The presence of manaakitanga is fundamental to developing relationships that recognise, respect and enhance the 1 of and and their . These relationships are safe, trusting and nurturing, and help to empower individuals and communities.
Manaakitanga is achieved when tamariki and rangatahi have positive reciprocal relationships based on genuine care, generosity and respect, and when parents, caregivers and whānau have what they need to meet the needs of tamariki.
Under the , all tamariki and rangatahi who come into care must receive a needs assessment, which in turn informs a plan that sets out actions to address their needs. Caregivers must also have a plan that sets out how they will be supported to meet the needs of the tamariki in their care.
This year we saw improvements in needs assessments for both Oranga Tamariki and the Open Home Foundation. Oranga Tamariki data also shows it is taking greater account of the views of professionals in its planning. However, we continue to hear that services to meet identified needs are not universally delivered. Oranga Tamariki case file analysis currently measures whether plans were completed or updated within the past 12 months, as opposed to the “at least every six months” standard required by the .
Over the past three years, we have reported on the importance of positive relationships, and how this is pivotal to achieving successful outcomes for and in care. While some tamariki and rangatahi report having positive relationships with their social workers, this is not experienced by all. We also hear that staff turnover and changes in social workers impact tamariki and rangatahi forming relationships with social workers and also how they view Oranga Tamariki. We also heard from social workers about high workloads and how this can impact on their ability to spend time with tamariki and rangatahi.
told us that they do not feel heard by Oranga Tamariki. We also continue to hear that a lack of cultural competence impacts the ability of social workers to build relationships with whānau.
This year we saw a marked improvement in both recorded visits and plans to provide support to caregivers. Despite the improvement, fewer than half of caregivers are being visited to the frequency of their plans, and caregivers told us that they need greater support. This is consistent with findings from the Oranga Tamariki caregiver survey. The survey showed 45 percent of caregivers are satisfied with the support Oranga Tamariki provided. Forty-seven percent of caregivers felt valued. Open Home Foundation’s caregiver survey showed foster parents had high levels of satisfaction with the support they received from Open Home Foundation.
This is a measure of whether and have a current2 needs assessment that assesses both their immediate and long-term needs. While needs assessments overall are increasing, Tuituia assessments are not and account for fewer than half of all assessments - 43 percent this year, which is similar to last year. Oranga Tamariki give examples of other holistic assessments including Court reports, Gateway assessments, and psychological assessments. While the NCS Regulations do not specify the type of assessment needed, the Oranga Tamariki Practice Centre still notes that Tuituia is the single assessment tool for the tamariki and rangatahi that Oranga Tamariki work with, and that all assessments are to be guided by the Tuituia assessment framework and domains3.
This is a measure of whether tamariki and rangatahi have a current plan that contains actions to address their needs. The require that plans are updated at least every six months, but the measure that Oranga Tamariki use of whether a plan is current is whether plans have been updated within the last 12 months.
Evidence of Oranga Tamariki consulting with and considering the views of other professionals in its practice with tamariki, rangatahi and has increased markedly. Other professionals include education and health professionals and lawyers involved in the lives of tamariki and rangatahi.
This is a measure of whether tamariki and rangatahi were visited by their social workers at the frequency set out in the needs assessment or plan – or at least once every eight weeks. There is no statistically significant change over the three years.
This is a measure of whether there is evidence that social workers are carrying out actions agreed to in current tamariki and rangatahi plans. This measure does not include the four percent of tamariki and rangatahi who do not have a current plan.
This is a measure of whether caregivers who need support have a current support plan with actions to support them. This measure does not include caregivers who do not require support from a caregiver social worker.
This is a measure of how often caregiver social workers met the planned frequency of visits with caregivers. This is a significant improvement from the previous two years, however, around half of caregivers are still not visited by their social workers to the planned frequency.
This shows a marked improvement from previous years. However, it applies to only those caregivers that need support and who have a current support plan that sets out actions to meet those needs (61 percent). Taking this into account, it means around 55 percent of all caregivers are receiving support. This reflects what we heard from caregivers.
