"Oranga Tamariki has lost trust and confidence"

Oranga Tamariki has just released a review of its secure facilities and community homes for youth and children. This followed allegations of inappropriate staff behaviour in June 2023. Shedding light on what drove such an incident:

"In the cases we heard of harmful behaviour, such as allegations about staff providing young people with vapes or other contraband, allowing inappropriate movies or standing by during fights, the prevailing driver was surviving the shift safely."

The report is damning and sad. Staff morale is clearly very low as they struggle with, amongst other challenges, 'review fatigue'. It would seem the only constant in their environment is change.

Like other front line agencies they do not have enough workers. Youth justice facilities should be able to take 171 residents but can only staff 133. Demand is increasing. While overall youth offending is declining, the seriousness is not and the report refers to an "uptick since 2022". Demand is forecast to rise to 225 in 2024.

Just under half of those in secure residences are aged 16-19 and three quarters of the youth justice residence population identify as Māori. Many have mental health challenges.

"...there appears to be a greater proportion of youth crime committed by so-called ‘life-course persistent’ criminals: chronic offenders whose anti-social behaviour is rooted in an early childhood of trauma and abuse, and who offend well into adulthood. This is a group whose offending is more entrenched and at the severe end of the spectrum."

Children and youth of different age cohorts - and reasons for admission - are getting mixed despite the practice being one that "should be avoided at all costs."

Staff are relatively unskilled in respect of the complex resident needs they face. Many are low-skilled and unqualified youth workers. They are "often left to interpret policies or make up processes and standard operating procedures for themselves." Their work environments are "dangerous". Bullying and harassment - which appears to not only flow between staff, but between staff and residents - is relatively common. The staffing structures are overly hierarchical with too much middle-management. The physical residences themselves are "tired" despite having been purpose built in the 1990s and early 2000s.

Some safety issues are created by legislation, for instance, "Because regulation prevents rangatahi from being locked in their rooms at night, children in a wing or dormitory can move between rooms if they want to (or are threatened). Along with blind spots, this creates an environment at high risk for sexual violence, assault, nighttime escapes and grooming in regard to gangs or higher end offending." Lack of radios, poor wi-fi, security camera blind-spots, old-fashioned keys, and smuggled contraband all contributed to increased danger for staff and residents.

All in all the residences feature a lack of leadership, clarity of purpose, transparency, accountability, trust, and fear of retaliation. The report paints a bleak picture.

Oranga Tamariki was established in 2017 and there have been several reviews since: "Taken together, the litany of reviews makes for confronting reading. They paint a picture of poor agency and system performance, sometimes at odds with Oranga Tamariki’s core mission of being child centred in all it does."

The current review is no less confronting. Middle-management are fatigued by the reviews and have lost faith. “Oranga Tamariki only ever reacts”, said one respondent, “and then generally in an ad hoc and panicked fashion.” “There is no time to embed changes”, said another, “because there is never a considered implementation plan, showing how all the pieces fit together.” Front-line staff are described as "overwhelmed by the constant parade of reviewers." One worker describes how the constant change is "... exhausting and, frankly, it's cynicism inducing."

In the last two years all Youth Justice residences have moved to adopt Māori values working in collaboration with Māori academics and Māori practitioners. There does not appear to be any direct criticism of this approach but the reviewers insist, " Ideologies, catch phrases and lists of projects are not a substitute for a properly considered strategy, operating model and outcomes framework for the secure residences and community home portfolio." A comprehensive reset is called for.

The many recommendations all sound energetic and purposeful but are far too numerous to summarise. I am afraid I got weary reading about what the reset would require and found myself sympathising deeply with those who will be tasked with its implementation. Once more into the breech.

Perhaps though this singular list of failure is just one of many that a new government will have to confront. In the following summation 'Oranga Tamariki' could reasonably be substituted with other public agency names:

"...Oranga Tamariki has lost trust and confidence: the trust of many in the community, of other agencies, of its tamariki and rangatahi, and in some cases, of its own staff."

