Social Policy for Social Work and Human Services in Aotearoa New Zealand: Diverse Perspectives

By Jane Maidment

Social policy reflects the dominant social, economic and political discourses of a nation's government and reveals how each country addresses the needs and wellbeing of its population. For practitioners in social work and human services, questions of human rights, citizenship, social justice and equity are ever-present in their day-to-day work with clients of all ages. As such, social policy plays a significant role in shaping the response to need in any community or population, through the provision of financial, physical or legislative protections or resources. The extent to which social policy offers security for the most vulnerable, while addressing economic and social inequality, signals the moral and ethical compass of those who govern. There are ways for practitioners and other advocates to influence, and resist where necessary, the direction of policy through community development, strategic change, research and social action. This volume provides examples of such initiatives and examines the making and shaping of contemporary social policy in Aotearoa New Zealand. The text covers a broad range of social policy topics from a critical perspective including fields of practice, current debates and case-study examples of social-change initiatives. Students, lecturers, researchers and people interested in New Zealand society in general will find a critical appraisal of current social policy within these pages.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Canterbury University Press
• Release date: Apr 8, 2024
• ISBN: 9781988503004

Book preview

Social Policy for

Social Work and

Human Services in

Aotearoa New Zealand

Diverse perspectives

Editors

Jane Maidment and Liz Beddoe

Contents

Title Page

Acknowledgements

Contributors

Part One:Social Policy in Aotearoa New Zealand

Chapter 1: Social Policy, Social Work and Social Change

Jane Maidment and Liz Beddoe

Chapter 2: Law and Policy

Allen Bartley

Chapter 3: Key Ideologies: The Theories of Social Policy

Nicky Stanley-Clarke

Chapter 4: Social Policy, Moral Panics and the Media

Liz Beddoe

Chapter 5: Borderland Engagements in Aotearoa New Zealand: Te Tiriti and Social Policy

Leland A. Ruwhiu, Luana Te Hira, Moana Eruera and Jacquelyn Elkington

Chapter 6: The Role of Social Policy in Promoting Pasifika Wellbeing

Yvonne Crichton-Hill

Part Two:Policy Perspectives

Chapter 7: Criminal Justice

Andrew Frost

Chapter 8: A Contested Space: Aged Care Policy in the 21st Century

Glynnis Brook

Chapter 9: Health Policy, Health Inequalities and Māori

Annabel Ahuriri-Driscoll

Chapter 10: Policy Responses to Refugees in Aotearoa New Zealand: A Rights-based Analysis

Jay Marlowe and Louise Humpage

Chapter 11: Towards Emancipation: Disability Policy in Aotearoa New Zealand

Martin Sullivan

Chapter 12: Informal Caregivers: An Invisible Unpaid Workforce

Jane Maidment

Chapter 13: Steps in the Right Direction: Policy and Practice Responses to Family Violence

Irene de Haan

Chapter 14: Social Policy and Young People in Aotearoa New Zealand: Statistics, Strategies and Services

Kelsey L. Deane and Matt Shepherd

Chapter 15: Why Marriage Equality is Not Enough: Enduring Social Policy Concerns for Gender- and Sexually Diverse New Zealanders

John Fenaughty and Frank Pega

Chapter 16: Child Protection Reform and Welfare Reform in Aotearoa New Zealand: Two Sides of the Same Coin?

Emily Keddell

Part Three:Social Action and Social Change: Critical Perspectives

Chapter 17: Windows, Wheels and Wai: Public Policy, Environmental Health Action and Māori Community Development – Implications for (Eco) Social Work

Annabel Ahuriri-Driscoll and Jeff Foote

Chapter 18: Food Security: Ethnographic Perspectives on Food Environments, Urban Food Systems and Principles for Action in Post-quake Christchurch

David Boarder Giles

Chapter 19: Child Poverty: The Politics, the Problem, the Advocacy

Mike O’Brien

Chapter 20: Social Housing and the Needs of Released Women Prisoners

Annabel Taylor and Sue Giles

Chapter 21: Lone Mothers and Institutional Welfare Stigma in Aotearoa New Zealand

Claire Gray

Chapter 22: Nothing About Us Without Us: The Mental Health Consumers Movement in Aotearoa New Zealand

Anne Scott

Index

Copyright

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank sincerely and acknowledge Catherine Montgomery, Publisher, Canterbury University Press, for having faith in our original proposal and for being a secure ‘port in the storm’ on occasions. We have very much appreciated your support. We also acknowledge the dedicated work of Katrina Rainey, Canterbury University Press, and Sue Osborne, copy editor, for the safe and careful stewardship of this manuscript through to completion.

