Early themes

Work is well underway reading and recording the themes and ideas from the more than 9,000 submissions received on the Green Paper.

Prioritisation

Of the submissions reviewed to date, almost all submitters thought it appropriate for all government agencies to promote and priorities the wellbeing of vulnerable children in their day-to-day work. A majority also supported services being preferentially allocated to people caring for vulnerable children.

Why do we need the Green Paper?

While New Zealand has a strong foundation of services and support for children and families, there is more that needs to be done to help our children thrive, belong and achieve.

The facts speak for themselves:

• Every year an average of 10 children die at the hands of the people closest to them, the people they love and trust.
• More and more New Zealanders are coming forward with their concerns about suspected abuse or neglect of children. In fact suspected abuse or neglect notifications to Child, Youth and Family grew by 205 per cent from 2004 to 2010, and the number of confirmed findings increased by 148 per cent in this period.
• In 2008/09, 13,315 hospital admissions for conditions that could have been avoided were recorded for children under five, and 1,286 hospital admissions for children and young people (0 – 24) were as a result of assault, neglect or maltreatment.
• More than 30,000 students are truant from schools on any given day, and 7,342 school leavers left with no qualification in 2009.

The Green Paper aims to open up discussions about these issues and many more. .

For more information check out the Frequently Asked Questions.

Next Steps
Once all of the submissions have been received and analysed, a White Paper will be released outlining the Vulnerable Children’s Action Plan.

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