The Government has released its first statutory Annual Report for the Child and Youth Wellbeing Strategy and its third Child Poverty Related Indicators Report, which highlight the good progress made to lift children from poverty and the work still to do.

“Making New Zealand the best place in the world to be a child is a key priority for the Government, and despite a global pandemic, our plan and extra measures to support families have lifted tens of thousands of children from poverty and improved the lives of many others,” Prime Minister and Child Poverty Reduction Minister Jacinda Ardern said.

“There’s no silver bullet to fix the long-term disadvantages faced by many, but the range of measures contained in our plan are making a difference.

“Our Families Package and other measures like lifting the minimum wage and benefits, expanding free lunches in schools, making doctors’ visits free till the age of 14, and expanding primary mental health services are making a difference and there is clear evidence they are improving the lives of many children.

“The reports show the majority of children and young people continue to do well across most wellbeing measures, including fewer families running out of food and a 10 per cent reduction in youth offending.

“However we also see the effects of COVID-19, with more children reporting instances of psychological distress than before the pandemic.

“To address this, we’ve supported more children to access support through the expansion of the Mana Ake child mental wellbeing programme to five extra District Health Board areas, boosted funding to Youthline by $1 million, put more counsellors into 164 schools, and have delivered 350,000 free counselling sessions through our Access and Choice programme.

“We know we have more to do with disparities persisting for Māori, Pacific, rainbow and disabled children and young people.

“One of the things I’m particularly proud of is that despite COVID-19, we have lifted tens of thousands of children from poverty and are seeing downward trends across all nine measures of child poverty.

“Our plan to make New Zealand the best place in the world to be a child is making a difference to the lives of whole families, and we will remain focused on this priority throughout our COVID-19 economic rebuild,” Jacinda Ardern said.

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