Mind That Child

Sweeping restructuring at Plunket is radically changing the 111-year-old organisation so it can focus more on the needs of the wider community. But not everyone is happy about the changes, least of all its volunteers.

- Sarah Catherall

A mother pushes a buggy fitted with a plastic rain shield out of the gates of Plunket’s crèche on Wellington’s Karori Rd. It’s pick-up time in one of the country’s biggest suburbs, and the weather is bleak: grey and drizzling.

Vanessa Kirkham flicks the windscreen wipers on and off, waiting for 1.30pm when she will collect two-year-old son Jackson. For two mornings a week, Jackson comes to the crèche high on Wellington’s hills. His sister, Lily, who is almost five, also came to this crèche before she went to kindergarten.

The gloomy weather reflects Kirkham’s mood. On a Friday in early March, 35 crèche families received an email that shocked them: Plunket was to close the centre in seven weeks, saying it could see no future for the facility. It was also transferring the rooms that had been built – on gifted land – by locals in the 1940s to head office.

Kirkham, a member of the crèche committee, and other parents revolted, called in lawyers and demanded an explanation. “The way it was handled was quite appalling,” she says.

The closure is now out for community consultation, but Plunket’s plans in Karori are part of sweeping restructuring that will radically change the charity that was set up by Dr Truby King 111 years ago. Plunket’s controversial strategy, which covers 2016 to 2021, is titled, “The journey towards generational change”. Six months into being a national organisation, Plunket is also under fire over its head-office spending: specifically, in the past financial year, 11 senior managers were each paid more than $180,000, almost $2 million was spent on consultants and $1.4 million on marketing.

Most New Zealanders have been raised with their growth charts recorded in a Plunket book, and, more recently, electronically. Plunket sees at least 90% of all newborns, focusing on their first 1000 days of life.