Social services warn about funding of supervised child contact

In a submission on the Regulatory Systems (Courts) Amendment Bill to Parliament’s Justice Committee, the NZCCSS noted that the Bill provides for “more flexibility for prescribing the fees and expenses payable to approved providers in respect of a supervised contact order under section 59(2) of the Care of Children Act 2004”.

This could potentially increase funding challenges for this service, the submission stated. The NZCCSS, which includes Catholic Social Services as a foundation member, said several of its members provide this service.

According to the Ministry of Justice, “supervised contact is when [a] child spends time with a parent or another person in a safe, controlled place with someone else present. This may be a whānau member, a nominated person, or a supervised contact provider”.

The NZCCSS submission stated “it is challenging to sustain supervised contact services on a fee-for-service model, particularly where referrals are unpredictable”.

“We note that there has not been a fee increase for this service over the past two years, despite the cost of delivering this service increasing through a range of influences.

“Higher case complexity and wellbeing needs among children and parents, increased demand for supervised contact after hours and on weekends, increases in staffing costs and, in some situations, fuel cost increases, mean that the current funding model is not reflective of the actual cost of service delivery.

“It is also not reflective of the costs associated with coordinating referrals, navigating the court system, providing ongoing training and professional development for staff, and ensuring a welcoming environment for tamariki and whānau to meet.

“We caution against any change that may result in a reduction in funding and further challenge the sustainability of this service.”

The NZCCSS recommended that “regulation-making powers to improve flexibility for funding for supervised contact providers are amended so they are only able to be used to increase funding”.

“We recommend that any changes that will decrease funding are still required to be in primary legislation and therefore require public scrutiny before implemented.”

FULL STORY

Regulatory Systems (Courts) Amendment Bill (NZCCSS/Parliament NZ)

Understand supervised contact (Ministry of Justice)