How well does New Zealand care for its children? This question is being asked with increasing urgency in these difficult times. Also under scrutiny, as our welfare systems are once again examined, is the role, if any, the state should play with regard to our children's welfare. 

Family Matters provides fascinating background to the debates. It focuses on the growth of child welfare in New Zealand. It begins in 1902, with the pioneering steps towards the state taking responsibility for child welfare, and ends in 1992 with the creation of the Children and Young Persons Service (CYPS). 

Bronwyn Dalley discusses, among other things, the creative ideas of John Beck, the role of the children's courts, supervision and residential institutions, juvenile delinquency and its prevention, ex-nuptial births, adoption, foster care and child abuse. The actual experiences of children and their families and of workers in child welfare are constantly used to illustrate this superbly researched and beautifully written history. 

Bronwyn Dalley is a historian at the Historical Branch of the Department of Internal Affairs. She has written widely on child welfare, crime and women's issues. Her current projects include editing and research for two new publications: Fragments of Life (a collection of essays in New Zealand social and cultural history) and Going Public (essays in New Zealand public history). 

RRP: $39.95
ISBN:1 86940 190 5
Available in good book shops and from AUP