This report presents the progress made in New Zealand Government to improve outcomes for children since the United Nations World Summit for Children in 1990. The report describes a wide range of measures covering children's rights, their health, growth and development, the status of women and girls, role of the family, education and training, and children in difficult circumstances which includes abused children. The report notes that many New Zealand families with dependent children have been under social and economic pressure over the previous 15 years, increasing the incidence of disadvantage and consequent risk of poor outcomes, with particular concern that a socially excluded group dominated by Maori and Pacific people will become a permanent feature. The report states that the government is committed to reducing disadvantage and disparities (interventions are described throughout the report), and in addition are developing an agenda for children's policy and research, and are advancing implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.

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