The Social Development Minister has told Maori social service providers she will make it a priority to deal with the concerning numbers of teenage parents, if she's re-elected to government.
In a speech to the National Collective of Iwi Maori Social Services national hui in Wellington on Thursday, Ms Bennett said Maori teenage mothers are being done a disservice.
She said several hundred young people are receiving support within teen parent units, but several thousand teen parents are not.
In many cases, she said, they turn up at Child, Youth and Family at 16 or 17 years of age with a newborn baby, are given up to $600 and then waved out the door.
Ms Bennett says if she is returned to Parliament, her plan is to align all teenage parents with an iwi social worker.
Representatives from 154 different iwi providers attending the hui, which continues on Friday in Wellington.
