Get that makimaki/monkey off your back

There’s been a lot of change in law, policy and practice recently affecting social, health and disability services. There is likely to be more.

In this post, we overview some key changes to consider when reviewing and updating your organisation’s policies and procedures.

If policy review and updating feels like a makimaki/monkey on your back, contact us now for help. You can schedule a free 30 minute consultation about your needs and your best policy solution. We can take care of the reviews and updating.

If you’re a DIY policy person, tick off these changes as you review your organisation’s policies and procedures.

Legislation changes

Key changes that have commenced this year have been:

• new provision for family violence leave and variation of employment terms for staff affected by family violence
• changes to the law relating to family violence including how and when family violence information can be shared between authorised services and persons
• changes relating to information-sharing for child protection and wellbeing purposes
• extension of Oranga Tamariki legislation (statutory care and youth justice) to under 18 years (was previously  up to 17 years)
• more support for young people leaving statutory care or custody up to 25 years
• new principles to guide decisions and interventions under the Oranga Tamariki legislation (eg addressing mana tamaiti, recognition of whakapapa and involvement of those with whanaungatanga responsibilities)
• new requirements on the CE of Oranga Tamariki to enter strategic partnerships with iwi, to give practical effect to Te Tiriti o Waitangi and to report and monitor performance on outcomes for tamariki Māori
• the introduction of new care standards setting minimum requirements for the statutory care of tamariki.

Practice

And don’t forget relevant practice and sector developments that are important enough to incorporate into your policies and procedures, for example:

• stronger recognition across sectors of whānau-centric practice
• more recognition of the need for trauma-informed responses
• move from 3 Ps Treaty framework to article-based framework
• more focus on workplace health and wellbeing
• focus on cultural safety and cultural competency
• mainstreaming – equality and accessibility
• individualised funding.

Quit feeding the makimaki!

Usually, people contact us because they know their policies and procedures are not up to date. They are busy managing services like social housing, family violence intervention, care, mental health, counselling, perpetrator programmes, family support, sexual violence services etc.

They haven’t got the time to keep their organisations’ policies and procedures up-to-date. They no longer want the worry of it.

If this is you, contact us now. We can take care of your policy reviews and updating. Finally, you can get say “goodbye” to that makimaki on your back!