OIA 104602 104607 Collins 20 July 2023.pdf

Justice Centre | 19 Aitken Street

DX SX10088 | Wellington

T 04 918 8800 | F 04 918 8820
[email address] | www.justice.govt.nz

20 July 2023

Zane Collins
[email address]
[FYI request #22786 email]
Our ref: OIA 104602 & 104607

Tēnā koe Zane

Official Information Act request: Care of Children Act 2004

Thank you for your email to the Minister of Justice, Hon Kiri Allan on 12 May 2023 regarding
information related to the Care of Children Act 2004 (CoCA).

On 12 May 2023, you also requested additional information relating to the CoCA from the
Minister of Justice in a separate request.

On 15 May 2023, both of your requests were transferred from the Minister of Justice to the
Ministry of Justice (the Ministry) for response under section 14 of the Official Information Act
1982 (the Act).

I have outlined your specific requests (referenced as OIA 104602 and OIA 104607
respectively) and my responses below.

OIA 104602

In the Family Court, under the following sections of the Care of Children Act 2004;
•  46G: Parties may be directed to counselling with an approved Family Court
counsellor.
•  46O: Judge may direct party to undertake parenting information programme, defined
as parenting information programme means a programme specified as a parenting
information programme in regulations made under this Act.

1.  I would like to know the total number of referrals made to above services since 2013 until
2023 (per year) and the costs of the total referrals (per year).

In response to part one of your request, please refer to Tables 1 through 4. The information
provided in these tables has been broken down by Financial Year, not calendar year. A
Financial Year runs from 1 July to 30 June each year.

Table 1 contains information concerning the number of directions under the CoCA for
referrals to Family Court Counselling.

Table 2 contains the amount of money spent on s46 Referrals for Approved Family Court
Counsellor from 2013 to 2023.

For Tables 3 and 4, please note that we have interpreted “parenting information programme”
in your request as the Parenting through Separation (PTS) course, which is a self-referred
service and participants engage with a provider directly.

Table 3 contains information concerning the number of directions under the CoCA for
referrals to PTS.

Table 4 outlines the participant numbers to PTS, including outcome (such as the number of
participants enrolled and the number of participants that did not attend) and total costs.

PTS is free for participants, with costs covered by the Ministry. A referral from the Court is
not needed for participants to participate in the service. However, participants may be
required to complete PTS prior to making a CoCA application. Also, it is worth noting that
there are other, non-funded Ministry of Justice parenting programmes, that can be attended
which also meet the criteria of attendance at a ‘parenting information programme’.

More information about PTS can be found on the Ministry’s website:
www.justice.govt.nz/family/care-of-children/resolving-parentings-disagreements/parenting-
through-separation/

Table 1: Number of directions under the Care of Children Act 2004 for referrals to
Family Court Counselling

Financial

Year

Direction Type
2013/14
2014/15
2015/16
2016/17
2017/18

67
453
674
921
1,112

S46G

2018/19
2019/20
2020/21
2021/22
2022/23
Counselling

1,319
1,185
1,662
1,317
1,088

Table 1 notes:

•  Statistics are based on the Court’s Case Management System as at 31 May 2023.
Since this is an operational system, data for earlier months may have been updated
since any previous publications.

•  Numbers are recorded in the month that the direction was made.
•  Counts for the 2013/14 Financial Year is not a full 12-month period as the first
recorded event occurred on 31 March 2014.
•  Counts  for  the  2022/23  Financial  Year  is  not  a  full  12-month  period.  They  cover
directions made during the 11 months, 1 July 2022 through to 31 May 2023.

•  These statistics reflect directions made by a Family Court Judge, and do not include
occasions where a participant contacted a provider directly.

