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The signing of the "Rise Above It" charter marks something of a milestone for our community.
Many of you will have heard about "Rise Above It", the local council-driven campaign to prevent family violence because it has received such widespread publicity and enthusiastic support from throughout our region.
For that we can all thank a large number of individuals and organisations, from our Mayor, Bob Francis, and his council team, to the Mayors and councillors of the South Wairarapa. Supporting them, a large number of public and private sector organisations and agencies have backed "Rise Above It", including CYF, Wairarapa DHB, the Police, Women's Refuge, Te Hauora Runanga o Wairarapa, Classic Hits Radio, the Wairarapa News and countless local businesses and individuals.
It's a fantastic effort and illustrates what can be done when a community accepts the need for change and rallies support among its own people to tackle an insidious problem threatening the safety of its children and families.
As a community we have come a long way in facing up to our problems, especially those associated with violence and abuse toward children and families. This whole-of-community effort deserves recognition and celebration and in true Wairarapa style we are marking our success with the Wonderful Wairarapa Festival to which I hope everyone in our region gets the chance to attend.
The signing of the "Rise Above It" anti-violence charter on behalf of CYF, is significant for another reason. "Rise Above It" and the Everyday Communities Programme, a CYF initiative to get communities acting to achieve safety for their children and families, also mark their first anniversaries today.
Everyday Communities is one of four similar programmes being piloted around the country, here in the Wairarapa, in Auckland with Pacific peoples, in Whanganui and in Whakatane. While the Whakatane pilot has now been fully evaluated with some very pleasing results, the programme here in the Wairarapa enters its third and final phase of community focused activity.
As a government with a deep commitment to children - we recently released the Care and Protection Blueprint 2003 aimed at families, communities and government working together for the safety and wellbeing of children, young people and their families - we also understand the need for the community to be involved in solving its own problems.
The "Blueprint" is linked to several government strategies that are currently being implemented in communities throughout New Zealand, including in the Wairarapa. It's a whole-of-government effort which means government agencies collaborate with each other as well as with local communities to implement social programmes.
The strategies include the Action for Child and Youth Development that brings the work programmes of New Zealand's Agenda for Children and the Youth Development Strategy Aotearoa under one umbrella.
Others like Te Rito - New Zealand Family Violence Prevention Strategy, developed by the Ministry of Social Development in collaboration with a range of government and non-government agencies, seek to address family violence in its diverse forms by adopting a multi-faceted approach.
The Youth Offending Strategy which aims to prevent and reduce offending and re-offending by children and young people, guides the government about where to focus its efforts in youth justice policy and helps coordinate the local delivery of youth justice services.
And our High and Complex Needs strategy, an intersectoral programme of action developed jointly by the Ministries of Social Development, Health and Education and CYF, is for children and young people with high and complex needs who require cross-sectoral services in addition to core services within each sector.
All children have the right to be cared for and most will receive the love, care and attention they need from their families and whanau. But when they don't, children should be able to expect that the community and government will work together to provide the necessary support and services.
Today our community celebrates a personal milestone proving to ourselves that we can take ownership and develop our own solutions to our problems. Our self belief is supported by a commitment from both local and central government, businesses, organisations and individuals working together to eliminate violence and abuse of children and families. Good on you Wairarapa!
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