Families in New Zealand: the challenge for policymakers

Abstract

“Family policy” is a field which presents a set of unique problems. One is the difficulty we have in removing individual experiences (and prejudices) from the discussion about political choices. There is something remarkably odd, indeed ostrich-like, about the debates we have about families, our relationships within them, and where they fit into the broader contexts of communities and cultures. Quite simply, our heads are in the sand about what a family is, and how in New Zealand perceptions have merged and changed in step with other shifts in society.