Tu Mau (Aotearoa New Zealand Social Work), 2018, 30(4): 13-18

When broken down by ethnicity, Pacific people are twice as likely to be offenders who have committed a serious crime against a family member; Pacific students are three times as likely as Aotearoa New Zealand European students to report witnessing adults hit children in their homes and five times more likely to die from child abuse or neglect (Pasefika Proud, 2016).

Although there is no one single component that can be attributed to family violence, there are three contributing factors that are unique to the experiences of Pacific people in Aotearoa New Zealand. These are social and economic inequities, the impact of migration on families, and identity and culture. An underlying concern of identity and culture is the urgent need to understand ethnic-specific perceptions, beliefs and practices with regard to relationships between family members, and the impact of violence on kinship wellbeing. (Authors' abstract). This article outlines the development of Nga Vaka o Kaiga Tapu and associated workforce development programme. Record #6474