The Couch

The Families Commission established The Couch to hear the views of New Zealanders on issues relating to families. The Couch gave families an opportunity to give their views and feedback on specific issues.

Since April 2006 members of The Couch have provided us with insightful comments on a wide range of topics including parenting, work-life balance, family violence, grandparenting and family meals, to name just a few.

Over the past year the Commission has refined its purpose; we have repositioned ourselves as ‘a centre of excellence for knowledge about family and whānau in New Zealand’. This vision has kept our original purpose of acting ‘as an advocate for the interests of families in general’ and builds on this by ensuring our advocacy comes from a strong evidential base.

With this vision in mind, The Couch was decommissioned on 6 April 2012. The information shared with us will be available on this website soon.

We thank all our Couch members, past and present, for supporting us and sharing their views on family and whānau life experiences.