We wish to acknowledge the expertise and knowledge-filled contributions of each of the authors in this edited collection. Together, the diverse perspectives you have shared will serve to strengthen social policy teaching and analysis in Aotearoa New Zealand during the years to come.

Finally, we wish to acknowledge and thank our families for their supportive acceptance of the time and focus involved in completing a writing project of this kind.

Contributors

Annabel Ahuriri-Driscoll (Ngāti Porou, Ngāti Kauwhata, Rangitāne, Ngāti Kahungunu) Annabel is a lecturer in Māori health and wellbeing at the University of Canterbury. She has been involved in public health and Māori health research for the past 16 years in university, iwi and Crown Research Institute settings. Annabel’s research interests include Māori population health; whānau, hapū, iwi and community development; traditional Māori healing; and the identity−health−social action interface. Annabel holds a master’s degree in public health from the University of Otago and is currently working towards a PhD in health sciences at the University of Canterbury.

Allen Bartley is a sociologist and senior lecturer in the School of Counselling, Human Services and Social Work, Faculty of Education and Social Work, at the University of Auckland. The contribution that sociological thought and approaches can make to social work and the human services professions is a strong professional driver for Allen. His primary research interest involves exploring the dynamics and implications of migration in New Zealand; the experiences of migrant adaptation, settlement and transnationalism; the impact of migration on professions and labour markets; and New Zealand biculturalism/multiculturalism and social cohesion.

Liz Beddoe is an associate professor in the School of Counselling, Human Services and Social Work, Faculty of Education and Social Work, at the University of Auckland. Liz’s teaching and research interests include critical perspectives on social work education, professional supervision, and the media framing of social problems. Liz has published articles on supervision and professional issues in New Zealand and international journals. She co-authored Best Practice in Professional Supervision: A Guide for the Helping Professions (2010, Jessica Kingsley Publishers) with Allyson Davys, and Mapping Knowledge for Social Work Practice: Critical Intersections with Jane Maidment (2009, Cengage). Liz can be contacted at: [e-mail]

Glynnis Brook is a tertiary degree analyst with the New Zealand Qualifications Authority. Previously she was manager of human services in the Department of Nursing and Human Services at Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology. Glynnis is a registered social worker and member of the Aotearoa New Zealand Association of Social Workers. She has taught social policy to undergraduate social work students for many years. Her research interest is in social work with older people, in particular the question of elder abuse. She has presented at numerous international conferences on this topic.

Yvonne Crichton-Hill is the head of department of Human Services and Social Work at the University of Canterbury. Yvonne’s background is as a social worker and trainer in family violence and in work with communities. She is a member of a number of New Zealand social service governance boards, and her research and writing interests span the areas of intimate partner violence, child protection, Pacific peoples, and culturally responsive social work.

Kelsey L. Deane is a lecturer in the School of Counselling, Human Services and Social Work, Faculty of Education and Social Work, at the University of Auckland. She is passionate about producing credible research that informs the development of positive initiatives for young people. Her primary research interests involve investigating the processes that promote the positive growth of adolescents within the context of structured programmes. She is also interested in understanding how programmatic, external environmental and individual difference factors influence the success of these kinds of initiatives.

Jacquelyn Elkington (Ngāti Porou) Education and social science practice continue to be reinforced by appropriate theory, research methodology and cultural tools for evaluation. Hence Jacquelyn’s favourite subject areas include theory and skills, kaupapa Māori, research and indigenous liberation. She enjoys her seven children and six mokopuna! Hikurangi te Maunga.

Moana Eruera (No Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Ruanui, Ngāti Rangiwewehi ahau) Moana has more than 25 years’ experience in social and community work, including whānau violence prevention and research projects with her Ngāpuhi iwi. She is the eldest of three girls, proud mother of two boys (and many other whānau she cares for) and an active member of her whānau, hapū and iwi. Her working career has been spent committed to mokopuna/child safety and wellbeing, social work and social justice, human rights, and the development of Māori and indigenous people.