In its response to our report last year, Oranga Tamariki undertook to make changes to free- up social worker time to work with and , and caregivers.4 Oranga Tamariki also made a commitment to prioritise visits with tamariki and rangatahi after our first report. While Oranga Tamariki data indicated an improvement in visits to caregivers, we have not seen improvement across other measures of engagement with tamariki and rangatahi, whānau and caregivers.
Furthermore, over the past three years, we have reported that caregivers tell us they need more support than they are receiving from Oranga Tamariki. Last year, Oranga Tamariki told us it had implemented a new Caregiver Information System (CGIS), which was expected to provide better data and a greater level of assurance on how caregivers are supported. However, utilising CGIS for this purpose has been delayed, and Oranga Tamariki has continued to rely upon case file analysis and its caregiver survey to demonstrate how it is supporting caregivers.
The require a written plan for tamariki and rangatahi in care, and for that plan to account for the needs identified as part of the needs assessment. This year we saw improvements in needs assessments for both Oranga Tamariki and the Open Home Foundation. Oranga Tamariki data also shows it is taking greater account of the views of professionals in its planning.
This year 87 percent of tamariki and rangatahi in care had an actionable plan. This figure has fluctuated a bit over the previous two years of reporting from 91 percent in 2020/2021, dropping to 79 percent in 2021/2022. However, it indicates that for the majority of tamariki and rangatahi, there is information available about them and their situation.
We also heard examples of stable relationships making a difference for tamariki and rangatahi. Tamariki and rangatahi and their caregivers spoke positively about seeing their social worker (which is a requirement under the NCS Regulations), as well as being in regular contact through means such as texting. We heard that when relationships with social workers are good, it is because the social worker knows the tamariki or rangatahi well, and they are consistent and honest with them. We heard about social workers regularly attending meetings with school principals, meeting mentors, and generally being involved in what was happening in the lives of the tamariki and rangatahi. Tamariki with positive experiences of manaakitanga with their social workers told us:
“She’s more part of the family than a social worker. We invited her to our Christmas dinner.”
“My social worker does her job proper perfectly.”
Turnover of frontline social workers appears to be trending upwards. For 2022/2023, frontline social worker annual turnover in Oranga Tamariki was 14 percent, which is an increase from 10 percent in 2021/2022 and eight percent in 2020/2021. The average length of service for frontline social workers increased from 6.9 years in June 2021 to 7.8 years in June 2023.
We again heard about high workloads and pressures on work/life balance, and that kaimahi seem to leave Oranga Tamariki to look after their own wellbeing. Some Oranga Tamariki social workers told us:
they thought other social workers were leaving due to burnout because of workload
some sites were carrying vacancies which meant kaimahi in those sites had to pick up extra work
experienced social workers were sometimes replaced with recent graduates, who do not have the same amount of experience and were not always receiving the training they needed to be able to do their jobs well.
The issue of workforce experience was also noted in our 2020/2021 report and was reflected in the initial report of the Oranga Tamariki Ministerial Advisory Board, which identified that despite an increase in the social work workforce, the overall workforce was less experienced.5
We heard again this year about how changes of social workers impact on tamariki and rangatahi. Like previous years, we heard that stable, trusting, and nurturing relationships are important, and we continued to hear that building these relationships is made difficult for tamariki and rangatahi by multiple changes of social workers. Caregivers felt there needed to be more consistency, particularly for tamariki and rangatahi who were not in short-term care. Greater consistency would enable them to form connections and rapport with their social worker.
In addition, we heard that changes in social workers are not always explained to tamariki and rangatahi or advised in advance, and that information does not seem to transfer from one social worker to the next, so tamariki and rangatahi find they are repeatedly having to tell their story to a new social worker. This was a frustration voiced both by tamariki and rangatahi.
“I don’t know her name… I don’t know what site she is from, my last social worker just disappeared on me.”
This same frustration was echoed in comments we heard from caregivers:
“Why another one [social worker] you know? You build up those bonds and relationship, then you have to start again. If you are going to have a relationship with a social worker, it needs to be a constant. They need to be a little more flexible if you like, they need to go right through the age group.”
