29 June 2020
Ms Francesca Ephraim
[FYI request #12885 email]
Tēnā koe Ms Ephraim
Thank you for your email of 25 May 2020 to Oranga Tamariki—Ministry for Children
(Oranga Tamariki), requesting the fol owing information under the Official Information
Act 1982 (the Act):
•
Please can you tel me whether al adults that an uplifted child might reside with are
police checked prior to the child being placed with them?
•
Also, can you provide the number of police checks done national y in the last year
and the number of children uplifted national y.
•
Lastly, how often does a police check occur after the child has been placed. Please
provide the statistics for the last 5 years.
On 29 May 2020, we contacted you regarding your second question, to clarify whether
you were interested in the number of Police vetting checks carried out national y by
Oranga Tamariki, or national y across New Zealand. On 30 May 2020, you confirmed you
would like the number carried out by Oranga Tamariki.
New Zealand Police deliver a Vetting Service to provide criminal history checks and other
relevant information about potential and current employees, volunteers and those who
care for and work with children and other vulnerable members of society. The Police
vetting service processes vetting requests in accordance with the Privacy Act 1993 and
the Criminal Records (Clean Slate) Act 2004. Oranga Tamariki submits vetting requests
to Police:
• as part of social work investigations into care and protection concerns for
children
• to review the suitability of people applying to become caregivers, and of persons
in their household
• to review an existing caregiver’s approval status
• to check the suitability of prospective staff during the recruitment/appointment
process
• as part of checking the suitability of contactors to work at Oranga Tamariki.
The New Zealand Police Vetting Service al ows for the provision of criminal history
checks (and other information relevant to the purpose of the vetting request) for current
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and prospective caregivers so we can check their suitability to care for or have contact
with a tamaiti. The Oranga Tamariki National Care Standards state a Police vet must be
completed in order to help determine the suitability of an applicant to become a
caregiver. Al of our caregivers (including section 396 provider caregivers) must have a
regular review of their approval status and support needs every two years, which includes
renewing their police check (including family violence checks.)
You can read about the requirements for the assessment and approval of prospective
caregivers (family/whānau and non-whānau) and adoptive applicants (domestic and
inter-country adoption) at the fol owing link:
https://practice.orangatamariki.govt.nz/policy/caregiver-and-adoptive-applicant-
assessment-and-approval/
Alongside prospective caregivers, checks are also carried out for other individuals
connected to the household of the applicants who might have regular contact with te
tamaiti, as wel as volunteers - such as someone who drives te tamaiti to school, mentors
or access supervisors. Checks wil also be carried out in emergency situations that
require children to be placed immediately with whānau.
As an approved agency, Oranga Tamariki vetting requests are submitted by staff at our
sites online via the Police Vetting Service secure website, which gives us access to
composite statistics for the last two completed financial years. Your request for the
statistics from the 2015 – 2017 Financial Years is refused in accordance with section
18(f) of the Act, as it is not central y recorded by Oranga Tamariki and would require
substantial manual col ation. Obtaining the number of checks carried out for caregivers
during this period would require a review of vetting invoice records and/or individual
caregiver files.
Information regarding the numbers of Police checks carried out is reported per financial
year. Please see the below table for the information you have requested. For the
purposes of your request we have excluded al employee and contractor vetting. The
totals per financial year include al submitted requests for which we were invoiced in
respect of non-employees. Please note, the number of vetting checks provided is the
total sum carried out in the reporting period, and it is not possible to differentiate
between prospective and current caregivers.
Number of vetting requests submitted by Oranga Tamariki sites between 1 July 2017
and 30 June 2019
Financial Year
Number of Police vetting checks carried out
F2018
8,313
F2019
8,400
Oranga Tamariki is dedicated to supporting any child whose wel being is at risk of harm
now, or in the future, and the decision to recommend bringing a child into our care is one
of the most difficult decisions our staff have to make. It is not a decision we take lightly,
and there are, quite rightly, a strong set of checks and balances in the process to ensure
that the right decision is made. There are a range of reasons for a child coming to our
attention and there are a range of different pathways for a child to come into our care as
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provided for under the Oranga Tamariki Act 1989 (the Act). In every case there must be
valid and verified concerns for the safety of the child, and in every case the parent and/or
the Family Court must agree that those concerns warrant the child coming into our care.
