New Report Shows Stubborn Barriers To Good Health For Children And Young People In State Care

A new report by Aroturuki Tamariki | Independent
Children’s Monitor takes a close look at how well children
and young people in State care can access primary health
services.

The report relates to the National Care
Standards (NCS), which set minimum requirements for all
children and young people in care. This includes the
responsibility of Oranga Tamariki to ensure all children and
young people in care have annual health and dental checks,
and are enrolled in a Primary Health Organisation
(PHO).

The NCS also state that healthcare services
must be culturally appropriate, in line with the right of
all children to have equitable experiences and outcomes from
public services and the rights of mokopuna Māori rite tahi
under Article Three of Te Tiriti o Waitangi.

Released
today, Access to Primary Health Services and Dental
Care finds pockets of good practice across the motu,
while identifying stubborn barriers that mokopuna in care
and their caregivers face in accessing a doctor or
dentist.

Chief Children’s Commissioner Dr Claire
Achmad says the focus of the report on access of children
and young people to primary health and dental care is
important, given the lifetime impact that these things have
on them.

“This report shows there have been some
improvements, but too many children and young people in
State care are still missing out on fully experiencing their
basic right to health. This is a right that all children
have under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child,”
she says.

The report finds that 93% of children in
care are enrolled with a PHO and there is willingness of
healthcare workers to do what they can to help enable access
to their services for children and young people in care,
such as fast-tracking oral surgery and taking on new
patients even when at capacity.

The report also
outlines how local strategic partnerships between Oranga
Tamariki and iwi and kaupapa Māori social services, such as
that with Te Tohu o te Ora o Ngāti Awa, can make a
practical, positive difference in the lives of mokopuna in
care.

However, it shows barriers to access remain,
including a lack of comprehensive Oranga Tamariki data about
access of children and young people to annual health and
dental checks and whether enrolments with PHOs result in
these checks, and access to healthcare that meets cultural
needs.

“I’m particularly concerned about access
for all children and young people in care to annual health
and dental checks. I’d like to see Oranga Tamariki being
able to provide assurance that these critical checks are
occurring for every child and young person in care, so that
future health and dental issues can be
prevented.

“This has both short-term and lifetime
positive impacts for children and young people, and I expect
to see every child and young person in care having access to
these checks and data that backs this up, alongside
whole-of-system approaches addressing underlying inequities
in health outcomes,” says Dr Achmad.

The report
notes a lack of data to about whether mokopuna in care are
being offered healthcare that meets their cultural needs, an
NCS that is important for equity.

“For mokopuna
Māori, right now they make up a large proportion of the
care population, and that’s why iwi and Māori
partnerships that support their cultural needs to be met in
the primary health space are particularly
crucial.”

Dr Achmad says Mana Mokopuna – Children
and Young People’s Commission wants to see greater
consistency across Oranga Tamariki practice and clear
culture and expectation setting to ensure social workers are
collecting information about and regularly checking on the
health and dental care of mokopuna in care, alongside
strengthening a whole-of-system approach for the health of
these mokopuna. Having better information will help those
across the wider care and health systems to work together so
that all mokopuna in care can access health
services.

“Access to primary health and dental
services has both short-term and lifetime impacts, and a
considerable preventative effect. All children and young
people, including those in care, have a right to have their
holistic health needs met so they can stay well and live
their best
lives.”

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