Children’s Minister Karen Chhour says it was “unacceptable” Oranga Tamariki didn’t inform her of a second abscondee linked to the Government’s bootcamp pilot she is leading.
It comes as two participants are still missing after absconding on Tuesday and Wednesday following the death of their fellow bootcamp participant last week.
Chhour told reporters she had delivered the message to Oranga Tamariki chief executive Andrew Bridgman in a meeting today, saying she was disappointed to be left out of the loop.
Chhour yesterday told the Herald she was aware one participant had absconded while attending the tangi of his fellow bootcamp participant on Tuesday.
However, Oranga Tamariki officials today revealed another participant’s whereabouts were unknown after leaving their whānau on Wednesday, one day after the tangi. One of those missing has allegedly reoffended since leaving the youth justice facility.
Chhour said she had spoken with Bridgman today, telling him it was “unacceptable” she was not informed of the second absconding incident.
Bridgman said he had apologised information reached the minister “too late”,claiming it was “just a simple mistake”.
”It’s a process issue, it’s pretty simple... it’s just a simple mistake. Information should have got to the minister, it’s a big bureaucracy of 4000 people.”
He refused to say when Oranga Tamariki became aware of the second absconding event.
Chhour, asked whether Bridgman understood the seriousness of the agency’s error, said: ”I have explained how I felt. I am not very happy at the moment with not having that information and that I do not want it to happen again and I have had an apology.”
She didn’t speculate on what might happen if Oranga Tamariki’s communication didn’t improve, reiterating her expectation it shouldn’t happen again.
Chhour also confirmed neither boy, both aged 15 years old, had been found. Police were involved in searching for the pair.
The pilot participants were released from the Palmerston North youth justice facility in October and had been in the community phase of the programme. That part of the scheme lasts nine months and involves the young men receiving mentoring.
One of those who absconded left a tangi being held for a fellow participant who had died. It was at a private residence with about 150 mourners present, Oranga Tamariki deputy chief executive Tusha Penny told reporters.
The young man was being escorted by two Oranga Tamariki staff members at the time, a condition of bail following a court appearance. This was the same participant identified in November as having allegedly reoffended after leaving the youth justice facility,
“It’s not ideal,” Penny said. “We’ve started a review to look at circumstances leading to that, and learn from any failings we have.”
The second youth, who absconded the day after the tangi, was meant to be with family, Penny said.
Oranga Tamariki is now working with police to locate the pair. Penny did not know if the teens were thought to be together.
She didn’t have specific concerns for their health and safety, but acknowledged the impact of the death of the other participant.
“A tragic death like this just doesn’t happen. It’s highly traumatic for these young boys. We want to find them. They need to have contact with their social worker, their mentor and their family.”
In a statement this afternoon, police confirmed officers were searching for the two 15-year-old boys — one for breaching conditions of his compassionate bail to attend this week’s tangi and the other for breaching conditions of their “supervision order”.
A spokeswoman said efforts to locate both boys were ongoing and police could not provide further information.
Chhour yesterday told the Herald she was aware of just one pilot participant absconding. A spokeswoman for Chhour this morning said the minister could only work with what information she was provided, noting how the situation was moving “very quickly”.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon did not comment on the matter when asked by the Herald, referring queries to Chhour.
The Opposition has repeated calls for the Government to shut down its boot camp “experiment”
“Today’s hearing did not instil any confidence that things are going to get better, with officials at pains to match the minister’s positive spin of a successful programme,” Labour’s children’s spokeswoman Willow-Jean Prime said. “We were even told that there will ‘absolutely’ be future offending.”
Prime said she wanted to acknowledge the death of one of the participants and “send my sincerest aroha to their family and loved ones”.
But she said it was also clear the Government had “lost control over their boot camps” and called for the Prime Minister to shut the scheme down. He told Stuff he would if any children were harmed in the academies.
That’s despite the Children’s Minister previously telling the Herald she won’t take any personal responsibility if there are any inappropriate actions in the boot camps.
