Child impact assessment is an emerging field of practice internationally and in New Zealand, with predominantly theoretical contributions dominating the discourse thus far. Where child impact assessments have been undertaken internationally, these have largely been at a state legislative level. The New Zealand Office of the Children’s Commissioner was interested in testing the feasibility and effectiveness of child impact assessments locally, specifically at the local government level of democracy. The Commission contracted AUT University’s Local Government Centre to undertake child impact assessment projects in a sample of local councils and to report on the implementation processes and outcomes. UNICEF provided additional resourcing in supporting this venture, and an external Reference Group was assembled to support and guide the project. The age bracket identified for this research was children aged under 18 years.
Keywords: Normative and policy research, research and evaluation, justice and legislation, academic research, a