Cultural indoctrination of the NZ Police

I asked my better half, "What is the job of the police?"  Quite quickly he responded, "Ultimately, to protect the community." That's not bad. I had toyed with, "To enforce law and order," but on reflection, some laws are 'an ass' and regarding 'order' police actions during the parliamentary protest remain controversial. Why am I grappling with this?

Today police spend much - if not most - of their time policing 'family harm' - a euphemism for violence perpetrated against partners and children. Their own annual report says family harm call-outs are the fastest growing type of which there are already almost 500 a day - a 47 percent increase on 2017 we are told.

To assist in their work Police are provided with handouts titled 'Colonisation ... destabilising a culture' and 'Urbanisation ... destabilising a culture'. After absorbing the hand-outs, the question is posed, 'Given what you have just learnt about colonisation,  do you believe Māori have their needs met in keeping with Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs?' One assumes the correct answer is 'no' (though it's kind of weird that an American psychologist's framework is used alongside the predictable and omnipresent call for tikanga values to dominate.)

Another diagram further explains how the historical trauma of colonisation worsens with each generation:

(Left click on image to enlarge)

A couple of decades ago this type of material would have sat unremarked in a reading list for a BA in sociology.  In fact, the source for the 'destabilising a culture' handouts is a PhD thesis written in 2001 by someone appearing European but citing their tribal credentials. Graduates and their 'learnings' have now firmly infiltrated public service agencies across the board.

But what is the takeaway for the police? That Maori perpetrators of family violence are themselves victims? That Maori perpetrators have no personal agency? How on earth can this belief be built into the practice of policing? It is clear how it has been built into the practice of administering justice - lenient sentencing with discounts for sympathetic cultural reports. Perhaps the same teaching discourages police from even delivering offenders for the proverbial wet bus ticket.

As usual I have more questions than answers not least of which is, given half of those convicted of family violence offences are NOT Maori, what's their excuse??

Never mind. I think New Zealanders are sick and tired of hearing excuses of any hue. We are compassionate people but increasingly reserving our sympathy for the real victims - the robbed, the raped, the murdered. Many though are getting particularly angry at being blamed by dint of ancestry for past colonial misdeeds that give present licence to thugs.

In respect of the police handouts about colonisation and urbanisation, it was Maori who enslaved Maori - not Europeans. No-one forced Maori into the cities. They went in search of jobs, money and excitement. And guess what? Most grabbed the opportunities, along with partners from other races, and became wealthier and happier. Just as their co-inhabitants and more recent immigrants were doing. My parents arrived in NZ in the sixties with meagre savings - no better off than newly urbanised Maori. But they found jobs and made their way. They weren't wallowing in the fact that their parents and grandparents had worked in coal mines or scavenged. But they both have memories of bitterly unhappy and arguing fathers and mothers the experience of which they resolved to never subject their own children to.

The police propaganda doesn't explain that most people learn from adversity. That it is beholden on them to do so.

The police propaganda examines family harm and delivers a faulty diagnosis: that Maori offenders have no free will. That their actions are determined by past circumstances beyond their control. We can but await the sixth, seventh and eighth generations of violent offenders.

I'm not buying it. Blame must be laid, in the first instance, at the feet of family violence perpetrators. The principles of personal agency and responsibility must be paramount. On what other basis can an effective policing system operate? No purpose is served by sending police into volatile and dangerous situations with heads full of guilt about their colonial past.

If that was a successful strategy then family harm incidents would be declining. Not the opposite.

What's happening to at-risk children?

Police recorded 175,573 family harm investigations in the June year 2021/22 – a 47% increase from 2017.  That’s just under 500 a day. Children are present at around half. 

According to the latest NZ Police Annual report, "Assault on a person in a family relationship now represents around 66% of reported serious assaults and family harm calls for service are increasing at greater rates than others."

Police manuals repeatedly stress the critical importance of ensuring the safety of children present at a family harm incident. 