“When you get a new social worker, they don’t know the background. They don’t read the paperwork and when they ring you, they expect you to repeat it all. [Partner] and I go ’read the file and then get back to us’.”
This variation in practice and experiences we heard this year is consistent with our previous reports.
The NCS Regulations set out that supports must be made available to a child or young person in care to address their needs (as identified in their needs assessment), and that assistance must be provided to tamariki and rangatahi so they can access that support.
Supports for tamariki and rangatahi include entitlements such as receiving pocket money and clothing allowances, as well as supports to address a variety of other needs. Some examples include specialist services such as counselling or orthodontic services or specialist education support. It also includes support for play, recreation and community activities, such as swimming lessons, as well as support for culture, belonging and identity, such as attending, celebrating or acknowledging cultural events significant to them.
Oranga Tamariki data indicates that tamariki are receiving support, however, we continue to hear mixed experiences of tamariki and rangatahi. We heard they did not always receive the supports they needed, even when they asked for it. Some tamariki and rangatahi told us they did not receive pocket money or a clothing allowance, and that they received conflicting advice from their social workers on what they were entitled to. For example, tamariki/ rangatahi told us:
“It frustrated me, sometimes I needed something, [but] by the time they answered, I didn’t need it anymore.”
“Clothing and stuff, sometimes 100 bucks doesn’t get enough clothing, 120 doesn’t go far. Need shoes that will last long, I got new shoes and they didn’t even last a term, my friend sold me shoes but was discounted. My jacket was 200 but lasts long, a Kathmandu one. OT ended up paying for that after a month of nagging, felt like a year.”
For those Tamariki and rangatahi who said they received what they need from Oranga Tamariki, it was because of positive relationships and communication with their social worker, and the social worker advocating for them and following through to deliver on what they say they will. For example, a caregiver explained:
“The right help and support, people looking after them like, the social workers that can pull the strings in the background and actually care about the kids, and to help them. I want the kids not to have to fight and struggle to get the life they deserve.”
Social workers explained that their access to funding is also a barrier to putting supports in place. They told us that the authority for spending does not rest with them, and they have limited control over this. There was a view from some Oranga Tamariki social workers that support could be delivered more promptly for tamariki and rangatahi if they had the authority to make some spending decisions.
A frontline social worker explained:
“It would be cool to have some authority to be able to make some decisions – clothing grants – haircuts we could generate that, clothing – we would get it done – rather than hearing 'sorry maybe next week'."
We also heard how the availability of community services is a barrier, and in particular for tamariki or rangatahi with high or complex needs. Having good community relationships and getting the right people to deliver supports enables better outcomes for tamariki and rangatahi in care. Social workers found this challenging in communities where services are not available, or where relationships with agencies and providers are not developed.
Caregiver support plans are a requirement under the NCS Regulations and are intended to ensure that the care placement meets the needs of tamariki or rangatahi, and identifies any additional support or training required by the caregiver. Oranga Tamariki data shows that 61 percent of caregivers have a current caregiver support plan that sets out actions to be taken to support the caregiver to provide quality care. This is unchanged from last year.
The Oranga Tamariki caregiver survey showed 45 percent of caregivers are satisfied with the support Oranga Tamariki provided. Overall, this is a slight decrease from the 2021 survey, but the decrease in satisfaction and feeling valued was most notable for Māori caregivers, with satisfaction decreasing from 52 percent in 2021, to 43 percent in 2022, and feeling valued decreasing from 49 percent to 43 percent. This is also consistent with results from the 2022 survey which showed that non- Māori caregivers reported a higher rate of feeling respected by their caregiver social worker than Māori caregivers did - 84 percent and 78 percent respectively.
“I just love OT for what they tried to do we are very, very lucky. And I know that there are probably caregivers that feel the opposite.”
