The ‘1000 days campaign’ calls for increased, and more effective, investment in the early years of a child’s life – the first 1000 days.  The 1000 day (3 year) parliamentary term spans the crucial first 1000 days of a child’s life – when the most important physical, mental and social development occurs. 

“The first 1000 days represents the greatest chance politicians have to get it right now and for the future.  New Zealand children currently experience some of the worst outcomes in the OECD resulting from low levels of investment, maltreatment and poverty.  Those poor outcomes cost the nation at least $6bn per annum,” says Every Child Counts Chairperson, Liz Gibbs. 

“There is a wealth of evidence showing the high return on investment in children. We are urging all parliamentarians to ensure that children are at the centre of this parliament’s focus and parents receive the support they need to meet their responsibilities to their children.”

1. Any new government spending should be invested in children, particularly those in the early years.
2. Government needs to demonstrate leadership that helps change attitudes and behaviour.  It can do this by increasing investment in children and speaking positively about children, young people and parents.
3. Children have to be more visible in all government and parliamentary processes.  There should be clear ministerial accountability, the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child should be used as a framework for policy development and child impact assessments should be conducted to measure the likely impact of policies on children. 
4. A Children’s Action Plan should improve life for all children, set targets for increasing wellbeing, and identify government priorities.  This should be supported by principle-based legislation, which makes children’s best interests central to government considerations. 
5. Child wellbeing is multi-dimensional so government policy, programmes and services need to be monitored and coordinated. 
6. There must be greater scope for innovation within government and communities, through use of high-trust contracts, results-based accountability and standardised measurement of outcomes.
7. Robust research is needed so that we know what works.  But we need to be careful not to discard everything we’ve got.
8. Kaupapa Maaori research and services are essential to getting it right for tamariki Maaori.
9. All children should have access to a set of universal services that is agreed across political parties and sustained in the long-term: antenatal care; midwifery; breastfeeding support; paid parental leave; well child health; free GPs; parenting education and support that enables secure attachment; immunisation; warm, dry housing; nutrition; and quality early childhood care and education.  Additional services and support should be available in proportion to the need of the family – the notion of progressive universalism.

10.  The workforce for children needs to be invested in, to increase skills such as supporting attachment; listening to children; detecting abuse; child protection; working with Maaori and Pasifika. 

11.  Social hazards such as alcohol, drugs and gambling need to be reduced.  Treatment for addictions and mental illness need to take into account the impact on the whole family.

12.  Community-led development needs to be resourced, with the capability of local leaders built so that local solutions can be developed in response to local problems.

13.  Geographical targeting should be increased so that it is issues-focused, not ethnically-focused.

Click here for print version

Click here to see the Office of the Children’s Commissioner position paper

For more information about the Children’s Green Paper visit www.childrensactionplan.govt.nz or www.saysomething.org.nz

Every Child Counts is seeking a Manager for up to 30 hours per week, to deliver effective advocacy strategies to advance the position of children.

The role requires :-

• excellent understanding of the principles of effective advocacy and issues affecting children in New Zealand, including Maaori and Pasifika
• good understanding of the processes of government
• strong public speaking skills
• a strategic thinker who can also deliver operationally
• excellent networks at high levels of all political parties, community organisations and business
• good administration skills.

 Click here to view the full job description.

You are welcome to invite others who may be interested in conducting this research.

If you have any questions, please contact Deborah Morris-Travers children1st@xtra.co.nz

“The policy priorities of welfare reform, support for teenage parents, increasing participation in early childhood education, and the ministerial committee on poverty all have the potential to improve life for children if policy is developed and implemented with children as a central consideration,” says Liz Gibbs, Chair of Every Child Counts. 

“Equally, policy in areas such as welfare has the potential to significantly undermine the social and economic conditions for children if implemented punitively and without any consideration of the likely impact on children. We recommend the use of child impact assessments so that policy impacts on children are transparent and any negative impacts can be mitigated.   

“There is growing acknowledgement internationally that countries wanting strong economies need to address inequality and ensure children get a good start in the early years – the first 1000 days of life.  We can achieve this if every minister at the Cabinet table and all relevant government departments maintain a focus on ensuring effective public investment in children and their families.

