Youth Targeted by Social Investment Fund

Children with parents in prison are among those who will benefit from early intervention through seven new projects funded by the Social Investment Fund.

In this first round of funding, a total of $50 million will be allocated to programmes reaching more than 1,600 children, ranging from newborns through to eighteen-year-olds.

Priority Cohorts

Ministers identified the priority groups for the first round of the Social Investment Fund as:

• Children with parents who are, or have recently been, in jail
• Children of parents who experienced the care system
• Children who have been stood down or suspended from school before age 13

Social Investment Minister Nicola Willis stated that the selected organisations demonstrated an ability to achieve the best overall impact for these groups and to measure success.

“Each of the initiatives will be monitored to see how successful they are in improving measurable outcomes for the people they support. That includes progress on better health, greater safety, more stable and secure housing, improved knowledge and skills, growing income and wealth, and support for their families into work.”

The Government allocated $190 million in Budget 2025 for the Social Investment Fund. Another funding round for new initiatives will open early next year.

Funded Projects

• Te Hou Ora Whānau Services Limited: Support for 120 children through individual and group sessions to reduce school drop-out rates and involvement with the justice and care systems – Dunedin.
• Tākiri Mai te Ata Trust: Support for counselling and trauma therapy for 200 young people in care, with parents in prison, or who have been stood down from school – Lower Hutt and Upper Hutt.
• Te Puawaitanga ki Ōtautahi Charitable Trust: Support for 200 children focused on health, safety, and life skills – Christchurch and wider Canterbury.
• Ngāti Awa Social and Health Services Trust: Support for 450 children, providing assistance for families dealing with historic trauma and building specialist forensic nursing for child sexual abuse – Eastern Bay of Plenty.
• Barnardos New Zealand Incorporated: Support for 100 children through family mentoring and parenting support to help reach developmental milestones, including early childhood education attendance – Māngere.
• Horowhenua New Zealand Trust: Support for more than 400 children through a behaviour change programme – Levin.
• Kaikaranga Holding Ltd: Support for 150 disabled and neurodiverse children who have been suspended or stood down from school, including tutoring, sensory tools, and short-term behavioural guidance – Auckland.

Seven Social Investment Fund projects provide support to children with parents in prison, children in care, and those suspended from school across New Zealand.

The Social Investment Fund has allocated $50 million in its first round to seven projects supporting over 1,600 children. The initiatives focus on children with parents in prison, children in care, and children who have been suspended or stood down from school, aiming to improve health, safety, housing stability, skills, and family support outcomes.