We are already paying for the offspring of poverty, writes Lucy Lawless. Hungry kids are sick kids - so feeding them in schools is a smart strategy.

A "poverty of benevolence within the corridors of power" was denounced today as crowds marched to raise awareness of child poverty in New Zealand.

A new poll on child poverty has found most Kiwis want more done to fix the problem - but not if it meant paying higher taxes.

More than 21,000 beneficiaries have had their benefits cut for going on unapproved overseas trips in the last nine months.

Our minimum wage is so low about 40 per cent of children living in poverty are not living in beneficiary families, but have low-wage-earning parents, writes Emily Keddell.

Almost 13,000 parents with dependent children have had their benefits cut for failing work tests in the first 2 years after sole parents first had to look for work.

Just over half of voters support extending Working for Families in-work tax credits of at least $60 a week to beneficiaries.

A group of Auckland charities have quietly started lending money at zero interest rates to low-income families in a pilot project which may drive loan sharks out.

Good policies require good information, not prejudices and ill-informed judgments expressed from the sideline, writes Michael O'Brien.

After motorbiking round the world and saving Happy Feet, economist Gareth Morgan wants to revolutionise our tax and welfare system. Andrew Laxon asks him why.

Why is the idea of helping poor children so difficult to sell in a country with a supposed 'socialist streak'?

School principals say the number of pupils turning up for breakfast is increasing daily, despite the collapse of one of the two main breakfast programmes...

One of the world's biggest reinsurers estimated today that last week's Christchurch earthquake would cost insurers between $8.1 billion and $16b.

Wealthy parents receiving money from Working for Families look set to lose the funding as the Govt looks to find financial relief for the Christchurch quake.

Children are bearing the brunt of the economic recession, with around 2000 more kids admitted to hospital last year compared to 2007, according to a report compiled by the Children's Social Health Monitor.

Critics say the entry cost of $2295 plus GST for the two-day Child Poverty NZ Summit in October is far too expensive for most frontline workers.