Evaluation of Puawaitahi, New Zealand's first multiagency centre for child protection

Objectives: Puawaitahi was established in Auckland in 2002 as New Zealand’s first multiagency service for child abuse and neglect. It incorporates child protection, health, Police, evidential interviewing, and therapy... [ view full abstract ]

Objectives: Puawaitahi was established in Auckland in 2002 as New Zealand’s first multiagency service for child abuse and neglect. It incorporates child protection, health, Police, evidential interviewing, and therapy services at one centralised location. This programme evaluation sought to examine the processes and procedures within the multiagency and compared findings with the standards for Child Advocacy Centres outlined by the National Children’s Alliance in the USA. The overall objectives were to help staff improve the quality of service and examine viability of this multiagency model for implementation elsewhere in New Zealand.
Method: Focus groups and interviews were conducted with staff, referrers and children and families who had been seen within the service. Transcripts were analysed to identify common themes in relation to the multiagency’s processes and procedures, the organisation’s culture, accessibility, coordination, timeliness, quality of care, and areas for programme improvement.
Results: The programme evaluation found that Puawaitahi meets the majority of its own vision and mission statement goals and performs well in relation to the standards described for Child Advocacy Centres elsewhere. In particular, the multiagency processes and procedures provided effective case coordination, and the physical environment, referral processes, child focused service delivery, staff cultural competence, and interactions with stakeholders were rated highly by most participants across staff, referrer and consumer groups. Desired improvements included better access to therapy, changes to client referral and case coordination processes to further reduce delay, better client follow up procedures, and provision of the multiagency model across every region in Auckland.
Conclusions: This evaluation shows that a model inspired by USA Child Advocacy Centres has been effectively implemented and stands as a model for implementation elsewhere in New Zealand. The importance and the challenges of programme evaluation for such a service are discussed.