Family lawyer on Oranga Tamariki uplifts: Widespread trauma and misery

The lawyer for the family in the Hawke's Bay baby-uplift case has been so inundated with traumatised Oranga Tamariki clients that she is calling it a "humanitarian disaster".

Janet Mason told the Herald she has had to start turning away clients because so many had contacted her in wake of a damning review into Oranga Tamariki's handling of a case involving a 6-day-old baby and his young mother in Hastings.

"We just have not had the capacity to take them on," Mason said.

"At a guess we have about 20 odd-clients who we are acting for in this category.

"The information I have received from clients and talking to others involved in these reviews is that the problems are widespread, and the trauma and misery caused is such that calling it a humanitarian disaster would be well warranted."

READ MORE:
• Damning Oranga Tamariki review: Gaps in the work, poor consultation and relationships
• Punched, struck, kicked: Assaults on Oranga Tamariki staff increase
• Premium - Comment: Oranga Tamariki boss pledges openness and honesty, then undercuts herself
• Premium - Sexual grooming former Oranga Tamariki social worker sentenced to home detention

Mason said many of the clients were involved in without-notice uplifts, which is what happened in the Hastings case.

"They are similar to the Hastings case in that the circumstances at the time did not, in my opinion, justify the harsh response of a without notice uplift.

"In addition we have numerous anecdotal reports of unjustified uplifts."

She said the legality of Oranga Tamariki's actions would be tested in the Waitangi Tribunal Inquiry, the Family Courts, and the High Court in due course.

Her comments follow the release yesterday of an internal review into the agency's handling of the Hastings case in May.

The review showed that Oranga Tamariki relied too much on historical information, did not do enough to find out about the family's current situation, and failed to build relationships with the baby's mother and father.

It made a number of recommendations, which have all been accepted, to increase family consultation and oversight of decisions to move children away from families and into state care.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said Oranga Tamariki had failed to follow its own policies.

"That is obviously very disappointing," she told reporters this morning.

"There are no excuses to be made here. What happened in this case was found to be against the policies and processes of Oranga Tamariki,

"That's absolutely why we have needed that additional investment in Oranga Tamariki."

This year's Budget put substantial money towards child wellbeing, including $524 million to implement the new National Care Standards, increase the number of social workers, and provide care packages to every child in state care.

Minister for Children Tracey Martin said the investment was part of the package to address systemic problems with Child, Youth and Family, the predecessor to Oranga Tamariki.

Asked how widespread the issues were, Martin said a paper-based review had not indicated wider problems.

The review, done by the Chief Social Worker's unit at Oranga Tamariki, looked at 153 out of 309 cases in the two years to June 2019. They were cases involving babies less than 1 month old.

It showed there were no other cases like the Hawke's Bay case, but Martin added this did not necessarily mean it was an isolated incident.

Oranga Tamariki chief executive Grainne Moss said Oranga Tamariki was open to hearing further complaints, which would be investigated independently.

But Mason said the paper-based review was not independent.

She welcomed Oranga Tamariki's acceptance that mistakes had been made, which she said was a stark contrast to the initial response to Newsroom's story about the Hastings case in June.

"You will recall after the first documentary was released there were views expressed that those of us involved were undertaking irresponsible journalism, and irresponsible lawyering, such was the hostility and the denial from the relevant agencies and those supporting them.

"Recall the strenuous PR efforts of Oranga Tamariki and politicians saying that there was nothing wrong with Oranga Tamariki processes.

"The fact that they have done an about-turn with this particular case is welcomed and we are happy with that, but there is a long, long way to go."

Both Moss and Martin have mentioned how the Newsroom clip was made from about 40 hours of footage. Moss called it a "significant misrepresentation" in the days after its release.

Moss did not resile from those comments when asked about them yesterday.

Martin also did not think her comments about the video warranted an apology.

"I don't believe an apology is required. I personally won't ever accept that trial by social media is the way to do care and protection in this country," Martin told Morning Report.

Moss apologised to the Hastings family yesterday and offered to make an apology in person to the mother and father.

But Mason said apologies should have been offered to some of the workers involved in the case.

"This includes the midwives, who raised the issues. They were locked out of the hospital and their swipe cards were disabled, and they were made to look unprofessional and aggressive.

"[Newsroom journalist] Melanie Reid was also subjected to attacks and criticisms of irresponsible journalism. Lastly, I was subjected to threats of contempt of court proceedings from the Oranga Tamariki lawyers at the time."