Integrated family service centres gaining momentum

Dame Lesley Max. Photo / Christine Cornege.

Almost 20 years after first proposing integrated family service centres, Dame Lesley Max feels that the idea may finally be catching on.

It was 1992 when Max's charity, then called the Pacific Foundation, opened its first "family service centre" on the grounds of Papakura's decile 1 Kelvin Rd primary school, bringing together a preschool, Plunket nurses, parenting classes, counsellors, social workers and the "Hippy" programme, which helps parents prepare their preschoolers for school.

There have been other isolated efforts to bring social services together. The Families Commission has championed the example of Nelson's low-decile Victory School, which has created a "Victory Village community centre" incorporating a preschool, parent support, adult education, health services, legal advice and a homework centre.

The Living and Learning Foundation, a charity founded by Kindercare founder Glennie Oborn, has opened a family centre in Mangere incorporating a medical clinic, Plunket nurses, parenting workshops, budgeting and an employment service as well as a preschool. It is now building a similar $2 million centre in Henderson.

Max's foundation, now called Great Potentials, has also opened family service centres in Mangere, Huntly, Opotiki, Porirua and Motueka, as well as its original one in Papakura. But its funding for those six centres, granted in 1993, has never been extended.

The foundation has been trying for several years to open a new centre in Takanini, one of the fastest-growing parts of the region. It has an option to buy a site in Takanini School Rd for $500,000 and has plans to build a $1.2 million preschool for 50 children, with other family services to follow.

But Max is frustrated. "I note that the Government still works in silos," she says.

She applied to an Education Ministry fund for new preschools in high-need areas, but couldn't get the required resource consents in time.

"We are not going to wait for next year. We are driven by a sense of urgency," Max says. "At the moment only 35 per cent of the Takanini primary school population has early childhood education participation."

She is eyeing a new $92 million, four-year fund announced in this year's Budget for early childhood education in needy areas, starting with Northland and Waitakere.

"We fail to see why Takanini, where the need is so clear, might not feature there," she says.

In principle, the new Auckland Super City will provide a mechanism to start breaking down some of the "silos" that have hampered integrated planning for social services across the region.

Social Development Minister Paula Bennett will chair a new Auckland Social Policy Forum which will also include the new Super City mayor, the chairs of relevant committees of the new Auckland Council and representatives from some of the 21 local boards.

Other Government initiatives are also trying to break down bureaucratic barriers. The Health Ministry is funding "integrated family health centres" providing health and social services on single sites, including two for Pacific families in Auckland. And the new "Whanau Ora" programme will fund integrated social services for Maori families.

Max was encouraged when the idea of integrated services came up again at a brainstorming session last month for projects to be funded by the new Auckland Communities Foundation.

"Listening to the feedback from one of the groups, I said to my group, 'It's like someone's been reading my mail'," she says.

"It was the idea of an integrated facility for parents and children, with opportunities for adult learning alongside children's learning and parenting enhancement. We now have 20 years of experience in starting up and running such a service and we are really hoping to share our experiences and observations over two decades."

ON THE WEB:

greatpotentials.org.nz

* From the New Zealand Herald feature, 'Project Auckland - our city'