About Us

Parents Centres New Zealand Incorporated has 51 centres nationwide. As such Parents Centres has the largest parenting based infrastructure and network to support parents and their children 0 -5 years in New Zealand.

The primary objective of the organisation has two streams: Community Support and Community Education.

Community Support: comprises 51 Centres who deliver support where needed and at the time of need to all parents in the community. Examples of such support would be Sudden Infant Death Syndrome; Parents in Prison; Teen age parents; Sudden Antenatal Death; Miscarriage Support; Breastfeeding; Child Development; Toy Library; Play groups; crèche; special needs.

Community Education: focuses on Antenatal and Childbirth Education; Parent Education around coping skills; practical parenting; professional development for parents and all aspects of baby and toddler care through to ensuring children and parents are school ready. Parents Centres employs over 120 Childbirth Educators across NZ.

Parent Education focuses on creating an environment where children will thrive and be nurtured through effective parenting. We see a critical component of this to be the initial and continued engagement and bonding between mother and baby and parents and baby.

Parents Centres NZ Inc is the largest provider of Childbirth support and education in New Zealand. As such we are particularly aware of the need to deliver effective, efficient and timely antenatal and postnatal support to parents.

In order to do this effectively Parents Centres NZ Inc also has one of the largest volunteer networks in the country.

The Parents Centre movement commenced in 1952 due to a demand in improved birthing practices for women and ante-natal and post-natal care for parents. We offer 54 years of experience working with parents in the community. Parents Centre touches parents in excess of 60,000 times per annum.

The organisation is operated from a National Support Centre in Mana where we support approximately 3500 volunteers who deliver Parents Centre programmes and support services nationally.

We target all demographic of parenting and all family composition.

We have approximately 120 child birth educators who are all qualified. They are certificated through Aoraki Polytechnic to Diploma level. The diploma is a joint initiative operated in conjunction with Parents Centres NZ Inc and Aoraki Polytechnic

Parents Centres share a vision of NZ being a society that values parenting as being fundamental to the well being of all members of society and believe that parenting creates the environment that sews the fabric of our social structure. We deliver education, support and services to support and drive that vision.

Parents Centres share a mission to bring about a society in which Parents are highly valued in their role in the community through positive birth experience and informed parenting and advocacy.

See a map to find a Parents Centre near you.