Embrace & innovate

In the second in her series on community-led responses to poverty, REBECCA MACFIE visits Porirua East, where a kindergarten group has blossomed into an all-ages health and development hub.

It's 8.30 on a Thursday morning, and a white van bearing the insignia of He Whānau Manaaki o Tararua Free Kindergarten Association sets out on its daily service. Nine infant car seats are fixed permanently into position.

Alongside the driver is an assistant*, equipped with an iPad for recording observations from the morning's pickup run. It won't be busy today, so one car seat has been removed to make space for me.

The first stop is a motel. There are no tourists or holidaymakers here, only homeless families. The driver knocks at the door of one unit, and returns to the van holding a 12-month-old baby who has spent his entire life here - his family has been in this "emergency" accommodation for two years. The assistant heads to another wing of the complex and comes back with a toddler and a one-year-old, who paws at cheeks that are raw with eczema. Warm smiles and gentle words are lavished on the children as they are strapped in.

The van continues on, around hilly streets and culs-de-sac lined with houses built in the 1950s and 60s. Nearly 40% of the homes here are state houses. Many are mouldy, damp and cold.

There's a pickup from what's referred to as an "OT house": a family with which Oranga Tamariki - the Ministry for Children has involvement. Another is from a street with several gang houses. Two children are collected from a house where the father has recently come out of prison. There is a delay when the driver and assistant go to the door - the parents are arguing - but the infants are brought calmly and tenderly to the vehicle. Details are entered into the iPad, which is connected to an information hub back at the office.

Kids emerge from other houses and run excitedly to the van, turning to wave to parents and siblings.