“This time of global fiscal and economic crisis, presents a good opportunity to be innovative in the development and delivery of policy by putting children at the centre, reprioritising investment so that children’s needs are met and speaking positively about the place of children in Aotearoa New Zealand. 

“The return on investment in children is high, so we encourage the government to be bold and make children the priority,” concludes Liz Gibbs.

* He Mano Ra – 1000 days to get it right for every child – an Every Child Counts campaign for better investment in children. Check us out on Facebook

*Every Child Counts is a coalition led by Barnardos, Plunket, UNICEF, Save the Children and Te Kahui Mana Ririki working to increase the status and wellbeing of New Zealand children.

“The Every Child Counts Awards celebrate some of the amazing work people are doing in support of children and families.  We want to highlight that work and encourage others to invest themselves in working for children too.  There is no work more important than this,” said Liz Gibbs, Chair of Every Child Counts. 

Individual award

The winner of the Every Child Counts individual award is Verna McFelin from PILLARS, in Christchurch.  Verna McFelin is the founder and Chief Executive of PILLARS, which provides support and services to youth, children and families/whanau of prisoners.  Her mission is, “to work towards a crime-free society by providing support services that break the cycle of intergenerational offending and lower the rate of imprisonment”.  PILLARS was established in 1988 and provides programmes focused on structured, home-based family support and one-to-one youth mentoring. 

Organisational winner

The winner of the Every Child Counts organisational award is Rainbow Place – the Children & Young Peoples’ service of Hospice Waikato.  Hospice Waikato is the only hospice in New Zealand to have a totally separate, designated service for children.  Rainbow place has grown from small beginnings in 2003 to a case load of 300+ in 2011.  The service supports children and young people who have a life limiting or life threatening illness, or who are going through change, loss and grief because of the serious illness and/or death of a loved one.  They believe passionately that children are not little adults, and that they need very different and specialised support and care.  Packages of care include one on one counselling, family therapy and group workshops. The team can provide art therapy, play therapy and sand play therapy to name but a few.

*Every Child Counts is a coalition led by Barnardos, Plunket, UNICEF, Save the Children and Te Kahui Mana Ririki working to increase the status and wellbeing of New Zealand children.

Check out the photos on Facebook

“Phil Goff and Annette King worked with their caucus and party membership to develop policies that made children a central focus of their work. They committed Labour to policies that would create a Minister for Children, set an official poverty line, increase incomes through a tax free zone, extend Working for Families, and improve participation in early childhood education,” says Liz Gibbs, Chair of Every Child Counts.

“These are important policy platforms, based on the understanding that there is a high return on investment in children. We hope Labour will remain committed to progress in these areas and maintain a focus on children under the new leadership.

“There is a lot of important work to be done in the interests of children – including building corss-party consensus about the core policies that need to be sustained in the long-term. We hope the new Labour leadership will pursue opportunities to achieve agreement with National and other parties.

“Getting it right for children is primarily the responsibility of families and communities, but government policy has a critical role in creating the economic and social policy settings that promote child wellbeing. The UNICEF Innocenti research centre in Italy has concluded that government policy is the primary lever for improving life for children growing up in poverty.

“As such, political parties must ensure that children are a central consideration and that policies are assessed for their likely impact on children.

“Labour’s policy identifies a range of practical measures that would improve life for New Zealand children so we hope the new leaders of the party will continue to build on it in the years to come,” concludes Liz Gibbs.

“The new Cabinet has the responsibility to govern in the interests of all New Zealanders – paying particular attention to the most vulnerable.  That’s why we believe there should be clear ministerial responsibility established for the children of New Zealand,” says Deborah Morris-Travers, Project Team Member of Every Child Counts.

“Bookshelves and hard-drives up and down the country are loaded with reports highlighting the poor health of New Zealand children, as a result of their vulnerability to poverty and violence.  The investigation into poverty, announced as part of the formation of the government, is a welcome initiative and we congratulate the Māori Party for getting this onto the agenda.

