Researcher welcomes Family Start Investment

The lead author of research into the Family Start home visiting programme has welcomed Government’s investment of an extra $28 million, announced today.

Professor Vaithianathan, Co-Director of the Centre for Social Data Analytics at Auckland University of Technology led the 2016 impact evaluation that found Family Start to be effective.

“Today’s announcement confirms that scientific evidence can, and should, play a vital role in decisions on how public money is spent for maximum benefit,” says Professor Vaithianathan.

“As researchers we can use large, rich datasets like the Integrated Data Infrastructure to measure whether or not an intervention ‘delivers’.

“In the case of Family Start, our evaluation was favourable, so it is incredibly rewarding to see Government take the next step and invest more, to broaden the positive impact of the programme.”

Links

Government press release: https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/budget-2017-688m-support-vulnerable-children

Family Start Impact Evaluation (research): http://www.msd.govt.nz/about-msd-and-our-work/publications-resources/evaluation/family-start-outcomes-study/index.html

Centre for Social Data Analytics, AUT: https://csda.aut.ac.nz/

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