Evaluation of Taonga mō ngā Tamariki

In November 2021, an Evaluation of Taonga mō ngā Tamariki (which is based on the Early Reading Together® and Reading Together® Te Pānui Ngātahi programmes) was made available on Education Counts here.

The following excerpts are from the Evaluation of Taonga mō ngā Tamariki:

Taonga mō ngā Tamariki is an intergenerational intervention designed to foster positive whānau-child interactions, provide access to books in home and heart languages and grow children’s enjoyment of reading.

Taonga mō ngā Tamariki is delivered by the not-for-profit Storytime Foundation to whānau in the care or under the management of Ara Poutama Aotearoa | Department of Corrections. It is based on the Early Reading Together® and Reading Together® Te Pānui Ngātahi programmes.

When coupled with a programme of child-centric visiting the intervention deepens whānau connections in a positive way, decreases stress for children, and creates the conditions to improve educational and wellbeing outcomes. The international evidence is that such interventions reduce recidivism.

Corrections staff and programme participants interviewed said Taonga mō ngā Tamariki is one of the most successful programmes the Department of Corrections offers. It is making a difference.

2022 Update

In 2022, a Cost Benefit Analysis of Taonga mō ngā Tamariki was made available in PDF on Education Counts, along with an A3 PDF summarising the Cost Benefit Analysis - quoting from the Conclusion:

Cost benefit modelling shows that the Taonga mō ngā Tamariki Programme is capable of creating significant value.  Expressed as dollar benefits, every dollar invested is likely to return at least $3.45. Benchmarking from similar programmes shows the range could be between $10.34 and $51.70 for each dollar invested.

There is also credible evidence that it has the potential to interrupt intergenerational offending. Given the low cost of the Programme, relative to the cost savings from avoided prison terms, a favourable dollar-return per dollar-spent ratio can be achieved even if there are relatively few examples of success.

Quoting from Page 1 of the A3 PDF summarising the Cost Benefit Analysis:

A small investment in project costs can deliver significant social and economic benefits.

Additional Information:

• Parenting programme expanded
• Feedback on Fathers at country's toughest prison bond with their children in parenting programme

Storytime Foundation Annual Report 2023

The Storytime Foundation Annual Report 2023 reported on Taonga mō ngā Tamariki. An excerpt from the Our Work section on Page 6 of the Annual Report follows:

As well as services delivered into the homes of families in adverse circumstances, we deliver a programme into New Zealand prisons and Community Corrections facilities for those people in the care of the Department of Corrections to support their attachment with their children. This programme, known as Taonga mō ngā Tamariki (Treasures for our Children) includes Early Reading Together® and Reading Together® and has been supported by Department of Corrections and Ministry of Education.

Every child is born ready to learn, however brain development and a baby’s capacity for learning and loving is heavily dependent on early life experiences. We know from national and international evidence that close parental interaction in the early stages of a baby’s development stimulates the frontal lobe and increases early learning opportunities.

Families participating in our programmes benefit from learning how to read with their child and the benefits of engaging with babies and young children through talking, reading, singing and playing. They learn more about what is happening to their child’s development, and especially frontal lobe activity, critical in the early years.

This year we continued delivery of an extension of the original Books for Babies programme to cover the first 1000 days of a child’s life and amalgamated our programmes for babies, toddlers, and older children under the programme heading “First 1000 Days”. Our goal is that every parent knows the importance of reading and storytelling with their children, and that New Zealand children grow up healthy, nurtured in homes rich in language and love.

Point and Associates have completed an in-depth evaluation of our Taonga mō ngā Tamariki programme. Some of the feedback has been remarkable and humbling:

• “It has given us tools to make reading experiences more enjoyable. I used to dread it.” (Arohata Prison)
• “I learned how the pictures relate to the words in a book for kids when they are learning to read.” (Huntly Community Corrections)
• “We are not the teachers. We can put the magic and the fun into the learning for our kids.” (Auckland Women’s Correction Facility)
• “My kids hate reading as much as I do, but they have loved these books and so have I.” (Northern Region Corrections Facility)