More resources may be needed to ensure success

NZEI Te Riu Roa says more resources may be needed to ensure the success of a new abuse hotline for teachers.

The government is moving to strengthen the processes around reporting child abuse and is setting up a dedicated Child Youth and Family hotline for teachers to use.

NZEI president Ian Leckie says anything which makes it easier to report abuse or speed up the response is welcome but there is concern that two people staffing the hotline won’t be enough.

“It’s good to see schools being given priority in terms of the role they play in the protection of children but I think it will be a challenge for two people to deal with the number of calls”.

“There is already some frustration out there about the length of time it can take to get action when schools do contact CYFS. It would be a shame if that frustration was increased by people not being able to get through, being put on hold, or having to leave a message,” he says.

Schools and school staff will also need some information about exactly how the new centralised hotline will work.

“It’s very important for schools to know how they will continue to be contacted once a report has been made and how they will be kept in the loop around any resulting follow up action,” says Mr Leckie.

“All schools want to do more to protect children and prevent child abuse but they will adopt a bit of a wait and see approach with this new hotline to see how effective it is and how it works in practice. It might become clear very quickly that more resources are needed to support it”.