Child unintentional injuries

• Unintentional injury is a leading cause of death and hospitalisation for children 0 to 14 years in New Zealand.
• Almost two children die from an unintentional injury every week.
• Every day an average classroom full of children are injured severely enough to be admitted to hospital.
• Unintentional injuries are preventable.

Children and poverty

Poverty and hardship are significant factors in child and youth wellbeing and injury prevention. In New Zealand a sizeable proportion of children identified as poor or in hardship come from working families – 2 out of 5 poor children come from families where at least one adult is in full time work or self-employed. However, income poverty rates for this group are on average much lower than for those in beneficiary families (11% and 75% respectively). Using ‘material hardship’ measures paints a similar picture, with around half of children in hardship coming from working families.

Half of poor children are Maori or Pacific; half come from sole parent families and half from two parent families (where 24% of all children are from sole parent families); half are in homes with low educational qualifications and 70 percent live in rental accommodation (20% Housing NZ; 50% private rental).

The relationship between poverty, child abuse and neglect: an evidence review – Joseph Rowntree Foundation UK – Coventry University – 2016

Children on Bicycles – How Safe Are They? – A Report to the Child Injury Prevention Foundation – Rebecca J Bromell, February 2016

Moving Targets – State of the Nation 2016 – Salvation Army, February 2016 (Child & Youth section)

Using Integrated Administrative Data to Identify Youth Who Are at Risk of Poor Outcomes as Adults – The Treasury, December 2015

Expert Panel Final Report – Investing in New Zealand’s Children and Their Families – December 2015

Child Poverty Monitor Technical Report 2015 – Office of the Children’s Commissioner, the University of Otago’s New Zealand Child and Youth Epidemiology Service (NZCYES) and the J R McKenzie Trust 

Foetal Alcohol (FASD) Factsheet – prepared by Dave Hookway, Northland DHB – September 2015

Interim Report of the Expert Panel: Modernising Child Youth and Family – September 2015

Child Poisoning Prevention – Safekids Position Paper – September 2015
State of Care 2015 – What we learnt from monitoring Child, Youth & Family – Office of the Children’s Commissoner – August 2015

Reflections on the Budget 2015 Child Hardship Package – Policy Quarterly – Susan StJohn – August 2015

Has Budget 2015 Solved Child Poverty – Policy Quarterly – Russell Wills – August 2015

Government Household Incomes Report – MSD – August 2015

The Material Wellbeing of New Zealanders using Non-Income Measures – MSD – August 2015

Government Household Incomes Report and companion report using non-income measures – Background and Key Findings – MSD – August 2015

The Children’s Action Plan Approved Information Sharing Agreement (AISA) – August 2015

Children’s Action Plan July 2015 update – Ministry of Social Development – August 2015

Growing Up in New Zealand: Vulnerability Report 2: Transitions in exposure to vulnerability in the first 1000 days of life – Superu – July 2015 

What Works: Improving outcomes for children of gang-involved parents – Superu – June 2015

Infographics for Child Injury profiles based on District Health Boards 2008-2012 (hospital admissions), 2006-2012 (deaths) – SafeKids Aotearoa – 2015

United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child Fifth Periodic Report by the Government of New Zealand June 2015

Improving Outcomes for Children with a Parent in Prison – Superu – June 2015

Community Investment Strategy – Ministry of Social Development – 4 June 2015

Safety Checking

New government safety checking regulations made under the Vulnerable Children Act 2014 require all paid employees and contractors who work with children for state-funded organisations be safety checked. This also applies to unpaid people working with children as part of an educational or vocational training course. The new regulations are being phased in from 1 July 2015 and the entire central State-funded workforce will need to have been safety checked by 1 July 2019.

• Vulnerable Children (Requirements for Safety Checks of Children’s Workers) Regulations 2015
• Children’s worker safety checking under the Vulnerable Children Act 2014
• Safer Recruitment Safer Children
• Safety checking the children’s workforce Q & As

• Vulnerable Children Act – Scope of the Standard Safety Checking Requirements

How can government improve results for our most vulnerable (at-risk) children and their families? – Treasury Request for Information report – May 2015

Facts About Child Restraints – NZTA

Car safety seats for children: rear facing for best protection – Injury Prevention 2007 (Cited by Rearly Safe campaign 2015)

7-year retrospective review of quad bike injuries admitted to Starship Children’s Hospital  – NZ Medical Journal (abstract only) – 15 May 2015 – Volume 128 Number 1414, Rebecca Pearce, Fiona Miles

Panel to Lead Major Overhaul of Child Youth and Family – Terms of Reference, Cabinet Paper and Media release – 1 Apr 2015

Kids Don’t Bounce – #Falls Ruin the Fun – Infographics, Fact Sheets, Resources – 2015 – Safekids

It Shouldn’t Be This Hard: Children, Poverty and Disability – Child Poverty Action Group – Feb 2015

Child Injury Statistics revealed for Auckland – suburb by suburb (2008-2012) Helping Aucklanders understand areas in which we can improve the safety of children – published 2015

Growing Up in New Zealand – University of Auckland 2014

Safekids Annual Report – for year ending June 2014

Legislating to Reduce Child Poverty. Considering the UK Child Poverty Act 2010 and its application to New Zealand. A report for Winston Churchill Memorial Trust Board by John Hancock, 2013 Winston Churchill Fellow.

Effective Parenting Programmes – Families Commission (April 2014)

This report reviews the evidence on the effectiveness of parenting programmes, as a way of reducing the risk of maltreatment of vulnerable children aged 0-6 years. We looked at both national and international evidence to identify parenting programmes that work and those that do not work, including for Māori and Pacific peoples.

The Battery Controlled – SafeKids (April 2014)
The Battery Controlled is a partnership to raise awareness about this issue and share information with parents, caregivers, manufacturers, retailers and the medical community. This effort is committed to helping parents prevent children from swallowing coin-sized button batteries. Join The Battery Controlled partnership now and help prevent button battery related child injury and death.

Child Wellbeing Network Bulletin – co-ordinated by PHA

Child Poverty Monitor – 2013
This annual monitor meatures, for the next five years, income poverty, material hardship, severity of poverty and persistent poverty. In time it will also include information on child poverty-related indicators from health, housing, education and disability.

 

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