Home for Life

We don't usually get political in our Blog as it is normally about family news. And this is in a way for recently we were asked to share our experience of fostering and in particular to comment on the Home for Life Program that CYF are running for kids who have been removed from their parents / families. In fact last year we were asked to comment and we declined.

Then in July of this year the Minister for Social Development, Paula Bennet, released a media statement about CYF Home for Life Program, interestingly enough when were approached again. When we originally shared with CYF about the first approach for our comment they, CYF (Child Youth and Family - the government department that operates under the Children, Young Persons and their Families Act- CYPF) instructed us not to speak to the media. (As it is this interview took place about a year after the first approach to us.) The fact that we were told not to speak to the media staggered us! Is this NZ we asked ourselves?

Anyway here is the article for you to read if you have not already seen it.

Here's an interesting video that you may wish to watch as well as reading the article above. A side to a debate that doesn't often get any air time. I don't ask that you agree with it but at least watch it to gain a fuller perspective on what is going on in our country. Our work in fostering over the last seven years has brought us head on in to the centre of this debate as well.