Paper short abstract:

This paper examines New Zealand child oral health policy in juxtaposition with the experiences of real Northland families, and how through policy, neoliberal ideals create the concept of a 'good' citizen/parent in how they adhere to 'correct' oral health behaviours.

Paper long abstract:

This paper examines how child oral health policy creates the concept of a 'good' parent or mother through the ideals of the state, juxtaposed with the realities of everyday family life in Northland, New Zealand. Research was undertaken examining oral health policy and supporting documents from the year 2000 onwards, alongside interviewing a small group of Mothers with young children in the Northland region as part of a masters research project. This research bought to light how language in child oral health policy separates who is a 'good' citizen/parent/mother through how well they adhere to the advice of the state in caring for their children's oral health. This explicitly reflects the government's neoliberal ideals of individual responsibility in this time period - attempting to position New Zealand as a developed and neoliberal country. In Northland, which has high levels of deprivation, a large Maori population and little industry, child oral health policy is therefore ill-equipped to meet the needs of the child population, which is reflected in the poor outcomes of child oral health in Northland. In talking to mothers these ideals prescribed through current policy are almost never followed by parents due to their pedantic nature and barriers such as cost, travel and general life stress. Therefore in this practice there is a lack of belonging - those who are not white, rich and live in a city are ignored by policies, and funding, as well as being deemed 'bad' parents, despite their circumstances.