Education key to fix child poverty

Te Taumata o Ngati Whakaue Trust general manager Roana Bennett.

An Excel Rotorua leader has welcomed the discussion generated by the recently released Child Poverty Monitor report.

Te Taumata o Ngati Whakaue Trust general manager Roana Bennett said while people liked to think of Rotorua as a great place to live and bring up their children, "it is important not to forget poverty is the daily reality for some kids in pockets of the city".

"The pathway out of poverty is education - but it takes a range of mutually reinforcing actions for a family to make a sustainable shift out of and away from the poverty trap. This is where the new approach of cross agency collaboration through the social sector trials is making a difference.

Taiho Tamariki team leader Carol Haimona.

"The purpose of the Rotorua social sector trial is to support the agencies to work together to increase education achievement - poverty is a massive barrier preventing some kids attending and actively participating in school."

Ms Bennett said one Excel Rotorua initiative, Tiaho Tamariki, aimed to increase enrolment and participation in early childhood education.

"With the child attending a quality early childhood service, the family will also engage. By supporting their child the whole family becomes attuned to the value of education.

"Parents also find they now have time to further their own education aspirations and the Tiaho Tamariki team supports them to do so."

Taiho Tamariki team leader Carol Haimona said the initiative addressed the widest range of barriers to education.

"We get to know the families well, we spend time with them and we are trusted by them. This relationship enables us to play a brokering role in terms of access, cost, transport and motivation.

"We also support families in housing, welfare and other issues. Because we know the early childhood services in the community well, we're able to help families work out what service would suit them," she said. "Our team see the personal cost to the children who live in poverty - the empty cupboards, the cold, damp houses, the preventable diseases.

"These kids go to school hungry, often miss out on school outings, school camps and sports activities."

She added: "I have yet to come across a family who doesn't want the best for their children. I can see this programme making a difference one child at a time, one family at a time, one street at a time."

Child Poverty Monitor report

* 14 per cent of Kiwi kids go without the necessities
* 305,000 Kiwi kids live in poverty
* Three in five of the children living in poverty live that way for many years
* 9 per cent of Kiwi kids are at the hardest end of poverty