In today's headlines with Wilhelmina Shrimpton, huge inequities in policing, fire in central Auckland apartment, and concern over child language skills.
The Chief Ombudsman says there’s “more work to be done” around how Oranga Tamariki treats disabled parents and children, following the uplift ofa newborn from his autistic mother.
On Saturday, a Herald investigation detailed the ongoing fallout from a 2014 uplift, which happened after the agency formerly known as Child, Youth and Family (CYF) became concerned a young expectant first-time mum wouldn’t be able to look after her baby.
She was diagnosed as being on the autism spectrum, and described in CYF records as “borderline functioning”. When her baby was 5 days old he was uplifted from the maternity ward and placed into care.
The boy is now 10 and remains with his adoptive parents, and has no contact with his birth mother or her family.
In July 2020, the Chief Ombudsman, Peter Boshier, took issue with Oranga Tamariki’s claim that the woman had been given “every opportunity” at the hospital to show she could learn new parenting skills and bond with her baby.
There was little attempt by CYF to properly understand the woman’s disability, stated Boshier, a former Principal Family Court Judge. She had the strong support of her own mother to raise her child.
He recommended Oranga Tamariki apologise and make an ex-gratia payment, which it did.
“We should always be mindful that a disability does not negatively impact a person’s parenting capabilities. We hope that your experience is not repeated,” an Oranga Tamariki manager wrote in an apology letter.
“I want to acknowledge your complaint was upheld, and recognise the deep distress, profound sense of loss, and trauma you and your whānau have suffered as a result of our actions.”
Chief Ombudsman Peter Boshier. Photo / RNZ
The Herald put questions to Boshier, including how confident he is that there won’t be a repeat of such a case.
“Oranga Tamariki’s new disability strategy has been developed using, in part, the recommendations I made following this case. Its practice guidance was updated in April 2023 to include that no pēpi should be separated from their parents based on a disability of either the pēpi or one or both of the parents,” Boshier said.
“This is reassuring, but... there is more work to be done to strengthen practice and processes in relation to disabled parents and children. I will continue to closely monitor progress.”
The Ombudsman was given greater powers to investigate Oranga Tamariki in May 2023, and in February this year published a major report – Children in Care – based on a review of more than 2000 complaints about the ministry.
“For Oranga Tamariki to regain the trust it has lost from the people it serves and the wider public, it needs to change on a scale rarely required of a government agency. My challenge to the new Government is to drive this change,” Boshier wrote in the report. “I cannot yet provide assurance Oranga Tamariki is consistently operating in accordance with good administrative practice, for a number of reasons.”
“Oranga Tamariki still has a long way to go. I continue to strongly urge the leadership at Oranga Tamariki to prioritise essential improvements and address the fundamental underlying problems.”
Improvements made by Oranga Tamariki included overhauling its policies to make sure court documents “include a comprehensive, balanced, and accurate analysis of the risks and benefits of placements”, Boshier said.
However, he was concerned about the ministry’s administrative practices.
“They need to maintain focus on continual improvement and be able to demonstrate tangible improvements and outcomes.”
Oranga Tamariki’s use of section 78 custody orders to “uplift” babies has been heavily scrutinised since a documentary by Newsroom into an attempted uplift of a Māori newborn baby from Hawkes Bay Hospital’s maternity unit in 2019.
Section 78 orders dropped from 197 in 2017/18, to 44 in 2020/21. Updated figures will be released in October. All uplifts are now “on notice” unless to protect a child from immediate danger. In those cases, sign-off is now needed from multiple CYF managers.
Oranga Tamariki says a framework for auditing and analysing the case files of babies entering care has been introduced, as has a disability strategy informed by people with disabilities with experience of care and protection.
It is currently facing controversy after abruptly ending or cutting funding to hundreds of contracted social service providers, including some that have operated for decades.
Children’s Minister Karen Chhour has blamed the last Labour Government for “allowing providers who were under-delivering on their contracts to keep unused funding... funding services that weren’t core business... and duplicating services”.
