Accessing Support Services for families in Masterton

The purpose of this report is to describe the findings of interviews conducted with 39 Wairarapa families and whānau who have children with a range of multiple needs and challenges, and their experiences with accessing support services. The report aims to provide information about what these families and whānau think they need in the way of support services and what makes a service accessible and acceptable, and what barriers they faced.

Findings from the report have informed the Families Commission’s response to the Minister of Social Development’s request to provide a ‘snapshot of social service providers in the Masterton area, how families know about them, and which ones they do, and do not, rely on when they need help’.

A qualitative methodology was used because of the flexibility it offered for pursuing unanticipated, localised themes in interviews. The research methods included individual and group interviews, including some couples, and provided for researchers to have the necessary cultural competence to recruit and work with Māori families.

This document contributed to the Families Commission's Social Services in Masterton report.