Agenda for children: Submissions made by children and young people and by adults- A summary report

In April 2001, the Ministry of Social Policy issued a discussion paper introducing the Agenda for Children. The paper set out the vision, principles and goals for the Agenda and invited people to give their views on these. The discussion paper also asked people for their views on priorities for action to achieve those goals (see rec # 4908). At the same time, the Ministry put out a Children’s Discussion Pack and invited children and young people to let the Government know their thoughts about being a child or young person in New Zealand. It specifically asked them to comment on what is good, what is not so good and what could be done to make life better for children and young people (see rec # 4909). The issues raised in submissions from children and young people and from adults were coded and summarised. Because both the adults’ and children and young people’s submissions were from a self-selected group, the views in them are not necessarily representative of the views of all adults or children and young people in New Zealand. This summary report gives a brief overview of the key points identified, first for children and young people, then for adults. A copy of the full report for each group can be obtained from the Ministry of Social Development website: www.msd.govt.nz. This document also includes a pamphlet entitled "What you told us" which is a child-friendly summary of the submissions.