Rotorua Safe Families campaign

A sense of outrage at the premature death of toddler Nia Glassie in August 2007 ignited an active campaign in Rotorua to make sure nothing like it happens again.

When the tragic events were made public, Rotorua Mayor Kevin Winters provided people a focal point to express their pain and to discuss the adequacy of support services available to families.

“Standing back and doing nothing is not an option. This isn't just a social issue, it's a community issue. It's an opportunity for everyone in the community to take a stand against abuse,” Mayor Winters told the District News.

Involving the public

The Mayor ran a series of well-attended community forums. There was standing room only at a forum held at the Council Chambers on 1 September 2007. The 90 organisations represented, along with members of the public, had a chance to raise issues and talk about what had happened. The tone was constructive so there was much talk about what needed to happen.

A leadership group was formed; a Rotorua Safe Families Action Plan devised, and people working for social services joined various work streams. The public are still involved. The leadership group of the campaign reports on progress at regular community forums.

Carol Buckley, a Regional Relationship Manager for Family and Community Services in Rotorua, says that visible and open local leadership is critically important. With the public interest and media scrutiny everyone has to be prepared to account for what they've been doing.

“There's been quite a bit of energy going in to make sure it's not a situation where we talk about it for a while, but when interest wanes people stop doing things. With the Rotorua Safe Families campaign, the public will always be there.” Carol explains.

Tackling coordination

One of the major issues to be confronted was the lack of coordination between government agencies. Criticisms were made of how no one involved saw the big picture of what was happening with the Glassie family. Several agencies saw just little pieces of the situation. In response, a work stream has been set up to improve intervention options by statutory agencies.

This is paying off for Strengthening Families in Rotorua. It is now more visible and as a result more applications are being made by families.

For Carol Buckley the resurgence of Strengthening Families has reinforced the fact that you don't always have to do something new to address problems.

“Sometimes there's a perception that if something really bad happens in your community, the services and networks you've got going in your community just aren’t working. That's not actually the case. Sometimes it works really well but not everybody knows about what exists. Or sometimes it might take a bit of tweaking to make sure it meets the needs of that particular community,” she says.

Getting practical in work streams

The other three active work streams are also taking practical actions. The other work streams are:

• Community Awareness Raising
• Improving Support Services for Victims and Perpetrators
• Supporting Community-led Neighbourhood Initiatives.

Many creative ways are being used to spread messages about family safety. People have picked up the messages from the national Campaign for Action on Family Violence making them their own. A float in the 2008 Christmas parade featured white ribbons and pohutukawa flowers with peace messages on them. These were made by over 300 people. More recently, over 30 organisations and individuals created banners displayed along Arawa Street. More activities are coming up.

Something the Support Services work stream identified was that, even with directories of services available, people didn't necessarily know what each agency actually offered. Inter-agency forums are being run to address this. One held in March 2009 had 88 attendees.

“It's not about the bosses of the organisations getting up and talking about how great their organisation is, but it's the workers talking about what services are offered, how they are accessed, any costs, and who to contact. Get the people actually delivering to network,” says Laurie Durand, Manager of Te Waiariki Purea Trust.

As local providers of a Youth Transition Service, Laurie saw the relevance of the campaign to their work, even though they don't directly work in the family violence field.

Keeping on top of the workload

An initiative like this comes on top of existing workloads. Challenges arise as people try to find time to carry out all the actions in the work streams, and for communication to take place between groups. A question raised is how to coordinate the campaign without ongoing funding to support it.

There has been a focus on doing, rather than setting up structures. A new organisation was not set up to run the campaign. Instead existing organisations have each helped in different ways. For instance, Te Waiariki Purea Trust held grant funds and ROSSCO (Rotorua Council of Social Services) employed a 'coordinator'.

Family and Community Services (FACS) has played its part alongside other government agencies and community organisations. Funding for a coordination role, joining the leadership group and facilitating meetings when requested are some of the things FACS has done.

Whereas in the past central or local government agencies may have taken control, FACS sees things differently. It's adopting what it describes as a supportive role following the lead from the community.

“The campaign has provided an opportunity for the community to mobilise. So, it's no longer just the responsibility of Police, or MSD or the Family Violence Centre or Women's Refuge. It's a community problem and the community are addressing it together,” comments Carol.

There is a sense the Rotorua Safe Families campaign is gaining ground. But there remains a lot more work to do.

“The messages and awareness raising is good. But things take time. It's like the drink drive message and other messages like it – it doesn't sink in straight away, so we've got to keep on keeping on. And not look for quick instant because realistically, that's not going to happen,” says Laurie Durand. 

Lessons to share

• Be open about who get can involved and find ways to keep the public involved – being in the public eye helps with momentum and motivation
• Build on what is already happening... starting new structures is time consuming and not necessary if there are credible organisations to do things like employing people and holding funds
• Networking is important ... it needs to be done with purpose and the right people around the table.