Mana whanau intensive in-home parenting support programme (2018 - 2020)

Mana Whānau is an intensive in-home parenting support programme designed to keep tamariki who are on the edge of care, or about to be removed by Oranga Tamariki, safely living within their own whānau and in their own communities. It is inspired by evidence that tamariki generally do better in the care of their whānau and by the conviction that there are safe alternatives to removing tamariki from their whānau.

The evidence from Mana Whānau shows that developing an intensive programme that focuses on reducing the social determinants of harm, in particular addressing the trauma of whānau, reducing the toxic weight of risk factors, increasing executive function and freeing up mental bandwidth may provide a better alternative to out-of-home care for both tamariki and their parents and, for at least some whānau, help to break the cycle of intergenerational trauma.

Point provided developmental evaluation support to the Mana Whānau project from 2018 - 2020.

Project lead: Alex Woodley