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An antenatal support group will step in to provide free nationwide childbirth classes when Parents Centre closes at the end of the year, but a long-term solution is "desperately required".
The Parents Centre Aotearoa charitable trust, which offers childbirth and parenting classes in more than 60 locations, announced in November that it would close at the end of the year due to funding difficulties. It has been in operation since the 1950s.
Village New Zealand team leader Claire Henry said the organisation operated as a "middle ground" by connecting new families with community parenting resources, but the closure of Parents Centre meant there was now an "urgent need" for accessible classes.
Henry said Village NZ, which was founded by philanthropist and businesswoman Chloe Wright, could provide free classes until June thanks to additional funding by the Wright Family Foundation.
In 2023, 56,955 babies were born in New Zealand.
The news of Parents Centre's closure was "startling" to many families and it left a "massive gap" in the provision of antenatal classes, Henry said.
"We know that parents are under more pressure than ever, we know that that families are raising kids and they're feeling really isolated. So the response [to the closure was] shock and devastation that such a trusted and established organisation which has done incredible work had to close."
Village NZ recognised the need for parenting classes to continue was "really desperate", she said, and antenatal educators previously employed by Parents Centre were keen to keep teaching.
The question of a long-term solution remained, she added, and she was hopeful that an existing antenatal education provider would be able to come forward.
"Everyone is really hoping that it will be clear soon what that solution might look like, so parents will have some assurance they'll be supported in the long term."
"It is a huge barrier for parents to be able to access these classes if they have to pay for them. Parents and families are just under so much pressure at the moment, so we just want to provide some relief for the short term."
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