Child Youth and Family gets Budget boost

3.00pm - By KEVIN NORQUAY

Child, Youth and Family Services (CYF) was handed the biggest baseline funding boost of any government department in today's budget, after a review last year found it suffered from systemic failure.

Additional funding of $61 million will be poured into CYF this year, rising to $66 million a year after that.

The extra money will boost total spending in 2004/05 to $506 million, budget documents said.

Those increases meant CYF's operating budget had more than doubled under the present government, State Services Minister Trevor Mallard said.

CYF allocates more than half of its total budget to care and protection services -- with $270 million set aside for that purpose in this financial year.

The funding boost was part of a $1 billion package to restore departmental baselines to "realistic" levels, Finance Minister Michael Cullen said in his budget speech.

Additional CYF funding would improve the contribution it made to reducing the recurrence of abuse and reducing reoffending, Social Development Minister Steve Maharey said.

CYF has been criticised for failure to anticipate tragedy in some high-profile cases, such as that of murdered Featherston girl Coral Burrows.

As part of the CYF rebuilding process the Government looked overseas for a new chief executive, last week announcing Canadian Paula Tyler would step into the job.

The other key social welfare initiative announced by Dr Cullen was $75.5 for parenting support programmes through the Supporting Families package.

That money was intended to provide a network of services to families who may experience "a few difficulties or need a hand", Mr Maharey said.

That network would be provided by government and non-government agencies, he said.

The Supporting Families package stood alongside the Working for Families announcement at the centre of the budget, he said.

It would ensure families were backed up by strong services for the times they needed a little extra help, he said.

The package provides (all figures over four years):

* $31.9 million to expand Family Start from 16 to 24 communities over the next three years. It would reach an additional 2205 high needs families by 2007;

* $16.4 million to employ 38 additional Social Workers in Schools. That would increase from 220 to about 330 the number of low decile schools with access to the programme;

* $20.7 million to expand the Waitakere Family Violence Intervention Programme to all 12 Work and Income regions, and to work with Pacific community leaders on family violence prevention strategies for their communities;

* $3.3 million for home and community based mentoring programmes by older New Zealanders to support young families;

* $3.2 million to continue support for the seven communities piloting the Stronger Communities Action Fund in 2005 and 2006.

- NZPA