‘We have failed to stop Covid’s impact falling more on children who were already doing it tough’

In so many inspiring ways our team of 5 million has come together to protect each other from the virus. But where we have failed – and where we now must do so much better – is in preventing Covid-19’s impact falling disproportionately on the backs of a group of children who were already doing it tough.

Covid-19 has put the spotlight on

existing inequalities for children, and almost always made them worse.

Whether it’s reduced incomes, lost jobs, out-of-control housing costs, or access to education, this burden continues to fall overwhelmingly on Ma¯ ori, Pacific, and disabled children, and those living on very low incomes.

I saw this for myself last year when I visited an Auckland secondary school where more than a quarter of the students didn’t have access to a computer during the lockdowns. Later, I heard that about 23 senior students didn’t return to school when the lockdowns were lifted, as they stayed home to care for younger siblings, or earn money for families who’d lost hours, or lost jobs, as a result of the economic downturn.

Of course, such stories are utterly predictable – in every economic crisis it is the already disadvantaged who suffer the most – but in no way does that make them acceptable.

Now, as we plan for a future free of Covid-19, we have an opportunity to learn from the past year – what has worked and what still isn’t working for tamariki.

We have a choice. New Zealand is spending now on shovel-ready projects to steer the country through the economic crisis. We could choose to have a worldleading long-term response that designs a better future for all tamariki and rangatahi, both in times of crisis, and not.

To do that well, we will need to put children and their rights at the centre of our plans and to actively, purposefully, involve them in our decisions.

Today, Children’s Day, is a perfect opportunity to consider how best to do that. My office has some ideas.

Along with our partners in a group that monitors New Zealand’s implementation of the UN Children’s Convention, we have today published a report that makes a series of bold recommendations to Government based on the lessons learned over the past year.

Top of the list for me are two recommendations: The first is to make it mandatory for policy and decision-makers to assess the impact of their decisions on children; and the second, to actively listen to young people, when making decisions that affect them.

It’s astonishing to me that, for decades, children’s views have not been considered by those making decisions on their behalf.

Children don’t have a voice, or a vote, or any way of influencing policy unless decision-makers go out of their way to listen to them and include them.

When we do, policy can be so much better.

It wasn’t until care-experienced children had a chance to say how important it was for them to stay with their siblings when they were removed from their family by the state, that the law was changed so social workers were obliged to do everything possible to keep them together.

If children’s real needs had been considered before the Margaret Mahy Playground was built in Christchurch, then it wouldn’t have been necessary to rebuild it because it was totally inaccessible to children with disabilities.

There are proven, successful ways of engaging with tamariki and rangatahi which our office is increasingly helping government agencies to use. Every time young people are listened to, policy is improved. So, if we care about improving their wellbeing, we must urgently listen to them more.

By also making Child Impact Assessments mandatory, the real-world impact on children of decisions – from sick leave, to new roads, to health funding, would be assessed and known about before these decisions are made. It is just wrong that such assessments are optional now.

After all, children are not just another interest group. They have the biggest stake in the future we are building. Now, rather than letting Covid-19 be an excuse for worsening outcomes for children, let’s make sure it’s the reason to build the best possible future for all of them.