We continue to hear that caregivers feel they are not getting the support they need from Oranga Tamariki. This has been a consistent theme in our previous two reports. This year caregivers told us that financial support from Oranga Tamariki is insufficient, reimbursement of costs is slow, and that there is no clarity or consistency on what is available, with different practices at different sites. Caregivers told us:
“No one has explained what they [Oranga Tamariki] will pay for.”
“[It’s] really frustrating, you think ‘this site do it, why don’t this site?’”
Despite minimum rates of payment for board increasing annually in line with the Consumer Price Index, caregivers told us they are needing to cover more costs personally, as board payments are not keeping up with cost-of-living increases. This resulted in tamariki and rangatahi sometimes missing out on getting to do things that tamariki and rangatahi who are not in care might get to do, like going out for dinner, activities and going on holiday.
We also heard that getting financial assistance from Oranga Tamariki to purchase necessary items, like school uniforms and shoes, was often protracted, resulting in tamariki and rangatahi needs not always being met.
Sometimes caregivers were receiving reminder invoices for unpaid costs such as school fees and before and after school care, because Oranga Tamariki was not paying these invoices in a timely way. A caregiver told us:
“It feels like I do it all by myself. They do not really do anything. Everything takes too long, you almost have to starve before they do anything. And the clothing, it is the Warehouse, though it takes too long to get what the OT Social Worker said she was going to do. Why does it take so long? Just lucky, we can share some clothes with other kids. For me, [tamariki] is lucky to have whānau like us that can buy clothes, though what about all the whānau that do not have that. I have not seen my OT Social Worker for ages. It is getting a bit sickening.”
We heard from several sites that when the caregiver social worker and the care and protection social worker visit the caregiver together, communication is better, and it can make a difference to how and what support is provided.
We also heard that some caregivers do not feel listened to by Oranga Tamariki. Those caregivers told us they were not involved in developing the plan for the tamariki or rangatahi in their care, despite regulations requiring that Oranga Tamariki take into account the views of caregivers (if they are known) in planning. One caregiver voiced their frustration at not being included in planning when they told us:
“I say to them [Oranga Tamariki] you can’t just write ‘holiday in July’ and not talk to me.”
The NCS Regulations also require plans to be shared with caregivers, yet we heard again this year that caregivers often do not receive plans or information about tamariki and rangatahi coming into their care. We were told that in shared care situations there is added complexity as information needs to go via the shared care partner, rather than directly from Oranga Tamariki to the caregiver. Care partners also reported that they often did not receive plans, and when they did, the plan was sometimes blank, or the information within it was not helpful.
While this year 87 percent of tamariki and rangatahi in care had an actionable plan, only around half of available plans were shared with caregivers. Caregivers told us about concerns they had when they did not receive plans, such as not knowing key medical information (such as medication requirements or allergies to be aware of), particularly when the tamariki are very young and unable to voice this themselves.
Oranga Tamariki kaimahi from a site felt that there was a lack of support being provided to whānau caregivers. Some kaimahi told us that whānau are not being supported to take on tamariki or rangatahi, citing the caregiver approval process taking months, that whānau are not being provided with funding to obtain legal advice about taking on tamariki, and that whānau are not provided with material items, such as beds, to enable them to take tamariki and rangatahi in. While Oranga Tamariki national office told us that its policy and guidance strongly state that support should be provided, this was not the experience we heard from the frontline social workers.
For example, a kaimahi reported the main barriers to supporting whānau caregivers as being “money and lack of services”. We were told that whānau caregivers are not supported once tamariki and rangatahi are in their care, with whānau, including elderly whānau, being asked to pay for things themselves. A kaimahi stated, “it’s discriminatory seeing the divide between whānau and non-whānau caregivers”. Some kaimahi told us that their advice to whānau caregivers is to not take on permanency. They spoke of whānau caregivers ceasing care of high needs tamariki due to a lack of support, with young people remaining in Oranga Tamariki care as a result. They told us that once whānau take on custody, support and funding stops, and whānau “have to provide everything”.
