1 March 2024
M Cook
[email address]
Tēnā koe M Cook
Thank you for your email of 12 December 2023 to Oranga Tamariki—Ministry for Children
(Oranga Tamariki), requesting information around reports and reviews following a death
or abuse of children known to Oranga Tamariki. Your request has been considered under
the Official Information Act 1982 (the Act).
You have requested:
Please provide me with a list of reports or reviews writ en as a consequence of the
death or abuse of a specific child or children known to Oranga Tamariki and its
predecessor agencies from 1980 to the present day.
On 22 January, you clarified your request as:
…reports and reviews that were publicly released resulting from death or serious
abuse' rather than 'reports and reviews related to the death or abuse’. Reducing the
time period would be possible if you let me know to which date records have been
deposited with Archives New Zealand (ANZ). Have, for example, all records up to
2000 been deposited? If you would please send me that information I wil adjust my
request accordingly.
Oranga Tamariki strives to ensure that no child or young person we are involved with is
harmed or injured. The death of any child or young person is a tragedy and, where a child
or young person dies, Oranga Tamariki are dedicated to understanding what can be done
to prevent it happening again.
In 2023, Oranga Tamariki enhanced the range of processes that are triggered when a
serious event or issue occurs. The changes were designed to better respond to the needs
of each circumstance, to support better decisions and accountability for serious events,
and help ensure issues identified were addressed.
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Following the death or serious abuse of a child, staff will complete a Serious Event
Notification (SEN) to inform our National Office of the circumstances. More information
can be locat
ed here.
The Office of the Chief Social Worker may also undertake a Practice Review if assessed
as necessary, or if requested by the Oranga Tamariki Chief Executive.
We have interpreted your request as being for reports and reviews that have been publicly
released since the formation of Oranga Tamariki. In this instance your request has been
declined under 18(d) of the Act, in that the information you have requested is already
publicly available. The practice review undertaken by Oranga Tamariki following the death
of Malachi Subecz can be foun
d here, and the review undertaken for ‘Infant B
’ here. These
are only reviews following the death of a child that Oranga Tamariki has published since
establishment in 2017.
Oranga Tamariki has not transferred any records to Archives New Zealand. However,
historic records that we are the controlling agency for have been transferred by
predecessor agencies.
Oranga Tamariki may make the information contained in this letter available to the public
by publishing this letter on our website with your personal details removed.
I trust you find this information useful. Should you have any concerns with this response,
I would encourage you to raise them with Oranga Tamariki. Alternatively, you are advised
of your right to also raise any concerns with the Office of the Ombudsman. Information
about this is available at
www.ombudsman.parliament.nz or by contacting them on 0800
802 602.
Nāku noa, nā
Peter Whitcombe
Chief Social Worker
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Document Outline
