Once a luxury for the rich and famous, having a nanny is becoming an affordable childcare option for NZ families.

Families are all but certain to get more paid parental leave in this year's Budget, but not 26 weeks as proposed in a Labour bill.

Statisticians have discovered thousands more children and the elderly living in poverty than have been reported previously.

Online abuse can range from one-off racist, sexist or otherwise distasteful comments to threats of rape and violence and sustained campaigns of harassment, writes Troy McEwan.

A specialist scheme to identify high-risk violent spouses needs a consistent national approach, says a report into fatal domestic abuse.

The school that excluded an Asperger's student after a row with a teacher says the decision to remove the boy was not taken lightly, but it'll work with his family.

One definition of a bogan is someone who fails to conform to middle-class standards of taste, dietary habits, leisure activities, styles of dress and speaking, writes Christopher Scanlon.

The family of an Asperger's child who was excluded from his high school after a dispute with a teacher hope he will be able to return to the school.

In the second of our three-part education series we investigate what's gone wrong - and how more time with better-trained teachers could help our kids lead the world again.

Big business is buzzing about New Zealand's economic prospects. Confidence is at a 20-year high and only China is more bullish than our captains of industry.

Homeless families like first-time mum Lydia Mataiti and her newborn baby will find it harder to find shelter after the closure of one of Auckland's handful of emergency houses.

North Korea's leader, Kim Jong Un, was warned that he could face prosecution for crimes against humanity after a United Nations inquiry accused him of human rights abuses.

Treating gambling addicts who commit crimes would be much cheaper than jailing them, and would reduce reoffending, says a New York judge.

Eleven employers have been accredited as the country's first living wage employers - among them, former Cabinet minister turned restaurateur, Laila Harre.

The controversial Neknomination craze has reportedly led to the death of another young British man, after a rugby player mixed two pints of gin with teabags and said to the camera: "This is how you drink."

Twenty-two families who have mostly been doubling up with relatives in overcrowded homes finally have room to breathe in a new housing project opened by a Tongan princess in Mangere.

The mother of tortured Rotorua three-year-old Nia Glassie will be released from prison after being granted parole.

Simon Collins takes a look at the 'state of our nation' report, a stock-take of New Zealand's social trends.

A leading group in the campaign against methamphetamine use says a planned rental housing warrant of fitness should test whether a house has been used as a P-lab.

'We told him no, it's pretty much suicide.' A young dad ended up in hospital after downing an entire bottle of absinthe in the 'neknominate' booze craze.

A breakdown of results from the latest census shows how Aucklanders are more religious, smoke less ... and they're well behind Nelson for divorces.

Labour's leader was trying to get his sales pitch for new childhood policies back on track yesterday, but continued to take flak for exaggerating the baby bonus.

Labour's push for universal welfare will not resonate widely. People earning $150,000 and, indeed, much less, simply do not need a baby bonus.

'We've been absolutely clear in all the materials.' David Cunliffe has defended against accusations he mislead the public over his $60 baby bonus.

We challenged two families with young children on their views about Labour's plan to give an extra $60 a week for new babies. Their reactions were quite different.

Prime Minister John Key has accused Labour leader David Cunliffe of "misleading New Zealanders" over the $60-a-week child payment scheme.

Labour's $60-a-week child payment scheme may produce less work and more babies, economists say.

David Cunliffe's "baby bonus" is a nifty Trojan horse that will do more for Labour's chances than the usual politically inspired and euphemistically labelled "kissing babies" exercise, writes Fran O'Sullivan.

Understandably, there has been much comment in the media concerning the tragedy in Dunedin involving the killing of two children by their father.