Children's Commissioner's report labels youth justice and child protection homes 'prison-like'

Sunday, 14 May 2017

A room at an unnamed boys' youth justice facility, criticised for its 'prison-like' appearance in the Office of the Children's Commissioner's State of Care report.

A new report calls New Zealand's children's homes and youth justice residences 'outdated, prison-like and bleak'.

But the facilities are set for a revamp under the guidance of a new ministry, which says it is already cleaning them up.

Allegations of fightclubs, bullying and assaults on youth by staff at a youth justice residence have emerged in a report by the Children's Commissioner.

The State of Care report, released on Monday, highlighted concerns ranging from youths escaping from justice residences, to bullying, allegations of fight clubs, and an incident where young people were locked in their rooms at a care facility because of a staffing shortage.

A single allegation of fight clubs and staff punching youths at an unidentified facility was unable to be substantiated by the report's inspectors.

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But the inspections, carried out by the Office of the Children's Commissioner, also noted a widespread 'snitches get stitches' mentality at the state care and youth detention facilities, which hindered authorities' efforts to create whistleblowing systems.

A time-out room at a girls' youth justice residence, which the young women were allowed to decorate themselves and which was praised in the report for creating a friendly environment.

Seven of the country's nine Oranga Tamariki (Ministry for Vulnerable Children) youth justice and care and protection residences were inspected. The report praised the improvement in the standard of the facilities, and their programmes – but also found the progress uneven.

The inspectors found no evidence of systemic abuse or human rights violations – but there was room for improvement, Children's Commissioner Judge Andrew Becroft said on Sunday.

'They are the mothers and fathers of the next generation and we have an opportunity to turn their lives around. The current environment doesn't optimise that.'

Oranga Tamariki chief executive Grainne Moss said on Sunday that she shared the commissioner's vision of a future where the present large-scale homes would be scrapped in favour of a greater number of smaller, more targeted facilities nationwide – with some potentially iwi-run.

'In five years' time I would want to see some alternatives.'

The limited number of large homes can mean youths are taken far from whanau and social networks.

Becroft said he had heard of cases of children from Whangarei unable to be placed a full Auckland facility and having to be transferred to Christchurch instead – which was 'not ideal'.

The report also expressed concern that youths with different needs were mismatched in the facilities – teens with neurodisabilities were sharing a home with peers with addiction problems, and the high turnover of youths on remand was disrupting those serving sentences.

It also criticised the standard of some facilities. At one care and protection home, the intercom system and call buttons were not working properly, meaning young people had to wave their arms or bang on doors to get staff attention.

The graffiti at one home led to a youth commenting that it made them feel like they were living in a 'mental unit', the report said.

Recommendations included the Office of the Children's Commissioner being allowed to monitor the facilities twice-yearly, instead of the current annually to 18-monthly.

Becroft said he also wanted the homes to become more culturally responsive to Maori, who remained disproportionately represented in youth justice residences.

Today's facilities were an improvement on the children's homes of the past – currently subject to widespread claims of historical abuse. But it would be 'Pollyanna-ish' to assume there were no longer abuses in the state care system, he said.

Moss said the ministry was working to make the residences more culturally responsive, and a friendly, family-like environment where youths could get the support they needed.

'We are dealing with kids with complex needs who have suffered significant trauma and so we want to establish a new way of structuring our residential care to separate those with different needs; for example, those who have been sentenced and those with specific issues such as mental health or drug problems.'

The next step was to recruit and train specialist foster carers and find the right settings, as well as look at expanding transition to work and independence programmes nationally, Moss said.