“When parliament sits on 20 December the ‘1000 days’ of the parliamentary term will start ticking down.  Every Child Counts is placing a counter on its website to keep track of what the government achieves for children in the next 1000 days. 

“The Prime Minister has talked many times about wanting to address the growing underclass in New Zealand.  Just last week an OECD report again highlighted the growing disparities in New Zealand – a situation that is costing the nation dearly when it comes to poor child outcomes.  A conservative estimate suggests the cost is at least $6bn per annum/ 3 percent of GDP.

“We have also heard the Prime Minister express his concern that schools are failing 20-30 percent of children.  For many of those children, failure starts long before they get to school – growing up in homes with inadequate food; cold, damp housing; no access to healthcare; no early childhood education; and no books or computers. 

“Improving success at school must start with investment in the first 1000 days of a child’s life – when the most important physical, mental and emotional development occurs.  This is a responsibility of government, communities and families.  Schools also need to be more relevant and responsive to the needs of children, but there is no point measuring a school’s performance if its students are arriving at school hungry, neglected, and unprepared for learning.

“These are challenges all New Zealanders need to help address, but the government has a legal responsibility under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child to ensure children’s best interests are met.  This new government must ensure it engages in these issues and works with communities and families to achieve much better outcomes for children in the long-term,” concludes Deborah Morris-Travers.

* He Mano Ra – 1000 days to get it right for every child – an Every Child Counts campaign for better investment in children. 

Check us out on Facebook

*Every Child Counts is a coalition led by Barnardos, Plunket, UNICEF, Save the Children and Te Kahui Mana Ririki working to increase the status and wellbeing of New Zealand children.

www.everychildcounts.org.nz

‘You can’t say that the media and commentators have not highlighted the depressing facts though,’ she continues.

‘It is sobering to remember that 25 percent of our citizens (those aged between 0-17 years) have no vote.  Inevitably therefore, politicians simply do not really engage in their issues, although in not doing so they ignore the fact that every child and young person has a couple of parents who care.’

‘There has been no significant engagement with children and young people’s issues in the election discussions and debates.’

‘It is well-known today that New Zealand has internationally high rates of child poverty, child abuse, and poverty-related children’s diseases.  What is not so well-known is that this is a direct consequence of New Zealand’s low rates of public investment in children.’

‘Successive governments have failed to put the necessary dollars into children,’ Liz continues. ‘Only six countries of the OECD invest less money in children than New Zealand.’

‘We invest half of what Australia spends on each child during the critical first 6 years of their life. The result is that we rank 28^th out of 30 OECD countries in terms of children’s well-being outcomes.’

‘Does it really matter?’ she asked.  ‘Yes – put aside humanitarian considerations and just focus on the economic consequences.  Infometrics have calculated that poor outcomes for children cost the New Zealand economy $6 billion every year, that’s 3 percent of GDP.  Furthermore, the University of Auckland has explained that the evidence now exists of an emergent brown underclass.’

‘When we launched our 1000 days to get it right campaign we called for three immediate steps -

i)                    clear ministerial responsibility for children

ii)                   the introduction of child impact assessments of new policy

iii)                 the development of a comprehensive programme of government action to change the status of children that includes a commitment to ending child poverty by 2020, and strategies specific to Māori and Pasifika.’

‘Only when we have political action along those lines will we see children move out of the shadowy margins of our national political life and outcomes for our future generations improve,’ Liz concludes.

ENDS

‘The policy is comprehensive, addresses all the key issues, and represents just the sort of major investment in children that is required if New Zealand is to turn around its appalling children’s statistics,’ continued Liz Gibbs.

‘We may make more detailed comment after we have subjected the policy announcement to detailed scrutiny, but in the meantime it is clear that Labour has been listening carefully to what child advocates have been saying.’

‘The policy represents a challenge to the other political parties to put children at the centre of their policy announcements.  We notice that the Greens have immediately welcomed the policy announcement and we watch responses from others.’

‘Such a shift of resources to the early years of childhood represents sound investment in New Zealand’s future.  Healthier, well-cared for and better educated children become productive and socially engaged adults and future parents.  It is just such an investment that is going to break the inter-generational welfare dependency that is of political concern,’ concluded Liz Gibbs.