John Fenaughty is a community psychologist and lecturer in the School of Counselling, Human Services, and Social Work, Faculty of Education and Social Work, at the University of Auckland. John has been working in, and researching, wellbeing and youth and community development for around 20 years. He brings with him long experience working with community groups, including specialist expertise in working with gender- and sexually diverse young people and communities. He believes in the power of education and communities to promote social change and equality of opportunity. This drives his passion to ensure that communities, youth groups and schools are well supported to foster diversity and celebrate what happens when we create a sense of belonging.

Jeff Foote is a team leader (social systems) with the Institute of Environmental Science and Research. He is a systems thinker who specialises in developing innovative tools to address complex issues involving people and organisations with multiple and conflicting viewpoints. Jeff has undertaken participatory action research with district health boards, local and regional councils, community, hapū and primary industries. He has research interests in complex change, systemic approaches to evaluation and involving the ‘hard to reach’ in service design and delivery. Jeff holds a PhD in management systems from Massey University.

Andrew Frost has been involved in the human services field for around 25 years, working and researching in offender rehabilitation since 1993. At Kia Marama, a prison-based programme for sexual offenders with the New Zealand Department of Corrections, he was involved in the provision and supervision of group therapy, and the establishment of a forensic therapeutic community. These areas remain central to his research interests. Andrew is currently senior lecturer in human services and social work at the University of Canterbury, where he is director of Te Awatea Violence Research Centre. Along with his teaching and research, he remains involved in supervision, training, credentialing, and consultation.

David Boarder Giles is a lecturer in interdisciplinary arts and sciences at the University of Washington, Bothell. He writes about cultural economies of waste, hunger and urban food systems. He has done ethnographic field work in Christchurch, Seattle and several other cities in Australasia and the United States, working with dumpster divers, grassroots activists, urban gardeners, and chapters of Food Not Bombs, a globalised movement of grassroots soup kitchens.

Sue Giles is a social work practitioner at Stepping Stones Trust in Christchurch, where she has worked since 2001. Sue has a Diploma in Mental Health Support Work and a Bachelor of Social Work from the University of Canterbury. Sue also holds a National Certificate in Computing and a Certificate in Food and Nutrition, and is particularly interested in the links between nutrition and mental illness.

Claire Gray is currently completing her PhD, with a particular interest in the welfare system. Her other research interests include cross-cultural interaction and white privilege. She holds a master’s degree in human services from the University of Canterbury. Prior to enrolling in the PhD programme, Claire was employed at the University of Canterbury lecturing and tutoring in the Department of Human Services and Social Work, and working at Te Awatea Research Centre as a researcher and editor of Te Awatea Review.

Irene de Haan is a lecturer in the School of Counselling, Human Services and Social Work, Faculty of Education and Social Work, at the University of Auckland. She also chairs mortality reviews for the New Zealand Family Violence Death Review Committee. Irene has a professional background, and a continuing interest and involvement, in community-based family support social work. Her current research focuses on strategies for preventing intimate partner violence and child abuse and neglect.

Louise Humpage is a senior lecturer in sociology at the University of Auckland. She has written Policy Change, Public Attitudes and Social Citizenship: Does Neoliberalism Matter? (2015, The Policy Press) as well as publishing widely in the areas of welfare reform, indigenous affairs policy and refugee policy and settlement. In 2013 she and Jay Marlowe were part of an international collaboration comparing how well five settler countries meet refugee resettlement obligations in policy.

Emily Keddell is a registered social worker and senior lecturer in the Department of Sociology, Gender and Social Work at the University of Otago. Her research interests revolve around child welfare policy and practice, specifically the politics of child welfare, the use of predictive analytics, the construction of risk and safety, decision-making processes, and the intersections of ethnicity and class within the child welfare system. She is an associate member of the Child Poverty Action Group and a member of the Re-Imagining Social Work collective.

Jane Maidment is an associate professor in the Department of Human Services and Social Work at the University of Canterbury. She is a registered social worker and has teaching and research interests in the areas of field education, practice skill development, older persons, and using craft as a vehicle for social connectedness. Jane has published extensively in national and international journals, and co-authored, with Liz Beddoe, Mapping Knowledge for Social Work Practice: Critical Intersections (2009, Cengage). Jane can be contacted at: [e-mail]

Jay Marlowe is a senior lecturer in the School of Counselling, Human Services and Social Work, Faculty of Education and Social Work, at the University of Auckland. He has worked as a social work practitioner and researcher with refugee background communities, and has a primary focus on the ways in which refugee groups can participate as peers in civil society within settlement contexts. He has published widely in this area as it pertains to acculturation, digital technologies, responding to disasters and critical understanding of trauma.

