• Wairarapa Polytechnic Decision Near
• Auckland Children's Day Launch
• Samoan Adoptions
• Child Abuse Stands Commended
• Levin Family Start
• Adoption Law Review
• Adult Learners' Week

Wairarapa Polytechnic Decision Near

Steve Maharey and Wairarapa MP Georgina Beyer travelled to Masterton last week to meet with Wairarapa Community Polytechnic staff, students, council members and Masterton Mayor Bob Francis over the institution's future. The Polytechnic has been experiencing financial difficulties. In March the Government made available a Crown loan to give the polytechnic time to prepare a plan to secure the future of tertiary provision in the region.

Wairarapa Community Polytechnic has now sought to combine its operations wth the Palmerston North-based UCOL (Manawatu Polytechnic) to secure and enhance tertiary provision in the region. Public consultation on the options available to the Polytechnic has now closed and attracted 26 submissions.

Steve Maharey told a packed meeting he wanted to be sure that a merger with UCOL was wanted by the local community. A decision on which option the Government prefers is expected to be made inside the month.

Steve Maharey travels to Auckland this Friday to join celebrities, Auckland Mayor Christine Fletcher, children and families at a lunch time banner signing session in Aotea Square. The colourful banner has been produced to promote New Zealand's first Children's Day which is being celebrated on Sunday, October 29th (sorry no holiday from school kids!) Children's Day is a joint project of Child, Youth and Family, Barnardos and the Commissioner for Children. Those signing the banner on Friday will promise to do something special with the children in their lives on Children's Day.

Procedures relating to the adoption of Samoan children by New Zealand citizens will be tightened from next year. Steve Maharey and Labour List MP Luamanuvao Winnie Laban met recently with the Samoan Council to discuss the issue which came to prominence following a high-profile child abuse and neglect case earlier this year.

Samoa is not a signatory to the Hague Convention on inter-country adoption which requires parental checks of prospective parents before children can be adopted by overseas nationals. From 2001 those wanting to adopt Samoan children will be have to be screened by Child, Youth and Family. Long-term arrangements are to be negotiated with the Samoan Government.

Steve Maharey commended the Wairarapa and Waikato communities for uniting against child abuse during a meeting with Carterton community and voluntary sector agencies last week.

Five-hundred Wairarapa residents rallied in Carterton recently to express their concern at the incidence of child abuse in their community. A demonstration against child abuse was also held in Hamilton recently.

Mr Maharey said that the Government is committed to rebuilding the core welfare agencies to provide an effective safety net for at-risk children and that that it is important that all New Zealanders are willing to speak out in support of the welfare children. He hoped that other towns and cities across the country would copy the leadership shown by the Hamilton and Carterton communities.

A new Family Start programme was opened in the Horowhenua last week. Operated by Te Runanga O Raukawa who are an experienced community provider, Family Start will co-ordinate health, education and welfare services to families in need of support as identified from the day their children are born. Family/ whänau workers work with these families to assess their strengths and resources, and to help them to develop action plans for the future. Families can be on the programme for up to five years.

Speaking on behalf of Social Services and Employment Minister Steve Maharey, Otaki MP Judy Keall said that Family Start is a brilliant example of communities working for communities in partnership with the Government.

A Parliamentary select committee is to review the 1955 Adoption Act and some aspects of the 1997 Adoption (Intercountry) Act, Attorney General Margaret Wilson said last week. A soon-to-be-completed Law Commission report into modern adoption practice and other related issues will provide the focus for the review.

The Select Committee will:

• inquire into our adoption laws;
• consider changes which better address contemporary social needs and improve the operation of those laws;
• take into account changes in attitude such as the increased focus on children's interests; the unique character of New Zealand society, including Mäori and other cultural values and needs; and whether any other changes to the current law are desirable in the light of issues arising from past adoption practices.

Our adoption law needs updating to take account of changes in attitudes and adoption practice, recent changes in family law and international commitments which New Zealand has entered into (including the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.). The Department of Child, Youth and Family Services is responsible for overseeing adoptions in New Zealand.

Steve Maharey spoke to the Adult and Community Education Association to mark Adult Learners' Week and UN International Literacy Day last Friday. The Government has begun developing a blueprint to guide the future development of adult education and community learning through a new 12-member expert working party.