Oranga Tamariki staff did wrong and face losing jobs - Davis

Thursday, 1 July 2021

Children's Commissioner Andrew Becroft discusses his feelings about Oranga Tamariki's care and protection units. (First published in July 2021)

Children's Minister Kelvin Davis has stopped short of saying abuse that closed an Oranga Tamariki residence is systemic, but says the future of staff involved is 'up in the air'.

Davis said chief executive Sir Wira Gardiner had made the right decision in temporarily shutting the facility down after footage emerged of a young person being tackled and held in a headlock.

'I back him 100 per cent. There were a number of factors that fed into him making that decision, and it was the right one to make … I support him in making that decision.'

He would not be surprised if there was more such abuse, he said, but stopped short of saying it was systemic.

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'That's why there is an investigation going on - a police investigation, so I am limited in what can be said … I wouldn't say systemic child abuse, I would say there are some people who aren't living up to the standards that the country would expect.'

Oranga Tamariki chief executive Sir Wira Gardiner and pou tikanga (cultural leader) Doug Hauraki announce the closure of Te Oranga in Christchurch. (Video first published in July 2021)

All staff were stood down on full pay while investigations were completed.

Davis said their circumstances were being worked through individually, and they were being supported by their unions. Those who had been doing a good job could be redeployed elsewhere, he said.

'Some staff members did do something wrong.

'Those people who haven't been doing a good job or haven't met the standards that Oranga Tamariki or myself as minister and Sir Wira Gardiner as the CE, their futures are up in the air.'

He said the organisation's processes needed to be followed, and they would be looking into whether staff needed more training.

'I think given the nature of the issues that these children have … it needs to be more intensive.'

New staff will be bought in to help move the roughly 10 children at the unit to other accommodation. Davis said the welfare of the children was top of mind, and it would depend on their circumstances where they ended up.

Oranga Tamariki Chief Executive Sir Wira Gardiner (left) had made the decision to temporarily shut down the facility after footage emerged of a young person being tackled and held in a headlock.

Children's Commissioner Judge Becroft has been calling for all the facilities to be closed since 2017, and told Midday Report he was overjoyed at the move.

'I'm moved, I'm genuinely reassured. This is the right thing to do, it will be better for New Zealand's most, I guess, challenged children.

He said the video, sadly, had not been a surprise to him.

'As the monitor who was regularly in the residences we were hearing this from children and young people reasonably regularly … they talked about carpet burns, grazes, cuts.

'It's part in a sense of a wider problem, which was the way these residences are configured as concrete institutions that have grouped together children from the most challenging backgrounds, usually with under-trained front-line staff.

'It's an old-fashioned model that we've got to ditch … and do the same with the other care and protection residences.'

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern also backed Gardiner’s move, saying she had seen the footage the day it came out and that it was 'utterly unacceptable'.

'I can't imagine any social worker watching that footage would have thought that it was acceptable either.

'What we've seen to date is sufficient to demonstrate that rapid change is required'.

She said what had happened was 'clearly wrong', but she supported moves to understand how it happened.

The Government planned to eventually do away with such residences, she said.

'Our job is to keep those children and young people safe … our goal though is to do away with and not be using those kinds of facilities in the future.

'For now obviously those places need to be created before those young people can be moved into them.'

Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson also supported Gardiner’s move, saying it was swift action.

'It was completely devastating to watch the assault that happened to that young person,' she said.

'The person who blew the whistle was really clear, those children have been removed from situations that are violent and then that violence is repeated … this is completely absurd.'

She said the party wanted to see the facilities shut down fast, and ensure independent monitoring was applied in care and protection places.

'We're really concerned about the independent monitoring being kept within agency and within government. We've always been really clear that we need to get a proper handle on what on earth is happening in those places.

'I understand the rest of the centres are going to be shut down, and I think the quicker they can be shut down [the better] but being mindful of where those young people go.'

Oranga Tamariki will decide if the residence will re-open once investigations are completed.