People work best if they work together

As humans, we are made to be together. But our mobility can make it hard to foster a sense of community. Parents often miss out on the sources of advice in family living that parents, whanau, extended family, friends and acquaintances may provide in more settled societies.

Raising children is a matter of learning as you go, and having no reliable source of support or advice makes it particularly hard. When this situation continues through more than one generation the problem is multiplied.

People usually refer to our community when they want to evoke a sense of place shared by others. When we talk about communities and neighbourhoods we are talking about a sense of place, where there are human relationships and a common bond that links children and families together as they go about their daily lives.

Communities and neighbourhoods differ. Some are supportive and offer great environments in which to live. Others are destructive and they provide depressing neighbourhoods for families and children.

Communities that work well serve the needs of all ages. Children and young people are affected by all the institutions and activities within a community, not only the childhood centres, schools and playgrounds that are especially for them.

The interlocking activities of a community can enrich and strengthen children and help them to become fully contributing citizens. Alternatively, a community can impoverish children's lives. In such communities, children are more likely to be abused or neglected. In the past decade efforts to understand how communities work, and how they can be improved, have developed a body of experience and knowledge called community building. The worldwide healthy cities movement and numerous other initiatives are parts of this endeavour.

In many communities there are informal systems for putting new parents in touch with one another and with experienced families. In this way the culture of child-rearing can be passed on and strengthened within a community and from generation to generation. Where this arrangement is not in place or fails to work, a way must be found to identify families in need and to help them.

Several programmes have been developed to do this. These programmes are most successful when they are provided as a matter of course and don't label the participants as problems.

A community can enrich its children's lives. And communities are made up of individuals. Each one of us can play our part, however small, in building our communities in child-friendly ways.

The workplace is an example of a community within a community. Child-friendly workplaces acknowledge that their staff have family responsibilities and help them to meet them in a number of ways by ensuring staff have leave arrangements to cope with sickness, maternity and paternity leave, child care and flexible working hours.

Research shows that family-friendly workplaces can lead to increases in productivity as well as taking a responsible attitude towards children and their families. The Government decision to legislate for the provision of 12-weeks paid parental leave is an excellent example of how we can take care of adults so that they can take care of New Zealand's children.

Shops and services can cater for children who must often wait for what can be a long time while adults conduct their business. They can provide play areas, equipment and reading material.

Local authorities can support their younger citizens by providing skateboard parks, cycle tracks, sports fields and cultural events. These should be accessible and adequately serviced, and, where necessary, supervised.

* The support line will operate for 24 hours following tonight's screening: 0800 222465. The information line is 0800 502 512.

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Building Tomorrow - paths to prevent child abuse