About Child Advocates

Refuge responses to family violence have traditionally focused on the adult victim/survivors. In recent years, the evidence of the lasting impacts that exposure to family violence has on tamariki has grown. As a result, the gap in child-centred services that recognise the distinct needs of tamariki as victim/survivors has become more evident.

Budget 19 ‘COVID-19: Responding to Increased Demand for Family Violence Services’ initiative

In 2021, the Ministry of Social Development partnered with nine women’s refuges to pilot a Child Advocates service in response to an increase demand for family violence services during the COVID-19 pandemic. The pilot aimed to respond to this need and contribute to fill the gap for child-centred services for tamariki exposed to family violence.   

Child Advocates are based within women’s refuges and take a child-centred approach. Child Advocates support tamariki and prioritise their voices and needs after exposure to family violence.

Budget 23: Maintaining momentum across Te Aorerekura – Child Advocates to support children in Women’s Refuge

In 2023, MSD received further investment to continue funding the Child Advocates service. MSD currently funds eight Child Advocate roles across the country. Currently, six are within refuges affiliated with the National Collective of Independent Women’s Refuges (NCIWR), and two are in independent women’s refuges.

Tamariki at the heart - Child Advocates (Kōkihi ngā Rito) Evaluation

Kōkihi ngā Rito is NCIWR’s Child Advocates service model.  

In 2024, MSD commissioned an independent quantitative evaluation of Kōkihi ngā Rito to better understand its impact on tamariki wellbeing after exposure to family violence. This evaluation contributes to the ‘Protecting Children and Young People’ and ‘Preventing Violence Before it Starts’ focus areas of the second Te Aorerekura Action Plan.

The evaluation showed that Kōkihi ngā Rito made a significant, positive impact on the wellbeing of tamariki

The key findings include:

  • The wellbeing of tamariki who were part of Kōkihi ngā Rito improved significantly across all domains measured. They also experienced greater wellbeing gains when compared with tamariki supported by other NCIWR services, highlighting the programme’s uniqueness and effectiveness in improving outcomes.
  • Tamariki in Kōkihi ngā Rito received more intensive support. They were engaged twice as long in service (over six months on average), received 5 to 7 times more hours of support, and had more detailed case notes than children supported by other NCIWR services.
  • The presence of a Kaiārahi Tamariki (Child Advocate) in a refuge was associated with more intensive support across other tamariki services within the same refuge, raising the standard of care even for tamariki outside of the programme.
  • Case notes from Kōkihi ngā Rito better reflected tamariki voices and experiences, reflecting the programme’s child-centred philosophy.
  • Mothers' wellbeing also significantly improved in the outcome domains of Children and Work and Learning. This effect was not unique to mothers whose children participated in Kōkihi ngā Rito but extended to mothers whose tamariki were supported by other refuge services outside of the programme, reflecting a positive indirect effect of supporting tamariki.  
  • Seventy percent of wāhine supported by NCIWR reported that their tamariki had been exposed or subjected to family violence, which corresponds to 25,000 tamariki each year.

You can read the full evaluation report here.

And here is the shorter executive summary.