6. TIM MACINDOE (National—Hamilton West) Link to this
to the Minister for Social Development and Employment
What parenting support is being made available for first-time parents?
Hon PAULA BENNETT (Minister for Social Development and Employment) Link to this
Last year 63,000 babies were born in New Zealand. Raising Children in New Zealand is a new parenting DVD, which will be launched at Parliament this evening. In partnership with the Lion Foundation, Barnardos, Plunket, and Television New Zealand, we are helping first-time mums and dads get quality advice on raising their newborn babies.
Hon PAULA BENNETT Link to this
This DVD is just one of a range of initiatives that this Government is putting investment in for new parents and families. Many of the initiatives have come from the Minister of Health and have been very well received out there. In my own area, every year we spend around $50 million on parenting support. Under this Budget we saw an expansion of the HIPPY (Home Interaction Programme for Parents and Youngsters) under the Minister of Education, $2.4 million for parenting support for foster carers and grandparents raising grandchildren, $21.3 million for Well Child services, and more than $550 million for early childhood education. This Government, in a small way, is providing that sort of support for parents.