Rights and responsibilities
Strengthening Families works best when everyone understands what is important for your whānau or family. There are safeguards in place so you can be open and honest.
Our responsibilities
Protecting your personal details
What you talk about will be shared with the agencies you agree to invite. This includes people from across the whole agency, not just the person who attends your meetings.
Every agency involved has their own rules on how they safeguard personal information. You may ask for details of how they protect you and your whānau or family’s private information.
Under the Privacy Act, you can request to see any personal details stored by the Strengthening Families coordinator or participating agencies.
The Ministry of Social Development collects some information for statistical and reporting purposes. This does not include the names or details of individual whānau or family members.
Whānau or family rights
Every whānau or family can:
- expect to be heard and respected throughout the process
- request who attends the meetings from the agencies involved. For example, you can request someone from the same cultural background or sex
- decide not to have a meeting if you do not want one
- ask for an interpreter
- decide on when and where meetings are held, who is invited and the issues that are discussed
- make a formal complaint through the facilitator, main contact person, coordinator, Local Management Group, or Family and Community Services.
Published: June 28, 2022