Yesterday’s Safety in Care report released by Oranga Tamariki doesn’t offer any surprises, and has simply served to reinforce existing and escalating concerns about what the government agency is doing to protect children in New Zealand, says Child Matters CEO, Jane Searle.
Ms Searle says the findings of the report are no surprise to anyone working in the child abuse sector, and the statistics quoted are unlikely to show the full extent of the issue.
The Safety in Care report indicates 9 per cent of children in state care were harmed in the year ending June 2023 – a significant increase since its first such report in 2019, when about 5.6 per cent of children in its care were found to have been harmed.
“The numbers in this report are evidence that the system does not monitor children in care adequately, and that immediate changes need to be made.”
Ms Searle says the system is broken and needs immediate attention.
“Oranga Tamariki is an organisation that should be protecting our children with the highest level of scrutiny, but in its current form, I do not believe it is capable of doing that.
“We have known for a long time there is a problem and if we don’t see significant change, my worst fear is these figures will just keep rising.
“We know what needs to be done - there have been numerous reports and reviews and they all have the same recommendations: we need to focus on the basics and we need to do it now - get the right people, with the right training, to work with our most vulnerable and at-risk families, and resource them properly to be able to deal with the increasing workload.“
Ms Searle says appropriate training is needed for Oranga Tamariki frontline staff, alongside more manageable workloads for them.
“Increased monitoring systems for children and young people in care are also required, so that social workers are adequately able to monitor the safety and wellbeing of these children and young people.
“We are talking about some of the most vulnerable children in the country and when they are in the care of Oranga Tamariki they deserve the best protection and care possible. These figures reinforce the current system is failing and change is urgently required.
“The effects of child abuse and trauma is lifelong for the victims, and it impacts society at every level. We need to see change now.”
Child Matters is an independent child abuse advocacy and training provider and New Zealand’s only national charitable trust dedicated to the prevention of child abuse.
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• If you believe a child is in immediate danger the best thing to do is to call the Police on 111.
• If it's not immediate but you suspect a child may be in an unsafe environment, please contact Oranga Tamariki at contact@ot.govt.nz or phone 0508 326 459, lines are open 24/7.
