18 May 2020

Ms Victoria Anne
[FYI request #12690 email]

Tēnā koe Ms Anne
Thank  you  for  your  email of 23 April 2020  to  Oranga  Tamariki—Ministry for Children
(Oranga Tamariki), requesting the fol owing information under the Official Information
Act 1982 (the Act):
•  How many children involved  have been involved in child exploitation and
prostitution (under 18) in NZ and what are the ages, gender and areas, for between
the years 2010 and 2020.
•  What is Oranga Tamariki's response and action plan when a child comes into their
care who has been in child exploitation/ prostitution?
•  What is the main reason children are in the situation of sexual exploitation and
prostitution?
•  How many referrals to Oranga Tamariki from NZ police of child
exploitation/prostitution from 2010 - 2020 for children they have been involved with
Every situation Oranga Tamariki responds to is unique. There are a range of reasons for
a child or young person to come to our attention and a range of different responses we
can provide. Under section 15 of the Oranga Tamariki Act 1989, any person who believes
that any child or young person has been, or  is  likely to be, harmed, il -treated, abused,
(whether  physical y,  emotionally,  or sexually), neglected or deprived, or who  has
concerns about the wel -being of a child or young person,  may report the matter to
Oranga  Tamariki or the Police. These are referred to as reports of concern (ROCs) by
Oranga Tamariki.
Once a ROC has been received, we undertake inquiries to determine the situation for the
child. This includes investigating and assessing the concerns, often in conjunction with
Police, and determining whether there are ways we can support the family to safely care
for the child. At every point, the safety and wel being of the child is our foremost
concern. Once we have assessed the concerns and circumstances of the child and their

family, we decide  whether  further action may be required. This could involve  working
with the family to provide them with support and assistance, through to taking action to
ensure the safety of the child.
Oranga Tamariki does not hold information on how many children have been involved in
child exploitation and prostitution  in  New Zealand  or  on  what the main reason is  for
children  to be in a  situation of sexual exploitation and prostitution. To assist with our
response  to  you, we consulted with Police  on  these  parts  of your request. In our
consultation, Police advised that while it holds victimisation statistics for sexual assault,
these statistics do not identify if children were involved in child exploitation or
prostitution. Police do not hold information on the main reason children are in situations
of  child exploitation and/or  prostitution.  Accordingly, these  parts  of your request are
refused under section 18(g) of the Act, as the information requested is not held by us
and I have no grounds to believe that it is held by another department or Minister of the
Crown or organisation.  Please  note that Police victimisation  statistics are publicly
available and can be found via the fol owing link:
https://www.police.govt.nz/about-us/publications-statistics/data-and-
statistics/policedatanz
Oranga Tamariki has developed a set of practice standards that describe at a high level
the core domains of how we work with children and their families, as wel  as providing a
benchmark for our practitioners. The emphasis of the practice standards is child and
family centred, trauma informed and cultural y responsive practice. While  Oranga
Tamariki  does not have a specific response or action plan for when a child has
experienced child exploitation or prostitution, our social workers are trained to recognise
and understand the impact trauma can have on a child’s current and future wel being.
Part  of  our  practice  framework  includes  trauma informed practice and theory, which
assists our staff in situations  where a child  or young person has experienced  a
chal enging event. A  trauma informed approach recognises the importance of
relationships and works  to  highlight  cultural connection and a sense of belonging,
stability and appropriate support. It also recognises and seeks to mitigate potential harm
caused by intervention into the child and their family’s life, while facilitating access to
resources to support recovery and wel being. Further information about our trauma
informed practice and theory  can be found  on the Oranga  Tamariki  Practice Centre
website via the links below:
https://practice.orangatamariki.govt.nz/practice-standards/practice-framework-
knowledge-and-evidence-base/trauma-informed-practice/
https://practice.orangatamariki.govt.nz/practice-standards/about-our-practice-
framework/trauma-informed-theory/
When working with children and their families, including if a child comes into care, we
assess their needs using our Tuituia assessment framework.  This  assists us to
understand  their needs and create a plan to provide the appropriate support and
assistance to the child and their family. The Tuituia subdomain of ‘Health’  takes  into
consideration the psychological, emotional and physical effects of trauma, as wel  as
physical  and mental  health. Any needs that presented as a result of exploitation or
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prostitution would  be supported, possibly through specialist services, and any plan
developed would be regularly reviewed to ensure any needs are being addressed. More
information on the ‘Heath’ subdomain of the Tuituia assessment can be found here:
https://practice.orangatamariki.govt.nz/our-work/practice-tools/the-tuituia-framework-
and-tools/the-tuituia-framework-and-domains/health-tuituia-domain/
Lastly, you have asked how many referrals Oranga Tamariki has received from Police
regarding child exploitation and/or prostitution, from 2010-2020. Between 2009/10 and
2018/19,  Oranga  Tamariki  received, on average,  20,000 ROCs each year from  Police.
This does not include family violence ROCs from Police, which are recorded separately.
In order to determine how many of these Police  ROCs  involved  child exploitation or
prostitution, we would need to review, in detail, thousands of individual files. As such, I
am refusing this part of your request under section 18(f) of the Act, as the information
cannot be made available without substantial col ation and research. I have considered
whether extending the timeframe for response or imposing a charge would allow us to
respond to your request; however, I have  concluded that, in either case, our ability to
undertake our work would still be prejudiced.
Oranga Tamariki intends to make the information contained in this letter available to the
wider public shortly. We  wil  do this by publishing this letter on  our  website. Your
personal details wil  be deleted and we  will not publish any information that would
identify you as the person who requested the information.
If you wish to discuss this response with us, please feel free to contact
[email address].

If you are not satisfied with this response, you have the right to ask an Ombudsman to
review this decision.
Information about this
is available at
www.ombudsman.parliament.nz or by contacting them on 0800 802 602.

Nāku noa, nā

Steve Groom
General Manager Public, Ministerial and Executive Services
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