Eighteen Northland schools now have access to social workers as the government expands its Social Workers in Schools (SWiS) programme.
From the start of this week the first of 50 additional social workers started covering 95 schools in Northland, South Auckland and Hawke's Bay.
Social Development Minister Paula Bennett announced
the expansion of SWiS to all decile 1 to 3 schools last year, with coverage planned to increase from 285 to 673 schools.
"We said we'd phase the extra social workers in and these are the first 50 of 149 extra SWiS workers," Mrs Bennett said.
"School staff can be the first to notice when something isn't right with a child and with problems increasingly complex and difficult, qualified social workers are needed to address these issues with children and families."
