If we truly value our tamariki, we need to fund early learning like we mean it.

We often talk about wanting the best for our children. But if we truly meant it, we’d be investing properly in the early years — the most powerful and proven window of opportunity to shape a child’s future.

In Aotearoa New Zealand, most parents do an incredible job raising their tamariki, often drawing on whānau and community support. But for some, circumstances at times beyond their control — like poverty, housing instability, health challenges, or intergenerational trauma — can make it much harder to give their children the start they deserve. That’s when a strong, well-resourced safety net, including high-quality early learning and wraparound whānau support services, becomes essential.

The science is clear and overwhelming: 80% of a child’s brain development happens between pregnancy and their third birthday. What happens in these early years has the potential to affect their entire life trajectory.

We see that reality every day across Barnardos services — tamariki who arrive carrying trauma, hardship, and families in need of some extra help. For some, early learning is life-changing: a safe place to grow, learn, and belong. A place where trust is built and potential begins to unfold.

It follows, then, that investing in the early years should be one of the smartest decisions we can make as a country.

In some communities, especially those experiencing poverty, there is strong evidence that early learning services can be more than places of education — they can be hubs for wider support. This approach, which can essentially be “family hubs”, connects whānau with social supports and community services and helps them navigate health, housing, justice, education, and welfare systems all from one place – through the door of an early learning service. In the UK, for example, the Government has recently announced £500 million to establish a ‘Best Start’ family hub in every local authority. At Barnardos Aotearoa, we call this model Te Korowai Mokopuna – it works and we want to roll it out properly - working with whānau to provide the wraparound support that can change a child’s life.

While initiatives like FamilyBoost, the Government’s latest measure to make early childhood education more affordable, may help some families, Barnardos believes we must do more – especially where support doesn't reach the very families who need it most.

Many of the tamariki we support each day come from whānau living on limited or no income. They don’t all qualify for FamilyBoost. Instead, they access ECE through a unique 30-hour no-charge model we’ve built, which blends government funding with Barnardos’ own fee exemptions. It’s how we work to remove barriers and ensure every child can access quality early learning, regardless of their background.

But that commitment comes at a cost — and that cost has risen significantly in recent years. Operational costs have increased significantly and well in excess of funding increases. At Barnardos alone, we’re facing over a $1million shortfall across our early learning services.

We have to make it work for all our futures — when our youngest children thrive so does our society, so thanks to our not-for-profit model and the generosity of New Zealanders and businesses who support us — but this approach isn’t sustainable. Not for us, and not for other providers. Over the past three years, New Zealand has seen a decline in the number of children accessing early learning, with many services closing their doors. The only other option is for services to raise fees — but his can make it unaffordable for some whānau.

Change is slowly happening, we have worked with the Government on changes to ECE Regulations and we welcome the Government’s Ministerial Advisory Group on ECE funding — but any difference in the pockets of New Zealanders is likely two to three years away. By the time structural change arrives, it may be too late for some services and the tamariki and families they support.

What’s needed now is urgent relief. We need investment to keep the sector doing the great mahi— we need funding that reflects the true cost of delivering high-quality, equitable early learning, and keeps doors open while we await long-term reform.

Fundamentally, we need to ask ourselves: what is the true purpose of early childhood education, and just how much do we value it? Are we prepared to acknowledge that ECE is the answer to many of our country’s issues? Are you prepared to help?

ECE supports parents being able to contribute to the workforce, but it’s main benefit is giving every child the best possible start — emotionally, socially, developmentally. For many tamariki, early learning is their safe, stable space outside the home. And for some that Barnardos supports, it’s their first safe, stable space in their life.

Putting this into a social investment frame, what could possibly generate any greater long-term social and financial return than starting with our youngest families and with our youngest tamariki?

This role is particularly critical in light of Oranga Tamariki’s latest report Understanding Reports of Concern which forecasts that reports of harm and wellbeing concerns for children will likely increase over the next one to two years. The report outlines a sharp upward trend in physical abuse, neglect, and emotional harm notifications — and makes it clear that frontline services, including Oranga Tamariki itself, are likely to come under further strain. As a partner to Oranga Tamariki also feeling the same strain, Barnardos supports their concern.

In this context, ECE is not just a place of learning. It’s a vital part of the early prevention ecosystem. The earlier we can support whānau and their youngest, the better the outcomes long term for them, and the lower the long-term social and fiscal cost for us all.

If we truly believe in the potential of every child (Barnardos does) then resourcing early learning properly isn’t just a policy decision — it should be a country decision to care just that little bit more – it is the right thing to do, both socially and economically.

ECE is one of the best investments New Zealanders can make — for the future of our tamariki, and the future of Aotearoa. With the right support, every child can thrive. Let’s make sure the doors to that support stay open, now and for generations to come.

We can do this Aotearoa.

By Matt Reid and Heather Taylor, Barnardos Aotearoa CEO and COO