Mike O’Brien is an associate professor in the School of Counselling, Human Services and Social Work, Faculty of Education and Social Work, at the University of Auckland. He is a life member of the Aotearoa New Zealand Association of Social Workers and a member of its social justice group, and chairs the Impacts of Poverty and Exclusion policy group of the New Zealand Council of Christian Social Services. He has researched and written extensively in New Zealand and internationally on a range of social justice, social welfare, social work, and poverty and inequality issues. He has a particular interest in issues of welfare reform, child poverty and social services delivery, and chaired the Alternative Welfare Working Group. He is strongly committed to research and writing aiming at social justice and social inclusion.

Frank Pega is a social epidemiologist based in the Department of Public Health, University of Otago, Wellington. His work focuses on the social determinants of health and health equity, including for gender- and sexually diverse populations. His speciality is in estimating the effect of social policies on health and wellbeing using causal inferential epidemiological and econometric methods. He has integrated research and policy analysis in the domains of health and social development, working in universities, government departments and international organisations, including the World Health Organization.

Leland A. Ruwhiu (Ngā Puhi, Ngāti Porou, Ngāti Kahungunu, Ngāi Tahu ki Mohaka) Leland is the eldest son of Pirihi Te Ohaki and Waikaraka Emily Ruwhiu, and is married to Nicole Ursula Haeata-Ruwhiu. They have five sons, one son-in-law, one daughter, one daughter-in-law, one potential daughter-in-law and currently five beautiful mokopuna – grandchildren. He is pou taki Māori (one of the principal advisors Māori) for Child, Youth and Family, Office of the Chief Social Worker. Leland is respected as a tangata whenua/ indigenous social and community work practitioner, researcher, trainer, writer, poet, theorist and leader.

Anne Scott is a senior lecturer in sociology at the University of Canterbury. She has long-term interests in the sociology of health and wellbeing. She recently completed a national study on peer support in mental health. Previous to that she carried out work on public participation in decision-making regarding genetic testing and biobanking. She is currently completing a co-written international textbook, Health, Society and Culture, which will be an e-book directed towards upper-level undergraduates in the sociology of health. Current research relates to child custody decision-making when the parents have mental illnesses or addictions.

Matt Shepherd (Ngāti Tama) Matt has worked with children, young people and their whānau in a number of settings. Matt holds a social work qualification and a doctorate in clinical psychology. He is now a lecturer in the School of Counselling, Human Services and Social Work, Faculty of Education and Social Work, at the University of Auckland, and has worked as a research fellow for the Department of Psychological Medicine, School of Medicine, at the University of Auckland. Matt’s research interests include mobile phone and other computer-mediated communication technologies and therapy for young people.

Nicky Stanley-Clarke is a lecturer at Massey University’s School of Social Work, Palmerston North, where she teaches social policy, as well as social work theory and practice. Nicky is a registered social worker. She has worked in a number of different social service settings, including child protection, youth justice, public health, project management and mental health. Nicky’s research interests include mental health organisations, the application of social policy to social work, and the wellbeing of the farming household.

Martin Sullivan is a senior lecturer at Massey University. Martin’s main research interests are the social and political aspects of disability. He has recently been studying the first two years following spinal cord injury. This research aims to explore the inter-relationship(s) of body, self and society for a cohort of people with spinal cord injury and how these inter-relationships have shaped their life chances, life choices and subjectivity. His research is also investigating how entitlement to rehabilitation and compensation through the Accident Compensation Corporation affects socio-economic and health outcomes.

Annabel Taylor joined Central Queensland University in 2014 as associate professor and became director of the Queensland Centre for Domestic and Family Violence Research. In 2015 she was appointed to the Queensland Child Death Review Panel. Prior to moving to Queensland, Annabel lectured in the Social Work and Human Services programme at the University of Canterbury and was director of Te Awatea Violence Research Centre. She was a Galpin Fellow in 2013, based at Quinnipiac University in the United States. Her research and publications have encompassed criminal justice, social work, gender-based violence, and domestic and family violence.

Luana Te Hira (Ngāti Kahungunu, Waikato, Maniapoto, Raukawa) Authentic community and social work practice education within Aotearoa New Zealand continues to be a passionate area of interest for Luana. Liberating and acknowledging our own theories, theorists, modes of practice and the skill sets required to support principled practitioners continues to be a challenge, both in education and professional practice. To authenticate te ao tangata whenua beyond words continues to be a challenge across a number of sectors – health, education, economy and politics.

