“We had two of our kaimahi who simply have just driven kids with special needs around town because they can’t go into the special school they need to go to and there's no funding. [There is] no-one to pay for the schooling.” - leadership, NGO
We met with 432 people in the community in February 2024. This included 47 and , 21 , 19 caregivers (whānau and non whānau), 49 kaimahi from kaupapa Māori / organisations / strategic partners, 80 Oranga Tamariki kaimahi, 10 Open Home Foundation kaimahi, 51 Police kaimahi, 47 kaimahi from other government agencies, 70 kaimahi from non-government organisations and 38 kaimahi working in group homes.
Read the summary of our findings by downloading the PDF or reading the content below.
12,984 have had a report of concern about their safety or wellbeing
9,528 are receiving some form of intervention from Oranga Tamariki (as the outcome of a report of concern)
9,789 are involved with Police for offending behaviour**
1,543 are in custody of Oranga Tamariki
1,338 are in care and protection orders
205 are on youth justice orders
2,667have previously been in care and have left care (postcare)*
* Total population and post-care includes ages 0-20 and comes from 2021 IDI data, all other data has been provided by Oranga Tamariki for November 2022 – October 2023
** Data provided by New Zealand Police for March 2023 - February 2024
Multi-disciplinary cross agency initiatives are making a difference by providing timely, wraparound support for , and .
Poor information sharing by government agencies can delay tamariki and whānau getting the support they need.
Tamariki and rangatahi struggle to access specialist education support due to lack of capacity in services, high eligibility thresholds and tension between agencies about funding responsibilities.
Disagreement between agencies about the content of youth justice family group conference plans can lead to police overriding plans in court.
A shortage of secure placements and communication between Police and Oranga Tamariki can mean rangatahi are often detained in cells overnight.
“We had two of our kaimahi who simply have just driven kids with special needs around town because they can’t go into the special school they need to go to and there's no funding. [There is] no-one to pay for the schooling.” - leadership, NGO
“When a social worker is saying ‘can we have a professional’s , we want everyone aware of the history, the story’, when that happens, there are more conducive outcomes for the family.” - school leadership
"I feel great about it [Kotahi Te Whakaaro]. They [agencies] are giving me options of sports and different things while taking my mind off the things I used to do. It’s working now as I think stealing is just an idiot move now.” -
“The police officer said [the FGC plan was] ‘not good enough’ and changed everything. [The police officer] had made his own decision on the plan, so what is the use of having an FGC if the police will override the decision of many and change the plan all by himself?” - NGO kaimahi
These statistics1 compare outcomes for and who are at risk of being involved, are currently or were previously involved with Oranga Tamariki, with other tamariki and rangatahi in the region (rest of region2). This group is considered a priority under the Oranga Tamariki Action Plan (OTAP).
| OTAP Regional | OTAP National | Other Regional | |
|---|---|---|---|
| ED admission in the last year3 | 14% | 18% | 11% |
| Potentially avoidable hospitalisation in the last year3 | 2% | 3% | 1.6% |
| Truancy days in the last year4 | 11% | 9% | 1% |
| Two or more school changes over the last year4 | 0.7% | 0.9% | 0.1% |
| NCEA Level 2 or higher (14–17 years old)5 | 65% | 64% | 83% |
1 These results are not official statistics. They have been created for research purposes from the Integrated Data Infrastructure (IDI) which is carefully managed by Stats NZ. For more information about the IDI please visit https://www.stats.govt.nz/integrated-data/. Statistics are taken from the most recent (June 2021) dataset.
2 This excludes tamariki and rangatahi who had early risk factors in the past and over 18-year-olds who were
previously known to Oranga Tamariki but not in care.
3 0-17 year olds
4 5-17 year olds
5 OTAP includes rangatahi who had early risk factors in the past and over 18-year-olds who were previously known to Oranga Tamariki but not in care.
12% of and in care are in short term placements with community care providers. The national average is 7%.
78% of tamariki and rangatahi in care had a social worker visit in the last eight weeks. The national average is 77%.
16% of tamariki and rangatahi in youth justice custody had a social worker visit in the same period, compared to the national average of 15%.
11 is the average number of social workers tamariki and rangatahi in care have over their entire care experience. The national average is 10.
66 working days is the average time it took to close a complaint in . This is almost twice as long as the Oranga Tamariki practice requirement of resolving complaints within 35 working days.