Rotorua Mayor Kevin Winters says a pilot programme targeting the most vulnerable children in our community will ensure the safety of local children.
Social Development Minister Paula Bennett announced that Rotorua would be the first to pilot a new programme aimed at protecting children most at risk. She made the announcement in front of about 150 local social service agency workers at the Distinction Hotel in Rotorua today as she toured the country releasing the White Paper on Vulnerable Children.
The initiative would involve more resources being made available and the names of those deemed most at risk lodged onto a database which was accessed by the team of professionals and a local child director who made an individual plan of action for a child to ensure their safety.
Mr Winters was pleased with the announcement and believed it would help make Rotorua a safer place.
Lots of people knew little bits and pieces about a child at risk but until they were all collated together, the whole picture wasn't seen and they slipped through the cracks, Mr Winters said.
They would no longer be lost in the system, he said.
More money and resources would help address the problem and bring agencies closer together to meet the needs of the child, he said.
Mr Winters said Rotorua was stigmatised by Nia Glassie's death in 2007 but the announcement showed they were serious about getting rid of child abuse in the community.
"I'm delighted Rotorua has been chosen. You and I Paula are on the same page. I was really nervous about an announcement on child abuse and domestic violence would stigmatised Rotorua ... This says we are serious and we are dead serious about child abuse in this community and making our community safer. We are going to be a force to be reckoned with," he told the group.
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