1000 days to get it right for every child

The business of getting it right for children

Deborah Morris-Travers and Anton Blank

Every Child Counts

Formed in 2004 Driven by Barnardos, Plunket, UNICEF, Save the

Children NZ, Ririki Objectives:

Children at the centre A good start in the early years Reducing child abuse and neglect Ending child poverty, and Increasing status of parenting/ caregiving.

Why do children matter?

Citizens with inherent rights First 1000 days/ 3 years of life Vulnerability Return on investment vs. cost of getting it wrong Tomorrow’s parents, employees and community

leaders Non-voters

Why do children matter?

Children will comprise a smaller proportion of the population in the future, decreasing from 23.0 percent in 1996 to 15.5 percent in 2051

In 11 years, for the first time ever we’ll have more people over 65 than children under 14

By the year 2051, over half of all children (54.7 percent) will be of either Māori or Pasifika ethnicity

Some vital statistics

OECD ranking – 28 out of 30 Rheumatic fever at 14 times the OECD average 25 percent (270,000) in poverty and those most

likely to be in poverty are the youngest children (0-4 years) – link to poor outcomes

Over 13,000 children are admitted to hospital with conditions that could have been avoided

About 160,000 children are considered vulnerable at any one time and there are around 21,000 confirmed cases of abuse and neglect every year

Some vital statistics

More than 47,000 children live in homes with family violence

30,000 students truant each day Low public investment and political invisibility of

children - we spend 5 times as much on people in their last 2 years of life as we spend on children in their first 5 years of life

Advocacy for (and with) children

What do children say?

“I think that the Government should honestly pay more attention to children, because the children are the future of NZ basically, and if the children of NZ are not getting treated as they should, obviously in the future then they won’t be how you want them…”

What do children say?

The 1000 days campaign

The economic case for more effective investment (at least $2bn child maltreatment, $6bn poor outcomes from poverty)

Play your part – wheel of action The Netherlands Study The parliamentary term

The 1000 days campaign

o EAG child poverty consultationso Indicators of Māori and Pasifika wellbeingo Collective impact and community

developmento ECC- BusinessNZ discussion serieso Government and parliamentary processes

Business: social services

Potential for exchange Socialising the business community to

our issues Strategic business planning HR management Measurement and evaluation

Context for Maori and Pasifika

Colonisation Urbanisation Immigration Systems failure Institutional racism

Maori and Pasifika Child Poverty

• Hardship rates two to three times higher than other groups

• Two to three times poorer health than other groups

• Maori (28%) Pasifika (54%) increased risk of rheumatic fever

• 43% of Pasifika live in over-crowded housing, compared to 23% of Maori, and 4% of European

• 25% of Maori and 13% of Pasifika are in receipt of a benefit

Maori women and family violence

More severe abuse More likely to be hospitalised More sexual, physical and emotional

abuse More abuse from people well known to

them More community violence

Maori child maltreatment

New Zealand has the third highest rate of infanticide in the OECD

For the period 1996-2005 Maori made up almost half of these deaths (37 out of 84)

Maori ethnicity increases the likelihood of being killed 6 times for boys and 3 times for girls

Maori child maltreatment

• Maori children are around twice as likely as other groups to experience some form of child maltreatment

• From 1998-2007, 365 Maori children between 0-14 years were discharged from hospital with a non-fatal injury, compared to 318 European and 128 pacific children

• The child most at risk is under one year old, male and Maori

Solutions

Focus on education and employment Parenting education Early childhood education Housing Health Maori and Pasifika Child Development

Indices Leadership and a culture of respect for

children

Maori and Pasifika Child Development Indices

Martha Nussbaum’s ten capabilities Mason Durie ‘Te Whare Tapa Wha’ Rose Pere ‘Te Wheke’

Nussbaum’s ten capabilities

1. Life

2. Bodily health

3. Bodily integrity

4. Senses, imagination and thought

5. Emotions

6. Practical reason

7. Affiliation

8. Other species

9. Play

10. Control over one’s environment

Te Whare Tapa – Mason Durie

Te taha hinengaro Te taha wairua Te taha tinana Te taha whanau

Who’s looking out for me?

Play your part!

Work with others to build your community Join Every Child Counts Write to MPs and newspapers Attend events Spread the word … 1000 days to get it

right for every child

www.everychildcounts.org.nz