What we do

The Families Commission undertakes research, provides policy advice, consults the public and provides information to families and those who work with them. We do this to improve services, policies and support for all New Zealand families, and we look at these from a families’ perspective.

Download our corporate profile [PDF, 1.1MB]

Our values

• We respect the rights and aspirations of New Zealand families.
• We recognise the family as the foundation of New Zealand society.
• We recognise different cultures and multiple family circumstances.
• We recognise that individual and collective interests are inherent in all families.

Community views

To actively speak out for New Zealand families we need to hear a diverse range of family voices. Our commissioners and staff visit communities throughout New Zealand to hear about their issues and promote our work.

Under the terms of the Families Commission Act, we must set up processes to get the views of communities of interest, including:

• Māori as tangata whenua
• Pacific peoples of New Zealand
• Pakeha/European New Zealanders
• other ethnic and cultural groups
• other groups that represent families and family members.

From time to time we run major consultation projects to gather views on specific family-related issues. We hear from families regularly through our online panel for feedback on family topics called The Couch. A whānau reference group meets twice a year to help us identify issues and priorities for Māori families.

Strong networks and partnerships have been developed with a number of central and local government agencies, interagency groups, universities, non-government and community organisations, and business and professional organisations.

Policy and research

One of our key goals is to provide informed analysis and advice so we can influence policies from a families' perspective. This is essential to our overall approach of actively speaking out for families. Our policy analysis and advice is based on information we gather through our research and community engagement activities.

The policy and research work spans many activities including:

• analysis of issues facing families, including identifying new trends
• writing submissions on draft bills, select committee reports and government department discussion documents
• commissioning and undertaking research
• providing advice
• liaising with family experts and public policy specialists.