduce child abuse, partly because workers were not well enough trained to spot problems and act on them.

The Family Start review by Jo Cribb raised similar concerns about the training and qualifications of staff.

Staff with qualifications in health, education or social work made up just 11 per cent of the workers at one provider, while others ranged up to 92 per cent.

She found some providers fell well short of delivering to the number of families agreed to in their contracts and many were not meeting the requirement to make at least one monthly visit and an hour-long training session to each family.

The report was also concerned about the take-up rates - one quarter of families referred chose not to sign up for it and almost one in five of those who did left within a year. It said that while there was concern that the programme would be less effective if parents were forced to do it, some government agencies already had the power to compel them and a case could be made for exercising it.

A home-based support programme was among the recommendations of the Experts Forum on Child Abuse, which released its report yesterday.

Forum member Dr Patrick Kelly of the Starship Hospital in Auckland said it was among the first recommendations the Government should act on.

"The key emphasis is whatever you do, base it on proper evidence and ensure there are properly trained people who are adequately supervised. "

FAMILY START

* The Family Start programme began in 1998 and now provides parents with up to 240 hours of home visits, depending on the level of need.

* It is aimed at reducing child abuse by providing parenting advice and increasing health checks, immunisation and early childhood education.

* It is targeted at disadvantaged families, such as those with a history of family abuse, alcohol or drug problems, and low incomes.

* A voluntary programme, it is offered until children are aged 6.