“[I needed mental health support for] well over a year … That was huge for me. [I] called every psychologist just to hear no new clients. Even just to go privately, I knew OT carried weight, I shouldn’t have to stamp my feet.” -
We met with 361people in the Taranaki Manawatū community in September 2023. This included 42 and , 14 , 28 caregivers (whānau and non whānau), 17 representatives from kaupapa Māori / organisations / strategic partners, 115 Oranga Tamariki kaimahi, 12 Open Home Foundation kaimahi, 56 Police kaimahi, 49 representatives from other government agencies, and 28 representatives from non-government organisations.
Read the summary of our findings by downloading the PDF or reading the content below.
4,385 have had a report of concern about their safety or wellbeing
2,645 are receiving some form of intervention from Oranga Tamariki or a community provider (such as family group conference plans or support services)
4,569 are receiving youth justice services (from Police and/or Oranga Tamariki)
520 are in custody and care
470 are in care and protection
50 are in youth justice
771 have left care and are eligible for post-care* services
* Post-care includes ages 0-20 and comes from 2021 IDI data. All other data has been provided by Oranga Tamariki for May 2022 – April 2023.
social services and spend quality time with to understand their needs and enable their voice to be heard in plans and
decisions.
Multi-agency partnerships support better outcomes for tamariki and , however improved communication between these agencies is needed to support some tamariki to re-engage in education.
Tamariki and rangatahi struggle to access specialist health services, including mental health, disability services, and addiction support due to lack of services and long waitlists.
The responsibility to implement the Oranga Tamariki Action Plan needs to be shared between all agencies involved in the plan.
“[I needed mental health support for] well over a year … That was huge for me. [I] called every psychologist just to hear no new clients. Even just to go privately, I knew OT carried weight, I shouldn’t have to stamp my feet.” -
“If the kids are chucked on a short course with Te Kura, it looks like they’re engaged, but it’s not enough. It looks they're engaged, but they’re not. By the time it gets back to us, some of them have not been engaged for over a year.” - NGO kaimahi
“[OTAP is] hard to navigate because you’re told these services need to pick up on it but you’re sitting with this young person who needs this service but nothing is happening. So I have to do something else myself to make this happen, so we end up rescuing because services are pushing back and we end up scrambling”. - Oranga Tamariki kaimahi
These statistics1 compare outcomes for and in Oranga Tamariki Action Plan priority populations (OTAP) to all other tamariki and rangatahi in the region (other).
| OTAP Regional | OTAP National | Other Regional | |
|---|---|---|---|
| ED admission in the last year2 | 20% | 19% | 15% |
| Potentially avoidable hospitalization in the last year2 | 3% | 3% | 2% |
| Truancy days in the last year3 | 7% | 9% | 1% |
| Two or more school changes over the last year3 | 1.2% | 0.9% | 0.2% |
| NCEA Level 2 or higher (14–20 years old) | 13% | 14% | 45% |
| 18-20 year olds NEET4 for more than half of previous year | 76% | 75% | 45% |
1 These results are not official statistics. They have been created for research purposes from the Integrated Data Infrastructure (IDI) which is carefully managed by Stats NZ. For more information about the IDI please visit https://www.stats.govt.nz/integrated-data/. Statistics are taken from the most recent (June 2021) dataset.
2 0-20 year olds
3 5-17 year olds
4 Not in Employment, Education, or Training (NEET)
46% of and are in /family care placements and 22% are in non-kin care placements.
The national average for whānau/family care is 39% and non-kin care is 16%.
This is also reflected in the low percentage of tamariki placed in bednights through child and family support services; 4% compared to 10% nationally.
1/3 of the tamariki care placements made by Oranga Tamariki Whānau Care partners are in the Taranaki Manawatū region.
19% of tamariki and rangatahi in care in the region have an identified disability.
The national average for tamariki and rangatahi in care is 15%
69% of eligible rangatahi in the region were referred to the transition support service between 12 and 36 months ago. 12% of eligible rangatahi were offered and declined to work with a Transition Support service within that time.