Family disputes are problems to be professionally mediated rather than wars that will be won or lost.

The booze-related violence and booze-related problems on the streets, in the home, in the bar and the club are very real, very frightening and highly ingrained problems.

Helpline services for smokers, gamblers and other groups are being merged into a new national "telehealth" service - possibly with a simple 111-style number.

The Glenn inquiry into family violence has an ethical obligation to release its findings as soon as possible, a source close to the inquiry says.

What I want to think about is how grateful I am to the refugees who come and settled in NZ and how angry I am at the disregard with which we treat them, writes Dr Avril Bell.

A global survey has found that one in every six Kiwis ran out of money for food in 2011-12 - more than in all except eight other developed nations.

An Auckland high school which excluded a student with Asperger's after a dispute with a teacher is appealing against a judge's ruling to quash the expulsion.

A mentoring programme aimed at helping women victims of domestic violence is the brainchild of fashion designer Annah Stretton.

Editorial: It can be easy to jump to assumptions about statistics, especially if they appear to support a particular agenda.

Jason Tamaiti Kihi Phillips admits he was one of those guys who was too shy to ask for medical help until it was nearly too late.

Maori are living longer and their infant mortality rate will soon be the same as Pakeha - but they're still over-represented in poverty statistics.

New Zealand is still wasting its "demographic dividend" of young Maori and Pacific people reaching working age.

Gaps between New Zealand's main ethnic groups are closing for our youngest citizens - but remain deeply entrenched on many indicators for older children and adults.

The woman who had an affair with Auckland Mayor Len Brown has spoken in support of cyber-bullying laws and that she was being stalked on social media.

Yvonne Costar is used to seeing Maori families around her battling on struggle street.

Schools are under pressure to cope with the catch-up needed for the estimated 73,500 children who miss school each day.

The mother of tortured Rotorua three-year-old Nia Glassie has had her parole revoked by the Parole Board.

Some parents have become obsessed about giving their offspring the added edge, writes Peter Lyons. Choice of school often dominates dinner party conversations.

Australia's teenagers are increasingly becoming trapped in a culture of booze, drugs and gambling.

Auckland's historic Greys Ave flats will be refurbished, but the carpark behind them may be sold off for commercial development.

Respectful attitudes to sex would become a core part of sex education in schools under an overhaul recommended to the Govt.

If the issue of inequality and poverty is to loom large in this election year there are a couple of cherished beliefs on both sides of politics that need to surrender to evidence, writes Brian Fallow.

Never has the downside of social media been more apparent than over the past week, after TV presenter Charlotte Dawson was found dead in her apartment.

Once a luxury for the rich and famous, having a nanny is becoming an affordable childcare option for NZ families.

Families are all but certain to get more paid parental leave in this year's Budget, but not 26 weeks as proposed in a Labour bill.

Statisticians have discovered thousands more children and the elderly living in poverty than have been reported previously.

Online abuse can range from one-off racist, sexist or otherwise distasteful comments to threats of rape and violence and sustained campaigns of harassment, writes Troy McEwan.

A specialist scheme to identify high-risk violent spouses needs a consistent national approach, says a report into fatal domestic abuse.

The school that excluded an Asperger's student after a row with a teacher says the decision to remove the boy was not taken lightly, but it'll work with his family.

One definition of a bogan is someone who fails to conform to middle-class standards of taste, dietary habits, leisure activities, styles of dress and speaking, writes Christopher Scanlon.