Standing up and taking action for children

By Shaun Greaves, CEO, Presbyterian Support Northern (the parent organisation of Family Works Northern)

This Children’s Day we need to stand up and take action for children, following the damning stats published in the Salvation Army State of the Nation 2025 report.

The number of children hospitalised from assault and neglect in 2024 rose to its highest in 10 years.

A growing body of research shows that children impacted by family violence have similar long-term social, health and wellbeing effects to children who are direct targets of physical abuse. According to this research, the impacts of violence at an early age disrupts emotional and cognitive development.

We hear the personal stories of those who are survivors of family violence and coercive control, but it’s rarer to hear the voice of the child who is also impacted by the violence. It is our duty to speak up for them.

As a result of growing social inequity, we are seeing in our services growing challenges and are making changes in how we support families.

We are seeing more severe and complex family violence cases coming through our refuges that we believe are linked to the cost of living crisis and poverty-related issues.

In our work with women and children we are seeing a growing number of serious assaults with weapons, including knives and machetes, strangulation that results in hospitalisation, and assaults that are inflicted in front of children.

A consequence of the cost of living crisis is unwanted debt which is compounded by a shortage of affordable rental accommodation. Due to these social issues, people experiencing violence have limited options which further entraps them. 

To strengthen our long term supports for children, we have implemented meaningful changes in our KIDshine programme. Children at our refuges receive appropriate support as soon as they come in, for the duration of their stay, and when they go back into the community. They are also provided a safe space to talk about their experiences of family violence, to process what has happened and to make safety and wellbeing plans. The aim is to keep them safer in their family home and with their relationships.

Last financial year, KIDshine worked with 295 parents and children.

We have 58 social workers in schools across more than 100 schools and four youth workers across seven schools in the northern region. Family Works provides multiple school programmes, including wellbeing, anti-bullying, working to support those who are experiencing family violence, improving resilience and overcoming anxiety.

As a consequence of the mental health crisis, there are long wait times for mental health services to support families and children, so they are stuck in limbo until they get support. Families do not always have success working with schools to address bullying and helping children to engage due to schools not having capacity to help.

The surveys we run across our clients show that for teens, the key social issues are bullying, low school engagement and mental health concerns. We have 11 to 15-year-olds call or text in relation to suicidal thoughts, loneliness or isolation, self-harm, and bullying or relationship difficulty. For instance, most teenagers who have come through our services have disclosed feeling suicidal, self-harming, anxiety and panic attacks from the impact of experiencing family violence.

It is heartbreaking that children younger than 15 are calling our Lifeline service about suicide, as well as anxiety and depression.

It is not enough, however, to just support children. Many issues are driven by parents who themselves are often victims of violence.

We support hundreds of people who use violence to change their behaviour to reduce harm with the aim of keeping people safe.  

Demand has doubled for our non-violence programme, No Excuses, this year. By using the Ministry of Justice Flexi Funding, we have been able to help remove the financial barriers for many clients who are struggling financially, by supplying food parcels, petrol, food vouchers, AT HOP cards for transport, mobile phones and taxis. This has helped our clients to better complete the programme; we have worked with 165 clients this year. Most of our No Excuses clients go on to participate in our Whanau Resilience programme.

We also provide a range of parenting programmes including those delivered in prisons and for those serving sentences in the community.

Organisations like our own cannot work alone trying to prevent and eliminate violence. To support children, we need an all-community approach.

We need adults to speak up for these children to enable their experiences to be seen and heard and acknowledged. And, most of all, for these kids to be supported to flourish in safe and secure homes.