PART ONE

SOCIAL POLICY IN

AOTEAROA NEW ZEALAND

CHAPTER 1

Social Policy, Social Work and Social Change

Jane Maidment and Liz Beddoe

Introduction

The study of social policy is interdisciplinary in nature and largely concerned with the way resources are distributed and wellbeing is attended to in any given society. Philosophical beliefs about what principles underpin civic wellbeing are strongly linked with political ideology and are subject to change over time. The landscape for examining social policy is shaped by the market, the non-government sector, social movements and the community interacting with the state. Two key questions to consider when examining social policy in any sector are, ‘Whose needs are being met?’ and ‘Whose interests are being served?’

Social work is about fostering social change, and this entails understanding the social policy milieu in which these change efforts occur. Learning how to influence policy is one of the key ways of keeping the social justice agenda alive in social work. The aim of this book is to present a current and topical analysis of key debates and critical issues affecting the current New Zealand social policy landscape, underpinned by some pivotal understandings about policy and the policy process. The reference to ‘social’ in ‘social policy’ implies that some kind of collective response will be made to perceived social problems (Spicker, 2014, p. 7). The ‘policy’ in ‘social policy’ is about understanding the origins of policy, its aims and forms of implementation. In this way:

Social policy does not study food in itself, but it does affect the regulation and distribution of food; it is not concerned directly with child development, but it is with education and services to help children; it is not concerned with physical health, but is very much concerned with policies to promote health and the provision of medical care. (Spicker, 2014, p. 6)

A brief history

The genesis of social policy as a discrete field of inquiry can be traced back to the work of two parties in Britain. The Fabian Society during the late 19th century included people such as B. Seebohn Rowntree, whose research into the social conditions of the time prompted robust political campaigns to introduce measures of social protection into government policy (Alcock, 2008). These campaigns, informed by the compelling stories of poverty gathered by Rowntree, challenged the notion that the market would meet the welfare needs of all, and resulted in state intervention to provide support for the ‘deserving’ poor. While these events took place over 120 years ago in Britain, there are unmistakable parallels to socio-political debate in Aotearoa New Zealand today.

At the same time as the emergence of the Fabian Society, the Charity Organization Society (COS) was also focused on delivering voluntary philanthropic interventions in the lives of the poor. The antecedents for contemporary examinations of welfare lie in the early debates between the Fabian Society and the COS regarding where responsibility lies for addressing social ills. Each organisation used a different ideological lens for understanding the causes of poverty. The Fabians debated from a political, socialist stance, while COS favoured notions of individual responsibility, free market policy and making distinctions between the ‘deserving’ and ‘undeserving’ poor (Vincent, 1984). The causes of social ills and ways to redress them remain contestable. To this end, analysis of social policy is ‘concerned with the values and principles which govern distribution (of resources) as well as their outcome’ (Walker, 1983, p. 141, cited in Cheyne, O’Brien, & Belgrave, 2008, p. 5).

New Zealand, with its colonialist history, promulgated ideas of individualism, capitalism and the absence of state control in the economy (Cheyne et al., 2008, p. 21). The settlers were imbued with an ‘extreme pursuit of individualism and family responsibility’ (Tennant, 2004, p. 13). Although the Treaty of Waitangi was signed in 1840, successive legislation saw Māori discriminated against and penalised in ways that significantly affected their economic activity and social wellbeing. A small sample of this legislation includes the New Zealand Settlements Act 1863, which enabled Māori land to be confiscated and redistributed to settlers; the Native Schools Act 1867, which established a national system of secular schools controlled by the Department of Native Affairs and stipulated that subject areas were to be taught in English only, but with some costs for schooling being met by Māori; the 1879 Māori Prisoners Trials Act, passed to address issues of the Parihaka non-violent resisters, which eventuated in the indefinite imprisonment of resisters without trial (Waitangi Associates, 2010). Pākehā enablement during colonisation was predicated on Māori dispossession of land (Oliver, 1988, pp. 3–4 cited in Tennant, 2004, p. 17).

