The current IOSIS Family Solutions, based in the South Auckland suburb of Manurewa, is a new organization. It was created in 2006, birthed out of a rich heritage of compassionate work. It is based on the experience and skills that had been previously acquired through operations spanning many years under the banners of the following:

• Baptist Family Services
• Merivale Womens Refuge
• Baptist City Mission

Our history reaches back to the original orphanage, based on the same site where IOSIS Family Solutions is now located. In 1893, the Reverend Birch, took in two children he found living in a barrel, there developing a residential home. The orphanage was first operated under the auspices of a Union Free church, and then moved to the ownership of the Baptist Union in 1903. It was located on Portage Road at the time, until space became an issue and the current land in Manurewa was purchased and gifted to the work. Many children came into the orphanage due to the extreme poverty. Children were often cared for, while parents made efforts to become more financially stable and able to take back the care of their children.

The buildings on the Manurewa site were developed over time, with that which is now the Counseling Center serving as the Matron’s home, and our current Family Learning Centre/ Administration building, used as the housing for children when they were in isolation with infectious diseases!

The work in Manurewa took a significant turn in the 1980s when there was a move to put children into foster homes rather than large institutions. The Child Youth and Families Act of 1989 moved that support would no longer be provided for homes where more than 10 children were in care. The introduction of the Domestic Purposes Benefit (from 1972) also had an impact, allowing families the financial support to keep children at home with a parent. The large orphanage finally closed in 1989.

In 1982, a portion of land had been sold to generate funds in order to broaden and diversify into new areas. The first Social Worker was employed, and as a result, other new operations began. These included: Counseling, Parent Support and in the late 1990s, the Supervised Contact Centre.

Around this time, there was a home in Epsom that was being managed by a trust known as Childhaven. This home served as emergency housing for women and children. The home was struggling financially, and in the late 1970s was transferred to the management of the Baptist City Mission. The creation of the Domestic Violence Act of 1989 impacted the work significantly, as it allowed a woman to obtain a protection order through the courts on the basis of her story alone. This enabled her to get immediate help and protection. It gave women the opportunity to flee situations where they were being victimized by violence in the home and begin receiving support immediately. This led to growth in the refuge movement, and generally speaking, the social movement as well. It ushered in a society where legal and social agencies become involved in protection and support and saw many people’s “private worlds” (the home) become part of the public sphere. Merivale was well situated to assist women fleeing domestic violence so it became Merivale Womens’ Refuge (due it being located in Merivale Ave!).

The Baptist City Mission was established in 1960 to work with those living on the streets around Symonds Street, it began out of the local Mt Eden Baptist Church with The Reverend B K Macready arriving from Australia in February 1961 and becoming the first “City Missioner”. The work matured into various streams, including offering food and showers to the people living in the street, establishing a Mental Health Service, and assisting impoverished families in the local area. As the area began to change, the City Mission became independent from the church congregation, and commenced operation of a budgeting service, free showers, and recruited the support of a number of Opportunity Shops to fund the Mission.

In the year 2000, various other Social Services that had evolved within and around the Baptist Churches of Auckland, were incorporated under a trust set up by the Auckland Association of Churches aptly named Baptist Action in 1998. Included under this banner were:

• Baptist City Mission
• Baptist Family Services
• Merivale Womens Refuge
• Baptist Youth Hostel
• Howick Home and Healthcare
• Te Korowai Aroha – Mental Health

By 2002, it was determined that this collection of services was too broad to be grouped under one structure. They included independent funding structures and operational requirements; therefore it seemed wise to allow different sections to operate more independently.

The coordination of the Baptist Youth Hostel was moved to the Baptist Tabernacle; Te Korowai Aroha became independent and changed their name to Affinity, and the Howick Home and Healthcare became a Charitable Company, fully owned by Baptist Action.

Merivale moved to Mangere in 2003, and matured into a programme that would work with mothers and children who had multiple issues compromising the safety of the children, including Domestic Violence, Addiction and parenting issues. Both Merivale and Baptist Family services were located in South Auckland, and had a focus on families so it seemed suitable for the two to unite. The City Mission by this point was largely a Budgeting Service and worked mostly also with families so seemed also to fit well in this grouping. The remaining three areas: Merivale Womens Refuge, Baptist City Mission and Baptist Family Services were amalgamated into a new organisation, and officially become IOSIS Ltd in July 2006.

We now have a number of services working from the Manurewa site, please see our What We Do section of this stie for more information. It also incorporates the now, Merivale Whanau Development Centre and the former Baptist Action Opportunity Shops, which are currently operating under the brand “Turnaround”.

We constantly strive to arrange our work in such a way that the different services can operate as a cohesive unit, providing a comprehensive set of solutions for families who have a range of different needs (this is known as a multidisciplinary model).

Our work is Family-Centred, which means that we always seek to respond to the needs of families, providing a set of suitable solutions for them at their time of need. We have found that this is far more effective than existing as a range of services that families can independently select from or allowing them to arrange their needs into the confines of that which we provide.

From here, we are committed to reevaluating our work in the light of changing community demands. We have learned from our wide and varied history, to always stay flexible and open to new ideas, innovation and change. We want to courageously take risks that others will not and seek to be creative and caring in our approach.

Along the way we have developed some special partners in the work, one of which is City Lights. This movement of mostly young people, who organise themselves into teams for one day, weekend and ongoing interaction with families and communities in need, has been a fabulous complement to our work, and allows young volunteers to contribute to the families we work with. See www.citylights.org.nz.