Non-government organisation (NGO) care partners also told us about the lack of information shared and how decisions are made without including the NGO kaimahi or caregiver, who has been working with the tamariki and rangatahi, often for long periods of time. When asked why they think this is happening, we heard that NGO kaimahi think they cannot challenge the power of Oranga Tamariki and that Oranga Tamariki do not listen to the professional voice of the NGO kaimahi, instead thinking they “know best”.
The NCS Regulations are clear that the views of family and whānau should be taken into account in the development of plans for their tamariki and rangatahi. To this end, the Oranga Tamariki family/ whānau views lead indicator tells us that family/ whānau views were incorporated into plans or needs assessments 84 percent of the time, which is similar to 2021/2022 (see Rangatiratanga for more details on the family/whānau views lead indicator).
However, we heard from whānau that they often only receive information about their tamariki and rangatahi when it is too late, or after decisions had been made without their input. Examples we heard included not receiving information about schooling, health needs (such as prescribed medications), court appearances and whānau access arrangements. This is consistent with what we heard from tamariki and rangatahi in relation to not receiving support, and caregivers telling us that they did not receive plans. One parent told us:
“She [social worker] texts me every now and then when she needs me to sign a piece of paper.”
Whānau told us that the lack of communication was frustrating for them, and they felt that Oranga Tamariki social workers should be working with them to identify what they can do to regain custody of their tamariki or rangatahi. This is also a theme that we have identified in previous reports.
We heard again this year that when staff lack cultural competence, it can negatively impact relationships between Oranga Tamariki, whānau and other organisations. Cultural awareness and understanding is needed to match and deliver appropriate supports in needs assessment and planning. But we heard that a lack of cultural competence within Oranga Tamariki is often a hindrance.
“Everyone is not a box to be ticked off … The cultural ignorance of staff is very prominent – that would have made a big difference – if we were dealt with our culture respected … Disrespected we were. Coming from a Māori whānau … Firstly, understand that he doesn’t come as his own he comes as his whānau – he is not one person, what he does, it affects his whole whānau. There is no follow through. You see these Māori words and not to overuse this word it’s just tokenistic. You know we went back to the framework and vision they give to us – Māori concepts like Aroha, Whanaungatanga, etc, it’s just lip service. I mean karakia, even we didn’t have that until our current social worker came on board – we had been asking to do this since day one.”
Oranga Tamariki told us that it put significant investment into cultural competence through its Tū Maia programme, and that training resources are also available on its online professional development platform. However, we again heard from Oranga Tamariki kaimahi that access to support for building cultural competence within the organisation was limited, and what was available was not always what they felt they needed. There was a reliance upon Māori staff and service providers to meet the cultural needs of tamariki and rangatahi Māori in care, as support was not provided to kaimahi to build this competence themselves. We further heard that budget constraints within Oranga Tamariki are sometimes a limitation to providing a culturally appropriate response.
“Our site manager had tears in her eyes when she looked at the budget we have for kai for our community. How is that manaakitanga? How can we talk about the practice shift and then say there’s no money to do it? What works is when there’s enough resourcing.”
partners told us that, from their perspective, Section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act, regarding duties in relation to the Treaty of Waitangi, is not being implemented as it should be, and they saw this as linked to a lack of cultural competence within Oranga Tamariki. In one region, we heard how practice had been driven well by the practice leader at a particular site, demonstrating Māori-centred practice, but when she left, practice reverted to the “old ways” driven by key performance indicators (KPIs).
Care partners told us that they often feel they have to fill the gaps in cultural competency for Oranga Tamariki, as in their view, Oranga Tamariki doesn’t seem to be able to build relationships and work effectively with Māori. The care partners indicated that they do it because if they don’t no-one else will, but there remained a feeling that the support the provide Oranga Tamariki was one-sided.
Although Oranga Tamariki leadership has told us of the significant investment it is making towards building cultural competence internally, we are yet to hear from Oranga Tamariki kaimahi about the difference this investment is making for their practice. It is also clear from what we heard, that stakeholders expect more from Oranga Tamariki in terms of culturally appropriate responses. We acknowledge that it may take some time to see the gains from the investment made by Oranga Tamariki. To this end, we will be looking at whether and how experiences of cultural competence are improving in our future reports.