While these events happened over a century ago, contemporary Māori are affected by successive government policy resulting in dispossession of land and subsequent loss of economic, social and cultural capital. Not until 1967, with the passing of the Electoral Amendment Act, were Māori candidates able to stand for general parliamentary seats. Efforts to assimilate Māori with Europeans (Pākehā) have been a feature of social policy in New Zealand since colonisation, with systematic attempts to discourage Māori language, belief systems and culture (Jenkins & Matthews, 1998). These efforts have resulted in disproportionate numbers of Māori appearing in statistics related to imprisonment, mental illness and low educational achievement. Māori in New Zealand also have a lower life expectancy than Pākehā. Clearly, New Zealand’s social policy initiatives have not served Māori well (see, for example, McIntosh & Mulholland, 2011). Even so, the Treaty of Waitangi has been a major reference point and influence for social policy in New Zealand during the last three decades (Beddoe & Maidment, 2009) and is a central element in many of the policy case studies and discussions in this volume.

Significant development of the welfare state in New Zealand took place during the 1930s, when the first Labour government introduced social security, state housing and full employment policies, with the primary focus being on the domestic world of the family (Belgrave, 2004, p. 25). While Labour endeavoured to develop universal entitlement to social security during the 1930s, the financial costs were too great. Provision of state housing, subsidised access to medical care and income security for people who were sick, unemployed or old remained the social policy aims of this period. The ethos of this policy agenda however, was grounded on a gendered notion of family, with men’s role being that of the breadwinner and women’s work being located within the domestic realm of the family home (Belgrave, 2004).

After World War II, New Zealand experienced a period of prosperity that continued up until the mid-1970s; 1973 was punctuated with a major oil crisis when the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC) instigated an oil embargo until March 1974, leading to major price rises globally for oil and a subsequent rise in production costs. The oil crisis led to an economic recession experienced across Western nations, including Britain, the United States and New Zealand. From 1975 onwards there has been a sharp rise in income inequality in New Zealand, with the gap between the ‘haves’ and ‘have-nots’ growing (Roper, 2005).

More recent reforms

In response to claims that state welfare encourages dependency, is inefficient and costly (Tennant, 2004), strident economic reform occurred in New Zealand during the 1980s following similar trends in the United Kingdom and the United States. Ironically, these significant changes were ushered in by a Labour government, driven by the then Minister of Finance, Roger Douglas, who implemented radical economic restructuring that saw major deregulation of the economy. There was a sharp departure in welfare discourse away from notions of universality, and towards ‘safety net’ provisions with a significant focus on ‘welfare to work’ (Humpage & Craig, 2008). This period saw an introduction of ‘user pays’ language into the health and education sectors, and containment of welfare expenditure through benefit cuts and the establishment of strict eligibility criteria.

Economic rationalism has become a dominant discourse, with considerable influence on social policy (Lunt, O’Brien, & Stephens, 2008), the impacts of which can be seen in chapters in this volume addressing income maintenance, housing and poverty. These measures reflected the incremental rise of neoliberal thinking and action in New Zealand economics and welfare provision. Within this environment some parts of the population flourish – those that can actively participate and gain from the market economy – while others without resources fail to thrive. A more residual approach to social welfare has led to reduction in the provision of welfare support and has increasingly become linked to welfare stigma (Beddoe, 2014).

A widening gap

Contemporary evidence demonstrates an ongoing marginalisation experienced by some cohorts of the New Zealand population. The 2012 and 2015 State of the Nation reports from the Salvation Army cite worsening rates in child poverty, with more children from two-parent families experiencing poverty (Salvation Army Social Policy and Parliamentary Unit, 2012, p. 3); increased reporting of violence against children (2012, p. 7); a drop in youth offending rates, but a concerning widening gap between Māori and non-Māori apprehension and criminal prosecution rates (Salvation Army Social Policy and Parliamentary Unit, 2015, pp. 22–23); stalled progress in closing the educational achievement gap between Māori and non-Māori, and between school achievement for pupils in lower-decile (poorer) areas, compared to those students attending higher-decile schools (2015, p. 28). A significant drop in rates of teenage pregnancy has been noted, which predates the government policy to reduce teenage pregnancy (2015, p. 33), while signs of growth in income inequality continue (2015, p. 15).

When there is a widening gap between the rich and poor, social problems worsen, including physical and mental health, violence, children’s health, drug abuse and crime (Roth & Peters, 2014). It is the role of social policy to address the failures of the market to deliver resources to some population cohorts. Yet social policy is also used as a means to influence and control attitudes and behaviour, such as the current focus on ‘job-seeking’ that is evident within Work and Income New Zealand. The media also play a major part in shaping opinion and the media is, for the most part, owned by very powerful, large corporations (Roth & Peters, 2014).

