IN-CONFIDENCE
OIA-CE-2024-02662
26 November 2024
L
[FYI request #29013 email]
Tēnā koe L
Thank you for your email, received on 01 November 2024, to Oranga Tamariki—
Ministry for Children (Oranga Tamariki) requesting information on the number of
complaints or reports received due to social worker or supervisor malpractice, neglect
or incompetence. Your request has been considered under the Official Information Act
1982 (the Act).
You have requested:
During the year of 2023, broken down in quarters, how many complaints or
reports did Oranga Tamariki receive due to social worker or supervisor (please
list separately) malpractice, neglect or incompetence, both Nationally and at
each of the Sites in the Wellington region (please list sites separately)? Please
separate into complainant or reporter type (e.g., whānau, tamariki and rangatahi,
iwi, Police, Judges, Te Whātu Ora, GP clinics, community service providers etc.).
Oranga Tamariki does not hold the information you have requested in an accesible
way. Providing a response to your request would require us to carry out a manual
serach of case files which would require significant time and resource and would take
staff away from their operational priorities. As such, I am refusing this part of your
request under section 18(f) of the Act, as the information requested cannot be made
available without substantial collation or research.
We are, however, able to provide information regarding all complaints lodged with
our Feedback and Complaints team, at the national level and broken down by sites
in the Wellington region, as well as by the capacity of the person making the
complaint. Please note, the complaints we receive can cover a wide range of
concerns and are not limited to social worker or supervisor malpractice, neglect, or
incompetence. This information is provided in the tables below.
IN-CONFIDENCE
Number of complaints received by the Oranga Tamariki Feedback and Complaints
team in 2023
2023 Q1
2023 Q2
2023 Q3
2023 Q4
Number of complaints
263
317
313
324
Number of complaints received by the Oranga Tamariki Feedback and Complaints
team in 2023 by capacity of the person making the complaint
Capacity
2023 Q1
2023 Q2
2023 Q3
2023 Q4
Parent
149
169
194
162
Other family/whanāu
68
84
56
88
Whanāu caregiver
13
8
10
22
Non-whanāu caregiver
10
17
7
15
Children in Care/Child, Youth and
Young Persons involved with Oranga
4
10
5
5
Tamariki
Professional
4
11
24
14
Other
15
18
17
18
Number of complaints received by the Oranga Tamariki Feedback and Complaints
team by site in the Wellington region in 2023
Site
2023 Q1
2023 Q2
2023 Q3
2023 Q4
Lower Hutt
8
5
10
5
Upper Hutt
3
5
4
3
Wel ington
2
1
6
3
Porirua
3
4
4
3
Kapiti
2
2
2
7
Number of complaints received by the Oranga Tamariki Feedback and Complaints
team in 2023 in the Wellington region by capacity of the person making the complaint
Note – due to low numbers to protect the privacy of the individuals raising complaints,
the below table has not been broken down by by site or by quarter.
IN-CONFIDENCE
Individual making complaint
Number of complaints
Parent
53
Other family/whānau
13
Whānau caregiver
5
Non-whānau caregiver
4
Professional
2
Other
4
Oranga Tamariki may make the information contained in this letter available to the
public by publishing this 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
Philip Grady
Deputy Chief Executive System Leadership
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