During the select committee session, while under questioning from Prime, Penny acknowledged two of the pilot participants had been arrested with one set of the charges being withdrawn over the course of the programme.
Penny said the transition was still in its “early” stages”, it had been “tough”, and it will “keep being tough”, but she said, “we are not going to give up”.
“Do I think there will be future offending? Absolutely,” she said.
“It’s tough and I’m not stepping away from that. It’s really hard. But I reiterate the message, we’re not going to give up, and that was the commitment we gave to them and whānau.”
But Penny said there were also some bright points, such as one of the participants being in full-time employment, another in work experience, and others in education courses.
She shared the story of one participant who had begun saying, “I love you,” when speaking with his mother on the phone from a youth justice residence.
“I know this has been incredibly politicised ... I am not saying the whole thing has been successful ... I am not saying this is the panacea, I am not saying this is the answer, but I’m definitely saying what we are seeing could be an improvement for youth justice across the board with an operating model.”
The Government plans to make the military-style academy regime permanent through legislation that is working its way through Parliament currently.
One of the criticisms of the Government’s approach has been the lack of transparency around safeguards that will be introduced to protect the young people from use-of-force powers being granted to staff.
Those safeguards aren’t outlined in the legislation and will instead by introduced at a later date, though they will be needed before the legislation can become operational.
Green MP Tamatha Paul raised the lack of clarity about the safeguards during the select committee.
Nicolette Dickson, another Oranga Tamariki deputy chief executive, said those concerns would be “canvassed through the legislative process”.
“We are really focused on how we make our residences as safe as they possibly can be now and how do we put the right interventions in place that prevent children and young people escalating to the need for residential care.”
The Herald asked Penny and Oranga Tamariki acting chief executive Andrew Bridgman whether it was right to go ahead with the legislation before the pilot was completed.
Bridgman said that was the Government’s decision and “we are here to support the Government of the day”.
It was understood a pilot participant was the single fatality in a crash on Wednesday last week on State Highway 1 near Tīrau involving three vehicles, including a tourist bus, and which injured 14 others.
In a statement, Penny confirmed a participant had died “as a result of an accident” but gave no further details, citing a police investigation.
Police did not answer Herald questions about the incident.
Penny said Oranga Tamariki was offering support to the boy’s whānau. The agency was also conducting an investigation alongside police.
Chhour, who attended the boy’s tangi in a personal capacity, said she was shocked by the incident and referenced the devastation the pilot participants and staff would be feeling.
“They have a connection with this young man and it’d be quite devastating for them to go through this right now as well,” she said.
“I’d met this young man, I was proud of what he was trying to achieve and I felt like supporting the family was the right thing to do,” she said.
“I was very grateful for them allowing me to attend the funeral in support, especially for such a private and personal moment, to hear the stories and to hear how he was really proud of where he was going and what he was doing.
“The family was really proud of what they were seeing as well [which] was a bit of a comfort to hear that.”
Paul this morning shared an online post from abuse in state care survivor Tū Chapman that described the boy’s death “in the newly established bootcamps set up by this abusive Government”.
In a later statement, Paul said she hoped to amplify Chapman’s voice as an abuse survivor but noted the death occurred as a result of a car accident.
That post has been criticised by the children’s minister.
“It’s extremely disappointing that the Greens have chosen to politicise, and spread misinformation about, the tragic death of a young person,” Chhour said.
“This tragic accident is bigger than politics and Tamatha Paul should be ashamed of herself.”
Adam Pearse is a political reporter in the NZ Herald Press Gallery team, based at Parliament. He has worked for NZME since 2018, covering sport and health for the Northern Advocate in Whangārei before moving to the NZ Herald in Auckland, covering Covid-19 and crime.
Jamie Ensor is a political reporter in the NZ Herald Press Gallery team based at Parliament. He was previously a TV reporter and digital producer in the Newshub Press Gallery office.
The participant's death was unrelated to the pilot, according to Oranga Tamariki.