Stalking is now a crime in Aotearoa New Zealand

It means police will have stronger tools to act. It means the dangerous pattern of behaviour - not just individual incidents - will be recognised for what it is.

It means the severely life-limiting and distressing behaviours that stalkers use, will finally be recognised as a crime.

But a law change alone will not keep her safe. 

Because while the law changes, she still needs someone to help her make a safety plan. Someone to guide her through her options. Someone to stand beside her as she navigates what comes next.

Your support helps make that possible.

When a woman calls the Shine helpline, she is put in touch with someone who understands.

Someone who will not tell her she is overreacting.

Someone who will not suggest that his behaviour is because he still loves her, or that things will settle down once the custody arrangement is sorted.

Shine advocates know the signs.

They know how to help her document what is happening - so that when she goes to police, she has evidence of a pattern, not just an incident.

That support includes safety planning, digital security, and navigating a legal system that now has more tools to protect her.

Advocates can help her apply for a protection order, connect her with safe accommodation if she needs to move, and liaise with schools and workplaces - because stalking does not stop at the front door. It follows women into every space they occupy.

And for her children - the ones who have grown up a little too quickly, carrying worries they should never have had to hold - KIDshine provides specialist, free support to help them begin to heal.

This moment matters

The law is changing. That is cause for real hope. But women still need our help right now. 

They need safety plans.

They need someone they can reach out to when they are shaking with fear, because he is parked outside again…

Shine directly helps more than 1,000 women and their children to become safer every year. 

Every one of those women deserves to be free to live her life. Every one of those children deserves a childhood.