I am a visitor to community in my role as a Local Coordinator, relieving my counterpart. I see a lady who is raking up her garden. There are children frolicking in the dry leaves, making her job twice as hard. She is lovingly cursing the children and “gammon” chasing them away. I approach the gate, and she informs me that the family has been advised to stay at home due to “Swine Flu”. “Don’t come too close. I don’t want to make you sick.”
This lady is a client who was called to the Commission because her children were not regularly attending school. In the past, there was drinking and some violence in the home, and Child Safety Services would often call around. I ask if we can yarn about the Commission. The response is swift and enthusiastic:
“I went to the Commission, and my partner came too. The Local Commissioners used strong words, and the message was clear: we must send our kids to school. I know now that I have to tell the school if my kids are not going. We agreed to go to the Wellbeing Centre, and from talking to them, everything is settling down. They told us that kids see everything, and when they see violence, this is no good. We agreed to go to FIM, and they told us about putting money away for my kids’ school things through Student Education Trusts. I am very thankful for that. The Commission gave me a good idea to spend money wisely and look after our kids. If not, I will get CIMed. I have learnt to budget through FIM, and there are big changes for us. I see kids enjoying themselves, and they are fed. It is better with no canteen. It stopped me drinking, and my de facto has stopped drinking. My de facto was violent, but he has changed, and now we are happy.”
The children move closer to where we are talking. There are three of them trying to cram into a pram that is sitting in the yard. The lady gestures to the kids to go inside as she says:
“Nowadays, the kids drive me nuts when they’re not at school.”