Wherever it is safe and possible to do so, the child’s parent(s), whānau and other people
supporting the whānau wil be involved in decisions around the child’s care and custody.
Unless there is a clear need for fast and decisive action to protect a child from
immediate and imminent danger, al interim custody order applications are made ‘on
notice’ to ensure the family/whānau are given the opportunity to have their say before the
Family Court makes its decision. When staff do need to act faster to keep a child safe,
we may seek interim custody orders on an ex parte ‘without notice’ basis. This involves
the Family Court making a custody decision without representation from the child’s
parent(s) or guardians. ‘Without notice’ applications require additional checks to ensure
we have fol owed a robust process in making the decision to apply for a custody order
without notice by a Regional Legal Manager, Site Manager and Practice Leader, before
they can be signed off. The Family Court wil then need to decide, on the balance of
probabilities, whether the risk to the child is such that it would be unsafe to defer making
an interim custody decision.
There are a number of different warrants and legal orders under the Act, each of which
can apply in a range of different settings. Al custody orders for unborn and newborn
babies are made on an interim basis. Permanent orders are only made after planning
around the needs, risks and strengths of the parent(s), whānau and baby has been
completed, after the baby is born. The different warrants and custody orders are detailed
below. These can be broadly grouped into three categories – care agreements, urgent
entry to care or custody, and arranged entry to care or custody:
Care Agreements:
When a child enters care through a voluntary agreement with the parents, guardians or
usual persons having care of the child for a specific period of time – from 28 days to 2
years. The outcome is for the child to return home, unless they transition to
independence.
• Section 139 – Temporary Care Agreement
• Section 140 – Extended Care Agreement
Urgent Entry to Care or Custody:
These are interim orders/warrants that result in the transfer of the custody of a child to
Oranga Tamariki until a final decision on the child’s care can be made. These orders
should only be used to secure the safety and wellbeing of tamariki when al other
intervention options have been considered and there is an immediate safety concern.
Police and Oranga Tamariki have different powers that can be used. Both Police and
Oranga Tamariki can apply to the Family Court for these orders. The Police can also take
urgent action without a warrant from the Family Court. Oranga Tamariki always needs to
apply to the Family Court before it can take urgent action. A section 78 order can be used
to bring a child into our custody urgently because we believe there are real and
immediate safety concerns; but equal y can be used in a situation where a caregiver,
family or whānau have agreed an interim custody order is required to ensure a child is
safe. For this reason, we report section 78 care entries separately.
1. Urgent applications to Family Court for warrant
• Section 39 – Place of Safety Warrant (by Oranga Tamariki or NZ Police)
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• Section 40 – Warrant to remove a child or young person (Oranga Tamariki)
2. Interim custody order applications to the Family Court
• Section 78 – Custody of child or young person pending determination of
proceedings (by Oranga Tamariki or NZ Police)
3. Urgent action by the NZ Police to place a child or young person in the custody of
Oranga Tamariki
• Section 42 – Warrant (NZ Police) Search without Warrant
• Section 48 – Warrant (NZ Police) Unaccompanied children or young
persons
Arranged Entry to Care or Custody:
Wherever possible, tamariki enter care in a planned and measured way. An arranged
entry to custody wil usual y occur after a Family Group Conference has been held.
Oranga Tamariki needs to apply to the Family Court in order to gain these custody orders.
• Section 101 – Custody order
• Section 102 – Interim Custody order
• Section 110(2)(a) – Sole guardianship order
We have interpreted your request for the number of children ‘
uplifted nationally’ as asking
for the number of children and young people who have entered the care or custody of the
Chief Executive of Oranga Tamariki. Your request is declined in accordance with section
18(d) of the Act, as the information is publicly available. Please see the second table of
page nine at the fol owing link, which shows al entries to care via pathway - Urgent Entry,
Section 78, Care Agreement and Arranged Entry:
https://www.orangatamariki.govt.nz/assets/Uploads/Statistics/data-about-how-we-
work-with-children/Babies-and-children-entering-Oranga-Tamariki-care.pdf
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 wil 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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