Election 2020 - Party Policies - Families - Children
25th Jul 20, 5:55am
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Children
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- Develop a national Children’s Action Plan and legislation to implement it, drawing on New Zealand's obligations under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, Te Tiriti o Waitangi, and relevant research.
- Encourage a child-friendly culture in workplaces, businesses and public places wherever possible, including facilities to allow mothers to breastfeed.
- Introduce a Universal Child Payment, increase minimum wage and extend paid parental leave.
- Increase Child Youth and Family's age limit to 18 for providing care and protection and youth justice services.
- Increase Best Start payments to $100 per week per child and making it universal for every child.
- Replace Working for Families tax credits with a single Family Support Credit of $190 per week for the first child and $120 per week for subsequent children.
- Read more here, here and here.
- Reducing child poverty and mitigating the impacts of poverty and socioeconomic disadvantage by expanding the Lunches in Schools programme to 200,000 children, which will create thousands of local jobs, help ease the pressure on parents, and ensure our children have the energy to learn
- Better supporting children and young people via Oranga Tamariki, and tackling family and sexual violence by increasing the support for 14,000 caregivers looking after more than 22,000 children. Plus we’re boosting support for agencies that make women, children, and everyone affected by violence safer in their homes
- Better supporting children and young people with higher needs, with an initial focus on learning support and mental wellbeing, by putting more than 600 new learning support coordinators in schools, to work alongside teachers and whānau and make sure young people receive the support they need. Plus we’re piloting mental health and wellbeing support in primary and intermediate schools through Mana Ake, as well as extending Nurses in Schools to decile five secondary schools.
- Read more here.
- Enhanced screening – This includes pre & post-birth GP visits, and a revamped B4 School check at age three to identify developmental concerns and trigger early intervention services.
- Child passport – An enhanced version of the current Well Child/Tamariki Ora book with electronic record-keeping, this will record needs identified through screening and track progress to key physical, emotional, developmental and education milestones.
- National Centre for Child Development – Headquartered at a university, the Centre will bring together the best of child health, neuroscience and education research. Its job is to improve best-practice for child development throughout the early childhood system.
- Empower parents with a funding entitlement of $3000 to allocate as they choose between whatever services they believe best meet their needs and the needs of their child during the crucial first 1000 days.
- Read more here and here.
- Continue with the reforms of the Ministry for Children – devolving where appropriate resourcing and responsibilities to Iwi, Maori organisations, and NGOs to better support families earlier to lower the number of children requiring the care of the State
- Direct the Joint Venture to address the wider mandate of Child and Youth Wellness – with a focus on developing community prevention and early intervention programmes to address family violence and sexual violence recognising that over 90% of children in care have experienced family violence – develop a more practical response across government agencies to address the five major areas that bring children into the care of the state
- Begin a nationwide public conservation on the development of a national strategy to address Family and Sexual Violence
- Develop solutions through the Community and Volunteer Sector to move from crisis intervention to prevention and early intervention
- Break down the silos of funding and using the Matua Whangai model empowering local community ‘joint ventures’ to identify what success looks like and the feasibility to decide how they will achieve it
- Expand on access to counselling for all school aged children and their families
- Investigate the funding of nutritionist advice in GP offices for those families with extra needs
- Investigate the establishment of ‘KiwiSaver at Birth’ to encourage birth registration and long term saving habits
- Develop a ‘demerit point’ system as a requirement for support of young people who come to the attention of police
- Review the practicality of a ‘Universal Family Benefit’ to acknowledge and support families into their first home and to care for their children
- Read more here.
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