This all creates an expectation that reports to Oranga Tamariki (formerly CYF) would follow suit. They don’t. In fact, Reports of Concern (ROC) from ‘Police-Family Violence’ fell between 2017/18 and 2021/22 from 7,455 to 1,013. Unsurprisingly entries into care (whereby a child’s situation is deemed dangerous enough to place him or her under the guardianship of the state) follow the same trend:

When asked why reports from Police-Family Violence to Oranga Tamariki had fallen so sharply OT responded:

“A number of new cross-agency collaborations have been set up to triage and respond to episodes of family harm, such as Integrated Safety Response in Canterbury and the Waikato, and the Multi-Disciplinary Cross-Agency Team in South Auckland. This has been coupled with evolving practices within existing family violence inter-agency response models. These initiatives and changes are likely to have contributed to the decrease in Police family harm reports of concern since 2017/2018 by ensuring the response is directed to the right agency or NGO quickly, which in many cases negates the need for a report of concern to Oranga Tamariki.”   

Oranga Tamariki suggested that I might, “also wish to enquire with the Police, who may be able to provide additional insights into the reduction in family harm related reports of concern."

The response from Police was similar in that “procedural changes” were primarily offered as reasons for the statistical drop. It would appear that “safety triage” meetings now occur before a report of concern is made, if at all. Oranga Tamariki might or might not attend these meetings. The next reason was rather more definitive though.

“Police previously had the ability to generate a ROC either on a Police desktop, or a button function within the 5F application for reporting Family Harm on Police mobile phones. The button within the 5F application was removed in 2019 for several reasons, mainly the procedural shift mentioned above.”

This rather begs the question, why was it there in the first place? To assist and ensure quick and certain action on the part of Police? Is it better to over-report than under-report?

Questions aside, on their own, changed procedures tell us nothing about what’s actually happening to at-risk children's outcomes.

Then earlier this week Oranga Tamariki published a chart at their website showing that the number of children and young people subjected to acts intended to cause injury have increased over recent years.

Once again flags are raised.

I’m not alone in asking questions of Oranga Tamariki. A Stuff reporter was dismayed that even OT's chief social worker could not tell him how many children have died from abuse or neglect since 2019. He describes Stuff’s coverage of “three child homicide trials in the past few months – in the Auckland courts alone.”

In fact, the best source of statistics for child deaths from abuse or neglect is the Family Violence Death Review Committee (FVDRC) – not Oranga Tamariki. But their data dissemination also leaves a lot to be desired. Deaths from 2021 will not be available until December 2023 and then the data must be requested. In the introduction to their Seventh Report the chair of the committee acknowledges a "continued move away from reporting statistics". When I queried this and asked for an alternative source, the following answer returned:

"The FVDRC decided to move away from data reports as there were a number of tables with empty cells, limiting the conclusions which could be drawn."

I find this very disconcerting. Data can always be released with caveats and cautions.

And like Oranga Tamariki, the Health Safety and Quality Commission (which oversees FVDRC) suggested I refer to police data. No surprises to find that extends only to 2020. Around in circles we go again.

New Zealanders want to have trust in the Police, Oranga Tamariki and associated entities, but when sets of data seem so glaringly at odds – or hidden from view - it is difficult to maintain confidence in any of the institutions.

There is ample evidence – including from the Police themselves – that family violence is increasing. Consider that the National Gang List, “increased from 4,361 in February 2016 to 7,722 in April 2022 with the majority Māori. Figures increased in all Police Districts except for Northland.”The Ministry of Social Development has previously revealed that, “Almost half of the serious offences committed by gang members are family violence-related. A high proportion of gang members’ children experience multiple incidents of abuse or neglect.”

Yet when I asked Oranga Tamariki to provide “any documents” that relate to referenced parliamentary research papers detailing increasing gang membership the answer came back:

“Oranga Tamariki does not hold any information within scope of this part of your request, therefore this part of your request is refused under section 18(e) of the Act.”

That New Zealand’s primary child protection agency is paying no attention to the growth in gangs is also surprising and disturbing.

The dwindling number of children being notified to and put under the oversight of Oranga Tamariki worryingly resembles the falling prison population which looks good on paper but comes with consequences, some of them, as we have witnessed, quite appalling. The Auckland murders of two construction site workers couldn’t have happened if the perpetrator’s sentence had not been discounted away from one served in prison to a stint on home detention.

One final question. Is it a coincidence that ‘Corrections’ and ‘Children’ share the same Minister?