Joint NGO Submission — Strengthening Support for Unpaid or Informal Carers (2026)
Family for Every Child and four partner organisations
Publisher: Joint NGO submission; hosted by Grandparents Raising Grandchildren
Sector evidence
Sector body
2026-10-09
Next review: 2027-10-09
New Zealand
Medium confidence
verified
SNZ editorial review
Evidence boundary: Joint advocacy submission listed by Grandparents Raising Grandchildren and read from the original local PDF. No explicit submission or publication day was found; retain 2026 at year precision. March 2026 PDF creation metadata is not proof of either date. The publisher download returned HTTP 403 during review, preventing byte-for-byte source comparison. Qualitative research, conference/community input, quoted benefit rates and proposed legal changes are not certified current law, rates, eligibility or national prevalence. Original twenty-page PDF and June 2026 capture are preserved.
Short Answer
Twenty-page joint NGO response to the draft Carers’ Strategy Action Plan, calling for explicit inclusion of informal kinship and whānau carers and support based on care needs rather than statutory status.
Key Points
- •The named submitters are Family for Every Child, VOYCE Whakarongo Mai, Grandparents Raising Grandchildren, Foundation for Equity and Research New Zealand, and Children’s Rights Alliance Aotearoa New Zealand.
- •The core request is to include informal kinship, matua whāngai and whānau carers, including whāngai/atawhai. If excluded, the organisations seek a separate kinship-care action plan with comparable funding, monitoring and ambition.
- •Its ten headline recommendations link carers’ wellbeing with children’s rights and participation, culturally responsive support and a Māori-led review of the Care of Children Act. Requested reforms are not a legal ruling or proof of adoption.
- •Navigation recommendations include clear information, advocates or service navigators, timely assessment and specialist services, and linking diagnosis with funded support. The submission describes reported barriers rather than establishing current waiting times for every service.
- •It seeks greater access to reliable, appropriately trained respite and financial support based on children’s needs, including reviewing benefit processes and broadening support for non-statutory caregivers. These are proposals, not verified eligibility or payment rates.
- •Evidence includes the 2025 Strengthening Kinship Care research, input from the 2025 Grandparents Raising Grandchildren conference, FERNZ community groups and other published submissions. These sources differ in sampling, date and purpose and do not form one representative national dataset.
Full Summary & Notes
Twenty-page joint NGO response to the draft Carers’ Strategy Action Plan, calling for explicit inclusion of informal kinship and whānau carers and support based on care needs rather than statutory status. Ten recommendations address recognition, a possible dedicated kinship plan, culturally responsive services, Māori-led legal review, navigation, trained staff, respite, financial equity and better data. It draws on 2025 kinship research, conference input and disability-community experience. This is evidence-informed advocacy, not government policy, a new benefit rule or a representative national survey; exact submission and publication dates remain unestablished.
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