Growth in poverty throughout the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development [OECD] hurts people. The Auckland City Mission Family100 project explores the everyday lives, frustrations and dilemmas faced by 100 families living in poverty in Auckland. This article reflects on poverty in New Zealand, associated welfare ‘reforms’, the consequences of recent change in exacerbating hardship, and our own efforts to advocate for the rights of beneficiaries. Specific attention is given to a workshop run by the research team with the judiciary, and what such activities foreground in terms of the relational nature of research, reciprocity and advocacy.