12 May 2016

Tick for Kids supports campaign calling for action on child poverty

Right now many thousands of Kiwi kids are missing out on what they need to thrive. The latest Child Poverty Monitor statistics show 148,000 Kiwi kids are missing out on what they need to grow up healthy.

Tick for Kids partners have joined up with ActionStation, the Child Poverty Action Group, UNICEF, and the New Zealand Council of Christian Social Services to call on our elected representatives in Parliament to take action and break the cycle of poverty. This campaign will run right through to election 2017 so that New Zealanders can show their support for policies that invest adequately in children.

Child poverty is entirely avoidable.

With the right action and political will we can reverse the current situation and ensure all children have a standard of living that ensures their physical and mental health. Poverty is not inevitable, it is directly impacted by Government policy settings and hasn’t always been this bad.

"Ending child poverty requires action in a number of areas, and involves everyone. However, action by Government to implement necessary policies is obviously a fundamental part of the picture and we're calling on Government to do its bit," says Lisa Woods, Executive Officer of Every Child Counts and spokesperson for Tick for Kids.

"It's nearly two years since the Prime Minister announced after the 2014 election that child poverty would be a priority for this term of Parliament. However, child poverty statistics clearly show the Government have not achieved the turnaround in numbers of children living in poverty that they committed to.

"The Prime Minister needs to deliver on his promise and invest in policies that will end child poverty. But it's not just about the Government, it's about all political parties in Parliament committing to action and working together to create meaningful change" says Lisa.

The campaign calls on all representatives in Parliament to take responsibility to break the cycle of poverty and:

• Enable every child to get a good start in the early years by ensuring parents have all the resources they need (income, affordable housing, education, health).
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• Develop and implement a national strategy for children to ensure every child their rights to health, education, safety and participation (using a child-rights framework to do this).
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• Work in partnership with communities to ensure every child and family thrives (e.g. enabling community-led initiatives to engage residents in local action for children and well-funded community hubs with improved services for children’s well-being including budgeting, nutrition, adult literacy and parenting education).
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More information on the campaign can be found here: www.actionstation.org.nz/kids

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