Birthright New Zealand today adds its voice to the growing number of community providers who are calling on the Government to protect services for whānau and tamariki across Aotearoa.

Riki Manarangi, Chair of Birthright New Zealand said: “ We are New Zealand’s only social services organisation that has a specialist focus on whānau led by one person, and we have supported tens of thousands of families over the last 65 years. We have seen first hand that when families are supported, children and young people have better outcomes. Investing in this support is a far better deal socially and economically than leaving families to struggle and face crisis”.

The Government has been persistent with their narrative about future planning and delivery for New Zealand. Birthright is calling on the Government to end this period of chaos and uncertainty surrounding contracts for community providers. Returning to multi-year contracts would allow social agencies to plan, hire necessary staff, and reassure vulnerable families that their support services will continue.

Joe Ferns, Birthright New Zealand’s new Kaiwhakahaere said: “The pressure facing whānau and tamariki continues to grow as a result of the cost of living crisis and creating uncertainty around critical services such as those provided by Birthright is fundamentally unhelpful to hard working whānau who are just trying to give their kids the best start in life. Birthright’s services include social work, counselling, budgeting assistance, parent education programmes and childcare. If these are threatened by a lack of funding, life will get significantly harder for thousands of people in our communities.”

Joe joins Birthright New Zealand after 25 years working with young people and families in Mental Health, Suicide Prevention and running an extensive grant programme for a large community funder overseas. As well as a wealth of professional experience, Joe has also been a single parent which was a strong motivating fact in him joining Birthright New Zealand. Joe says: “I am enormously proud to join Birthright New Zealand at this crucial time and I am excited and humbled to work alongside our incredible staff and volunteers across Aotearoa. Whānau is the foundation of any society and there can be no greater cause than enabling our tamariki and rangatahi to fulfil their potential”.

Birthright New Zealand is made up of a network of 11 affiliate organisations across Aotearoa who support (primarily) single parent led whanau. Over the coming year, Birthright will be seeking to grow their network, while supporting more whānau and championing their voice on issues critical to the wellbeing communities.

 www.birthright.org.nz

Note:

Birthright New Zealand Supports the children of one parent families to ensure those children have the same rights and privileges as all children. Services include social work, counselling, budgeting assistance, parent education programmes and networking opportunities, self-esteem programmes for children, some financial assistance with school requirements.The link to local Birthright organisations who provide the services is here: https://birthright.org.nz/locations

Note: some regions provide services to two parent families and blended families.

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