Family & Parenting

New Zealand was a leader in international child welfare legislation reform with the passing of the New Zealand Children Young Persons and their Families Act (1989). This Act mandated the extended family/whanau as the preferred placement for children in need of care and protection, respecting traditional Maori concepts of family responsibility and decision making. However, recent data raises the question of how well the Maori model of collective responsibility translates to European families. This study was carried out to discover how well New Zealand grandparents and other kin carers had fared over the five years since the last study was under taken. While much of the statistical data is similar to the 2005 study, two major factors stand out in this study  Caregiver resilience and commitment to the grandchildren in spite of huge hurdles and difficulties  The stability afforded the children that has led to a considerable level of improvement in the children’s physical and psychological health  The joy most carers described in seeing their grandchildren flourish and the loving relationships existing between the children and their grandparents. - Taken from executive summary