The impact of globalisation

Global and national trends shape the way certain policy areas become prioritised while others languish. An example of this is the global financial crisis that occurred in 2007/08. As a result of the ‘radical deregulation’ of the financial sector during the 1980s in the United States, a series of economic booms and busts resulted in government bailouts of financial institutions. These interventions simply enabled new and expanded financial ‘innovation’ within the sector (Crotty, 2009). Financial products grew ‘more complex, opaque and illiquid’ (2009, p. 564), until unprecedented government efforts were needed to stabilise the United States economy, and elsewhere in the world. Providing incentives to banking, financial and insurance staff to take large risks in investments when the economy was buoyant was an inherent flaw in this deregulated industry. This culture of ever-increasing risk-taking in the financial and stock market created the climate that led to the crash (Crotty, 2009). The effects of this financial crash were felt globally, including in New Zealand. As a result of the crisis, Western governments became focused on austerity measures that were aimed at reducing state expenditure and boosting the performance of economies.

In New Zealand, welfare reforms became a high priority during 2011/12 for the National-led government. Instead of simply cutting benefits, the government reoriented the welfare system using an actuarial investment approach. The aim of this approach has been to strengthen the responsibilities and obligations of beneficiaries to re-enter the workforce or to gain education or training. This policy initiative, tagged ‘Delivering better public services’ (Ministry of Social Development, 2012), has the by-line ‘Reducing long-term welfare dependence’. The core strategy within the initiative is for various government departments to meet specified targets within the child health and education, welfare and justice sectors. Service delivery is contracted out from the government to various private and non-government organisations, with high levels of accountability to demonstrate results. The targeting of policy at particular social issues has restricted some activities of traditional social services (and even led to closure), but they have also created opportunities for new players in the social welfare field.

Social policy and social work

The brief history above and the examples given illustrate how the development and implementation of social policy strongly influence the way social and public services are delivered. Social workers play a significant role in the delivery of many services directly created by social policy. Even in non-government services, advocacy and charity organisations compete for funding, and aspects of their service delivery may change or disappear at the whim of policy makers. The cycles of change and the ebb and flow of service provision across disadvantaged and vulnerable groups in our society have led to a potential for some renewed civic participation for welfare professionals, especially in terms of evidence-informed advocacy (Harington & Beddoe, 2013).

Most social work students will study social policy to gain knowledge and understanding about how policy provision affects individual and collective wellbeing. A study of policy will include learning about how national governance occurs and how policy is made. Students will be encouraged to trace the influence of policy from international paradigm shifts that shape national policy agendas and subsequently influence organisational objectives in practice. Importantly, this study will also include learning about how social workers can influence policy through a range of macro-oriented interventions.

In New Zealand, the Child, Youth and Family service and the 20 district health boards are the biggest employers of social workers. Nevertheless, large, non-government organisations such as Presbyterian Support Services, Barnardos and Stand New Zealand also employ significant numbers of social workers to address child and family issues in the community. Practitioners employed in the health, welfare, education, justice and housing sectors are often working together to address the multi-dimensional needs of some families.

Since the introduction of the Children and Young Persons and their Families Act (1989), significant policy and practice attention has been paid to provision of services for this cohort of the population.

A precursor to the Act was the important report on Māori experiences of working with the Department of Social Welfare, Puao-te-ata-tu (1986). This report provided overwhelming accounts of racism within the department and detailed how Māori were silenced in their dealings with the department. The advisory committee responsible for conducting the consultation that informed Puao-te-ata-tu were invited to make recommendations regarding changing child welfare legislation. A strong recommendation was the preservation of the positioning of the child within the whānau, hapū and iwi, and social workers developed ways to place whānau participation in decision-making at the centre of their practice (Connolly, 2004).

These practice initiatives led to the instigation of family group conferencing (FGC), a provision within the Act enabling whānau to generate strategies for addressing the care and protection of children. The FGC process that strengthens family participation in decision-making became a practiceled innovation, resulting in changes in child protection intervention and legislation in other parts of the world (Frost, Abram, & Burgess, 2014). In this example, the policy document from community consultation with Māori, Puao-te-ata-tu, informed the way practitioners developed the model for familyled decision-making that became embedded in the legislation of 1989. These events show the close nexus between policy and social work practice. Each informs the other in terms of developing trends in social service provision.

