Children’s Minister Kelvin Davis says Oranga Tamariki care and protection residences are on way out

Children’s Minister Kelvin Davis says he agrees with the Children’s Commissioner that care and protection residences need to be shut down “sooner than later”.

It comes after allegations of sexual misconduct at two Oranga Tamariki residences involving two staff and at least five young people, sparking police investigations and wider reviews of the facilities.

The Government has also defended changes to the oversight of Oranga Tamariki facilities, including taking sole responsibility away from the independent Children’s Commissioner, which critics say means young people will feel less comfortable coming forward with complaints.

Social Development Minister Carmel Sepuloni said the Children’s Commissioner would continue to conduct visits and retain its advocacy role, albeit in a different form, while the new Independent Children’s Monitor would add another layer of oversight.

This meant there were “more eyes and ears” in these facilities, she said.

Opposition MPs and children advocates, however, are not convinced and say even if the new monitor is independent, not having the advocacy role of the current Children’s Commissioner means children and young people might not feel as comfortable and trusting to come forward with issues.

The first incident occurred at a care and protection residence and was reported to Davis and Oranga Tamariki chief executive Chappie Te Kani on June 8.

The second only came to light after an unannounced visit by the office of Children’s Commissioner Judge Frances Eivers to a youth justice residence, who said she was relieved to see immediate action but repeated calls for such residences to be shut down and replaced with a system “that’s fit for purpose”.

Issues at that residence had already been raised by the commission in 2021 and again in 2022 in a follow-up visit that found “limited to no progress made on the recommendations”. It reported high numbers of assaults on staff and mokopuna, safety issues for staff and children, and breaches of rights under Article 3 of the UN Convention to the Rights of the Child.

It also found staff had witnessed breaches in the Oranga Tamariki Code of Conduct regarding professional practice, boundaries and staff conduct.

“We were told of examples that included contraband being brought into the unit for mokopuna to use - cellphones and vapes - allowing access to social media, threats of physical violence if mokopuna did not behave and inappropriate language between staff and to mokopuna.

“We witnessed conversations whereby staff mentioned ‘hot dates’, which prompted inappropriate language and questions from mokopuna.

“Currently very few staff model pro-social behaviour, conversations and attitudes.

“Mokopuna do not respect staff or their environment with staff suggesting that mokopuna are the ones who run the units.”

Some staff even reported feeling so unsafe they wanted helmets, arm guards and riot shields on site.

Green Party MP Jan Logie said the fact the latest incident only came to light after Eivers’ visit highlighted concerns about “splintering of oversight and the removal of the multiple roles of protection from the Office of the Children’s Commissioner”.

“The Children’s Commissioner, again and again, we’ve been told is trusted by whānau and our kids.

“We’ve seen here, if we are to ensure that there’s a protection and a backup and that we do not ever get into a situation where the royal commission is examining at the moment of the failure to protect and take action when harm has been done, we need trusted people and we need our system to be set up around the people that our children tell us they trust, that our whānau tell us they trust.

“And so this feels to me as if it is more evidence about us needing to relook at that policy.”

Under the new law, from May the main oversight of Oranga Tamariki has become the responsibility of the Independent Children’s Monitor.

The monitor while independent is hosted by the Education Review Office, a government department, and the Ombudsman now has additional powers along with investigating and making recommendations as previously.

The monitor’s focus will be on monitoring Oranga Tamariki but will not act in the same child advocacy manner as the Children’s Commission.

The Children’s Commission will be replaced on July 1 by the new Children and Young People’s Commission and continue its own monitoring under the United Nations Optional Protocol on the Convention Against Torture for the Ministry of Justice.

The commission will have a new Chief Children’s Commissioner, understood to be announced next week.

Independent Children’s Monitor chief executive Arran Jones told the Herald they would be conducting visits and working with the new commission.

Where they would differ to the commission was that they would be focusing on presenting impartial information, whereas the commission would continue its advocacy role.

“Ultimately there will be more people listening, and that has to be a good thing.”

Davis was also asked about the future of such residences, stating care and protection residences were on their way out and shifting towards community-based models.

“So there are two types of residences: a youth justice residence is where children and young people who have committed crimes go to; then there are care and protection residences, which Oranga Tamariki is in a process of transferring out of.

“There are seven five-bedroom community-based residences planned to be built, but this all takes time—not just to build the residences but also the model of care that’s needed, which will be different.

“So it just takes time; I’d like it to happen sooner rather than later, but it is starting to happen.”