Norm Hewitt: Help to change kids' lives

So another year is over. It's been a tough year for our children, our tamariki, with several appalling cases of child abuse in the headlines.

The Christmas-New Year period is a time when we often become reflective, both about the year that's gone and the year that's coming. It's also a time usually spent with family, and a time we may think about families less fortunate than ours, and what we can do to help them and their children.

We know the names of children who have been killed through mistreatment, sometimes almost as well as we know the names of our own children. Those most recently in the media are names such as Chris and Cru Kahui, JJ Lawrence, Serenity Jay Scott, Cezar Taylor, Terepo Taura-Griffith, and 5-year-old Sahara Baker-Koro who died four days before Christmas 2010. But these are just the names we know. They are only a tiny representation of the thousands of other New Zealand children who silently live with abuse and neglect each day.

Each year, on average, 10 children are killed by family members - people who should have protected them. In New Zealand it's estimated that 160,000 children are considered "vulnerable", which means several factors in their lives reduce their chances of reaching their potential. Such factors include living with family violence and having parents with health and mental health issues, particularly drug and alcohol dependencies.

Children in New Zealand are marginally safer than children in Mexico and Turkey. That's hardly a corroboration of our country's continued self-congratulatory, self-endorsed myth that New Zealand is "a great place to bring up kids".

Non-government and government agencies are trying to help our children and their struggling families. But it's not working. The level of child abuse is hard to quantify, but one thing we can be sure of is that it's not decreasing. We desperately need to change how we protect our children.

In July the Government released its Green Paper for Vulnerable Children. This is a discussion document posing challenging questions and asking for our opinions - anyone's opinions - on what we, the public, think should be changed to strengthen our communities and ensure our children reach their full potential. I am very proud to be one of the Champions of that Green Paper, along with South Auckland lawyer Sandra Alofivae and Barnardos chief executive Murray Edridge.

We've spent the last few months travelling around the country, getting people talking about child abuse and the Green Paper.

Since leaving the All Blacks, I've dedicated my life to working for children.

I see the Green Paper as a great start to this change because the Government is asking for our opinions - what do we think will work? The Green Paper seeks to create a national debate about child abuse, and it's a debate that's long overdue.

I found the paper easy to read and understand. It gave me the sense that I wasn't being told what to do, and I was being genuinely asked for my opinion to help make the changes required.

Nothing has been decided yet, and to get it right we need as many people as possible from across our society to say something. It doesn't matter what you say; you just need to say something. In fact, that's become the catch-phrase of this discussion document and the name of our new website, www.saysomething.org.nz. On that website you will find it's very easy to have your say. You can answer as many or as few of the questions in the Green Paper as you like, or you can simply write what you think. You can also mail in a submission, or post comments on Facebook or Twitter. Submissions must be received by February 28.

I believe our tamariki are our future and we have to change what we are doing if every child is to thrive, belong and achieve.

Submission details:

Submissions close on February 28. Go to www.saysomething.org.nz for more information on the Green Paper for Vulnerable Children

You can:

Email to yourresponse@childrensactionplan.govt.nz.

Mail: Green Paper for Vulnerable Children, PO Box 1556, Wellington 6140.

Visit www.saysomething.org.nz and make a submission online.

Facebook: www.facebook.com/greenpapernz

Twitter: www.twitter.com/greenpapernz

Norm Hewitt is a Champion for the Green Paper for Vulnerable Children. He is a former All Black, and now runs the Nga Mauri Pounamu Ora Trust.