Save the Children Concerned That Too Many Kiwi Kids Are Being Left Behind.

Save the Children is concerned that New Zealand’s child poverty rate is too high.

The Child Poverty Monitor has come out which shows that the number of children living in poverty has risen markedly since 1984 when it was 15% - it’s now 29 %.

Save the Children CEO Heather Hayden says children experience poverty differently from adults and have different needs that adults don’t share.

“They have no choice but to live through it,”says Ms Hayden “Unless there is a change of course, we’re at risk of writing off the future of hundreds of thousands of New Zealand children – sentencing them to a lifetime of poverty.

This is not just up to government to fix but for all of us to make different choices, so the 305 thousand children currently struggling every day to get what they need to thrive, can have a future. “

Ms Hayden says the fact that almost a third of our children are living in poverty will have a huge effect not only our economy, but will change the fabric of our society.

ENDS

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