Our organisation, our people, our whānau. Home Birth Aotearoa informs and celebrates the home birth choice and supports the home birth community.
The Home Birth Aotearoa Trust is a charitable trust and was formed in 2007 to create a legally recognised national home birth organisation that would be collectively accountable and sustainable. The Trust consists of up to eight elected trustees and two apprentices, who invest in their regional home birth groups as well as in the Home Birth Aotearoa Trust. The Trust works as kaitiaki, or guardian, of Home Birth Aotearoa; it holds the kaupapa or spirit of the home birth movement in Aotearoa New Zealand by representing the collective interests of the volunteer-led regional home birth support groups and associations. Home Birth Aotearoa holds a contract with the Ministry of Health and is funded to provide National Home Birth Services. The Trust Board applies this contract by working in partnership with women, whānau and midwives to promote and raise the awareness of home birth. They provide representation at national maternity forums to ensure consumer voices have the opportunity to input into maternity policy and practice. They connect with and support regional home birth groups and associations, by providing grants, resources and networking opportunities. National hui are held annually to strengthen bonds, create collective vision and build momentum and strategy towards the vision of promoting home birth in New Zealand more widely.