Employment action taken against Oranga Tamariki residential staff after grievances upheld

Tuesday, 24 September 2019

Children and young people in state residential care can lodge grievances about the facility they are placed in and between July 2016 and June 2019, 1463 were made. (File Photo - please note this was not taken at any residential facility)

Residential staff hired by Oranga Tamariki to take care of some of the nation's most vulnerable youth have faced formal employment action after grievances regarding their workplace conduct were upheld.

But the general manager of its youth justice residential services says the number of grievances lodged is illustrative of improvements made in terms of making it easier for young people to come forward with their concerns and the human resources action taken against staff is an example of its zero tolerance approach to those who stray away from best practice.

Between July 2016 to June 2019, a total of 1463 grievances were lodged by children and young people staying at the nine residences (care and protection and youth justice), which are run by Oranga Tamariki.

Of the grievances tabled, 544 were justified.

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The bulk of those upheld - 272 - related to complaints regarding staff behaviour, which was classified under three categories: physical, verbal or other, the latter being the most common.

'Other' related to any staff action, judgement or decision a resident was unhappy about but did not include allegations of sexual abuse as the grievance process did not deal with that issue.

A common complaint classified as 'other' was a young person's belief they had been unfairly treated.

The information, released under the Official Information Act, shows that as a consequence of 78 justified grievances involving staff, formal human resources management processes were enacted.

A formal process was initiated if a serious allegation or complaint was related to performance or practice misconduct, which could result in a variety of outcomes, including dismissal.

However, a request to find out if any staff had been fired as a result of formal process being initiated following a grievance was not answered immediately by Oranga Tamariki and would instead be considered by another OIA request.

An informal process dealt with 212 of the staff-related grievances and in these instances, discussions between staff and management were held in order to come to a resolution.

In the three-year period, 94 justified grievances were recorded relating to the behaviour of other residents in the facilities and a further 178 regarding general issues, including food and property.

Overall, there had been a consistent drop in both the total number of grievances, and those upheld, in the country's five care and protection residences.

In the 2016/17 reporting period, there were a total of 480 grievances, with 133 listed as justified.

Two years later, a total of 138 grievances were lodged, with 63 upheld.

However it was the opposite trend in the four youth justice facilities.

Between 2016/17, 158 grievances were made, with 65 recorded as justified. In the 2018/19 period, there was a total of 273 grievances, with 119 upheld.

Grievances have been lodged against Oranga Tamariki staff by the very children and young people they are meant to be looking after. (File Photo)

Ben Hannifin, general manager of youth justice residences, including community-based remand homes, said there had been a clear expectation to improve the experiences of young people while in residential care.

While he could only comment on progress towards that within the youth justice context, Hannifin believed it was the positive progress made in that regard which accounted for the upward trend of grievances being lodged in the facilities he was responsible for managing.

He said young people felt more comfortable about coming forward as they believed they would be listened to.

He said the residential environment can been 'challenging' in terms of some of the behaviours exhibited by the young people but he credited the 600 staff employed in youth justice residences for their work.

'They are an absolute key asset.'

However, when issues did arise, Hannifin said they were dealt with seriously.

'We have to have a zero tolerance to anything but best practice.'

He said along with the accountability mechanisms in place within residences, the units were also opened up for scrutiny from external agencies, including independent advocacy service Voyce - Whakarongo Mai.

In the written response to the OIA, Oranga Tamariki general manager of public, ministerial and executive services Steve Groom said two new legislative changes, which came into force in July, were focused on the feedback management system.

The first was to ensure complaint mechanisms were timely and fair and also that Oranga Tamariki policies and services were informed by the outcome of investigations.