New Zealand Families and whānau faring well

New Zealand Families and whānau faring well with the exception of single parents

Today the Social Policy Evaluation and Research Unit (Superu) released the 2015 Families and Whānau Status Report measuring how New Zealand families and whānau are faring across a range of well-being indicators.

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Clare Ward, Chief Executive, says "The wellbeing of families and whānau is an essential cornerstone for maintaining healthy, happy and productive individuals who are the backbone of a flourishing country. This research provides evidence to support New Zealand to make better decisions that will improve the lives of New Zealander’s, New Zealand families, whānau and their communities".

She adds, "The overall findings show that many families appear to be well-placed to perform their core family functions such as nurturing, supporting, managing resources, guiding, and providing a sense of identify and belonging. There are, however, also a substantial minority of families facing adversity, which could challenge their ability to accomplish these core family functions effectively."

"Many single parent families, single parent whānau, and whānau living in multi-whānau households rated poorly on a range of wellbeing indicators, particularly those related to economic security, housing, mental health, education and employment."

The 2015 report contains a wealth of information on the wellbeing of families and whānau.

Background of the 2015 Families and Whānau Research:

-The Families Commission Amendment Act 2014 inserted a new clause 8(1)(ba) into the Principal Act which requires Superu to ‘prepare and publish an annual Families Status Report that measures and monitors the well-being of New Zealand families’.

-The Families Commission published the first Families and Whānau Status Report in 2013, as agreed in our Statement of Intent 2013-2016, and Superu published the second in 2014, in accordance with the amended Act. The 2015 Families and Whānau Status Report will be the third in the series.

-In the 2015 report, we present for the first time New Zealand family and whānau wellbeing indicators using family and whānau frameworks developed for this purpose. Another innovation in this report is the use of data from the first national Māori Social Survey, Te Kupenga, to measure the wellbeing of whānau. These indicators provide a picture of how families and whānau were doing at a particular point in time.

Publications for the 2015 Families and Whānau research include:

1. Families and Whānau Status Report 2015: A picture of how New Zealand families and whānau are doing.

2. Technical Companion: Detailed information about how well-being indicators were selected, the full range of responses for these indicators, and case study qualitative vignettes.

3. Research Summary: A summary of the research findings in the Families and Whānau Status Report 2015.

4. At a Glance Frameworks to measure family and whānau wellbeing: The Family Wellbeing and Whānau Rangatiratanga Frameworks used in the Families and Whānau Status Report 2015 and the Superu wellbeing research programme.

5. At a Glance Demographic overview of families in New Zealand: A high level demographic overview of the family types used in the Families and Whānau Status Report 2015. It is based on 2013 New Zealand Census of Population and Dwellings data.

ENDS

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