Oranga Tamariki’s $1000 KFC bill after roof stand-off incidents at Korowai Manaaki, Te Puna Wai o Tuhinapo

Oranga Tamariki has confirmed it spent over $1000 on KFC in the space of a week across two incidents involving young people on the roofs of youth facilities.

The figure, released under the Official Information Act, included $846 spent on McDonald’s and KFC after the 24 hours youths at Korowai Manaaki were camped out on the roof in early July this year.

The agency said young people involved in the roof-top incident, as well as Oranga Tamariki staff, police and other emergency personnel involved were provided with the takeaways.

A further $268.50 was spent the week prior when young people involved in a similar incident at Te Puna Wai o Tuhinapo were also provided with McDonald’s and KFC.

Oranga Tamariki residences and community homes deputy chief executive Mike Bush told the Herald the 24-hour roof-top incident at Korowai Manaaki posed a significant risk to staff, emergency services and young people.

“Our staff needed to act in the interest of safety and security. Negotiating the young people off the roof using appropriate tools was a priority.

“It is worth remembering that there were other young people in the residence when this occurred. We had a responsibility to ensure they were able to resume normal activities as quickly as possible.”

He said the takeaways were distributed between the individuals on the roof, staff and emergency services personnel that were present during the incident.

“In this situation the risk to safety and property outweighed the cost of takeaways. I am comfortable with the way Oranga Tamariki handled the incident at Korowai Manaaki.”

The OIA response said providing takeaways was a long-standing practice at the residences and the exact nature of this varied across the five residences.

It said takeaways may be provided to mark significant events like Christmas and may be provided during family visits.