Media release from Every Child Counts

1000 days to get it right for every child: Coalition to urge political leadership for children

Every Child Counts and Plunket will urge the Māori Affairs Select Committee to recommend that Parliament works together to provide the political leadership needed to improve outcomes for children, in its joint oral submission to the Māori Affairs Select Committee at Parliament at 9.30am on Wednesday 20 June.

“Every Child Counts has been working since 2004 to improve the status and wellbeing of children. During that time we have seen some significant improvements in the political engagement of MPs and the wider public in children’s issues. However, there is much more that needs to be done to create a culture that treasures children and supports parents,” says Deborah Morris-Travers, Manager of Every Child Counts.

“To achieve change for children – and especially for Māori children - we need concerted political and community leadership, along with policy processes that are centred on children.”

“We will make a range of recommendations to the Māori Affairs Select Committee, including: encouraging registration of all children with a Well Child Health provider; cross-party agreement on the baseline provisions for keeping children well; restoring family wellbeing through kaupapa Māori services such as Whānau Ora; continued investment in parenting and family violence programmes; and pursuing the target of a Smokefree Aotearoa by 2025,” says Sonya Rimene, General Manager Māori, at Plunket.

The Select Committee hearings into the Wellbeing of Māori Children are open to the media and the public. Every Child Counts and Plunket are scheduled to appear before the Select Committee at 9.30am, 20 June.

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