One of the key knowledge areas that social workers need to develop is the policy frameworks that drive practice imperatives, and developing ways to challenge these if need be. This work entails public advocacy. While the pursuit of social justice is a core principle of social work as a discipline, practitioner attempts to operationalise this ideal have been muted (Gamble, 2012). In New Zealand, the social work professional association, Aotearoa New Zealand Association of Social Work (ANZASW), has a mandate to speak out about matters that marginalise people in this country and has a long history of doing so. Members can make their views known through the association, an especially important avenue for public servants wishing to criticise government policy. With the development of online forums there appears to be growing debate between members about issues affecting both service users and social workers. In addition, the ANZASW has been active in making submissions to a wide range of government departments on matters that affect clients. These have included the 2015 submission on ‘More Effective Social Services’ to the Productivity Commission; the 2015 Submission on the disabled children out of home placement review to the Disabled Children Project; a 2013 submission on the Inquiry into Funding of Specialist Sexual Violence Social Services (see http://anzasw.org.nz/advocacy_lobbying_submissions). While these advocacy efforts have occurred through ANZASW, social workers can, and do, advocate for change through alignment with specific community action (note recent protest action against the Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement), or through membership of other nationally led campaigns such as those instigated by the Child Poverty Action Group. We hope this book will encourage more social workers to see policy as central to their work and consider how they can contribute to policy advocacy and development.

The aims and content of Social Policy for Social Work and Human Services in Aotearoa New Zealand: Diverse Perspectives

Our book starts with the argument that an understanding of social policy is critical for social work students and practitioners, and forms an integral part of education curricula in both social work and human services. In order to provide effective interventions with clients and communities, practitioners need both to know about and understand how to use policy mechanisms to effect strategic change. Our intention in bringing together the topics in this text is to provide a contemporary analysis of key debates and critical issues affecting the current New Zealand social policy landscape. Accordingly, we have asked the contributors to provide a scholarly examination of an aspect of social policy using a critical gaze, with a view to identifying how structural inequality, oppression and stigma affect different groups in New Zealand. The ways in which social policy can both challenge and support marginalised populations are identified and discussed, with specific reference to the implications for social work practice. We have asked the authors to consider, wherever possible, social change and social action perspectives to illustrate how policy is developed, with a view to providing exemplars for proactive, macro-oriented social work practice. The book has three sections, each with a particular focus: social policy in New Zealand, policy perspectives, and finally social change and social action.

Part One: Social policy in Aotearoa New Zealand

Chapters in this part explore the key mechanisms of political structures, policy change and major discourses for social policy within the New Zealand context. Social policy is explored with particular reference to governance, accountability and risk management. These chapters are intended to provide the foundation for examining policy and establishing an understanding of how political processes and policy change occur.

Allen Bartley surveys the relationship between law and policy, noting that all policy is derived from the legislative process at some point in its life cycle. Nicky Stanley-Clarke provides an overview of the key theoretical approaches that have shaped the development of social policy in New Zealand. These perspectives include liberalism, neoliberalism, social democracy, the third way (adopted as social development in New Zealand), conservatism, the new right (also called neo-conservatism), feminism, and anti-racist theory (encompassing Māori approaches to social policy). Liz Beddoe discusses the links between policy and moral regulation, exploring the role of moral panics in the media framing of welfare discourses. Leland Ruwhiu, Luana Te Hira, Moana Eruera and Jacquelyn Elkington employ the idea of peoples meeting at the border in their exploration of Te Tiriti and the social policy development process in social policy. Finally in this part, Yvonne Crichton-Hill discusses the role of social policy in promoting Pasifika wellbeing.

Part Two: Policy perspectives

Chapters in this part are designed to capture emergent themes that explore diverse policy perspectives. These chapters will provoke critical thinking and debate. We invite readers to consider the way current policy shapes individual and community behaviour, public attitudes, organisational functioning and social work practice. The dominant discourses inherent in contemporary policy are identified, including the way these discourses are reflected in economic, social and political arrangements. Authors were tasked with exploring how the themes ‘social justice’, ‘equality and equity’, ‘distribution of resources’ and ‘links with the Treaty’ are tackled in the respective fields as a way of addressing significant national obligations related to social and economic sustainability and wellbeing.

Andrew Frost considers how criminal justice is portrayed in New Zealand, and how this portrayal has arisen, along with a discussion of current and alternative approaches. Glynnis Brook argues for a greater role for social work in advocating for human rights in the development of aged-care policy in the 21st century in New Zealand. Annabel Ahuriri-Driscoll’s chapter explores a broad approach to health policy and