December 09, 2013
Policy heightens Christmas danger
With Christmas only weeks away, a Maori child advocate is warning it’s time to be vigilant about the stresses on whanau.
Anton Blank from Te Mana Ririki says the release of the Children’s Commissioner’s Child Poverty Monitor is a sharp reminder that almost a third of Maori children are living in poor households.
That is likely to mean poorer health, more violence in the home, and lower achievement at school.
He says everything comes to a head about now.
"Even though it’s supposed to be a time of family togetherness and happiness it's actually a really stressful time for families and puts additional financial pressure on poor families, and what we know in fact is that family violence starts to increase now and spikes over the holiday period," he says.
Mr Blank says a positive sign in the Child Poverty Monitor was the decline in in-patient hospital admissions from assault, neglect and maltreatment in Maori children aged one to 14.
That may be a sign preventive work being undertaken by agencies all over the country is having an effect.
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