There was marked improvement in how up-to- date Open Home Foundation needs assessments, Child and Adolescent Needs and Strengths (CANS) assessments, were. In line with the , Open Home Foundation defines up-to-date as reviewed within the past six months (or within three weeks of care entry or placement change).
Similarly, there was a marked improvement in how up-to-date Open Home Foundation Child and Young Person’s plans were. Again, the Open Home Foundation definition of up-to-date is within the past six months and is in line with the NCS regulations.
Open Home Foundation told us it has reviewed how it plans with foster parents and carers, and as a result, it has simplified its foster parent support plan which is now better aligned to the NCS Regulations. Open Home Foundation also told us that vacancies have impacted its ability to visit foster parents at times. This has meant that some contact has occurred via phone or online, however, this contact is not recorded in the above numbers, as policy requires visits to be in person. Overall contact between Open Home Foundation and foster parents is therefore likely to be higher than the data shows.
Open Home Foundation noted that it had placed a focus on visits to and as well as carers and foster parents over this reporting period. It indicated that it had seen an increase in compliance with visits in the latter part of the reporting period, so it may be that lower compliance initially has pulled the rate down. Furthermore, Open Home Foundation acknowledged that it has noticed more is required of foster parent social workers to comply with the . As a result, it is investigating capacity and resourcing to ensure it is able to meet the standards.
Open Home Foundation noted that it experienced workforce demands this year, compounded by decreased funding from Oranga Tamariki,1 which saw resignations increase in response to staff concerns about job security. Open Home Foundation further noted that, while staff retention was an ongoing challenge for it and the sector more generally, recent progress with pay equity may assist with this. An Open Home Foundation kaimahi told us:
“It’s because of low staff at OHF – we are 3x staff down and it has a massive impact.”
Despite these challenges, Open Home Foundation was able to tell us that, in responses to its annual Better Off survey of parents, whānau caregivers, rangatahi, foster parents and other professionals, 96 percent of Open Home Foundation foster parents agreed or strongly agreed that “Open Home Foundation has equipped me as a foster parent”.
“OHF has a comprehensive induction with ongoing trauma informed care training. I have just completed it. When the parents get their children back, they don’t have the training, so it is harder for them. They are set up to fail as they don’t have the tools supplied to us.”
Open Home Foundation told us that when tamariki and rangatahi in its care need support, it can provide it. Open Home Foundation told us it has noticed that it is not the same group of tamariki and rangatahi as last year who are needing intensive support, which suggests that providing intensive support at the right time makes a difference.
“I’m with Open Home Foundation and feel heard from by my social worker. Although there’s a lot of things I like to do on my own. Like buying my car. I just organise it myself, actually buying it, I saved every cent myself because I didn’t want to be in debt. I have no complaints about my social worker. They kind of let me have my freedom. They reign me in when needed. Very prone to losing my temper sometimes. I really lost my temper one day, I wasn’t thinking properly and started punching the boxing bag and scraped my knuckles.”
1 In this context, means having control or authority over their lives, to make their own decisions or to take
the lead.
2 Oranga Tamariki defines current as being within the last 12 months.
3 https://practice.orangatamariki.govt.nz/core-practice/practice-tools/the-tuituia-framework-and-tools/the-tuituiaframework-and-domains
4 https://aroturuki.govt.nz/assets/FINAL-Oranga--Response-ICM-Annual-Report-2022.pdf pages 5-6.
5 https://www.beehive.govt.nz/sites/default/files/2021-09/SWRB082-OT-Report-FA-ENG-WEB.PDF pages 17-19.
1 In its response to us, Open Home Foundation told us that in early July 2022, Oranga Tamariki advised it that there would be a reduction in its care and social work contracts, which required Open Home Foundation to make changes to continue to operate within the reduced funding. This led to the closure of one service centre and the merging of four service centres into two service centres, as well as a number of redundancies. This in turn led to concerns among Open Home Foundation kaimahi about the viability of their jobs, and an increase in resignations.