Table 2: Spend on s46 referrals for Approved Family Court Counsellor

Financial Year
Costs
2012/13
2013/14
2014/15
2015/16
2016/17
2017/18
$652,674
$388,587
$229,724
$529,730
$658,724
$1,164,409
Approved
Family
2018/19
2019/20
2020/21
2021/22
2022/23

Court
Counsellor
$1,318,935
$1,313,707
$1,834,809
$1,251,119
$1,352,129

Table 2 Notes:

•  We cannot split the costs by calendar year. As a result, the table is broken down by
Financial Year, starting from 2012/13 (July 2012 to June 2013) through to 2022/23
(July 2022 to June 2023)

Table 3: Number of directions under the Care of Children Act 2004 for referrals to
Parenting Through Separation

Financial Year
Direction Type
2013/14
2014/15
2015/16
2016/17
2017/18
Parties to do PTS S46O
42
123
125
114
92
Parties to do PTS and attend
2
3
6
5
3
FDR s46F and s46O
Total
44
126
131
119
95
Direction Type
2018/19
2019/20
2020/21
2021/22
2022/23
Parties to do PTS S46O
101
67
63
54
50
Parties to do PTS and attend
7
3
6
3
11
FDR s46F and s46O
Total
108
70
69
57
61

Table 3 Notes:

•  Statistics are based on the Court’s Case Management System as at 31 May 2023.
Since this is an operational system, data for earlier months may have been updated
since any previous publications.

•  Numbers are recorded for the month the direction was made.

•  Counts for the 2013/14 Financial Year is not a full 12-month period as the first recorded
event occurred on 31 March 2014.

•  Counts  for  the  2022/23  Financial  Year  are  not  a  full  12-month  period.  They  cover
directions made during the 11 months, 1 July 2022 through to 31 May 2023.

•  These statistics reflect directions made by a Family Court Judge, and do not include
occasions where a participant contacted a provider directly.

Table 4: Parenting Through Separation parties from 1 April 2014 to 29 April 2023

Financial Year
Outcome
2013/14
2014/15
2015/16
2016/17
2017/18
Participants
1,499
6,032
5,407
5,311
5,317
Number of
participants that did
68
747
901
1,384
1,477
not attend
Total number of
participants
1,567
6,779
6,308
6,695
6,794
enrolled
See Table 4
Total cost
$670,299
$700,090
$765,676
$550,341
Notes
Outcome
2018/19
2019/20
2020/21
2021/22
2022/23
Participants
5,270
4,765
5,334
4,135
2,952
Number of
participants that did
1,606
1,492
1,647
1,500
1,055
not attend
Total number of
participants
6,876
6,257
6,981
5,635
4,007
enrolled
Total cost
$727,228
$723,596
$725,349
$724,997
$735,677

Table 4 Notes:
•  Data has been drawn from a live database as at 29 May 2023. The database is
subject to change, as new data is continually recorded and/or recoded.
•  Data for the 2013/14 Financial Year is not a full 12-month period. 1 April 2014 is the
first recorded event.

•  Prior to the 2014/15 Financial Year, there was no national oversight that accurately
captured the cost of PTS.
•  Data for the 2022/23 Financial Year is not a full 12-month period. 29 April 2023 is the
last recorded event, and the “total cost” for 2022/23 Financial Year is to 30 April 2023.
•  The Financial Year a particular course falls in is determined by the date of the course's
first session.
•  The  participant  count  only  includes  parties  who  attended  a  Parenting  Through
Separation course.
•  “Number  Enrolled”  includes  all  parties  who  were  enrolled  in  a  Parenting  Through
Separation course.
•  The  term  "Party"  refers  to  a  person  who  was  enrolled  in  a  Parenting  Through
Separation course.
•  “Total  cost”  refers  to  the  funding  provided  by  the  Ministry  to  the  PTS  providers  to
provide the PTS course, as it is free to access for participants.

2.  Also I would like to know if there are any existing evaluative researches have been
conducted to measure the KPI's / outcomes of both service and we require copies of any
researches/studies and if not available, is it planned to be done?”

In response to part two of your request, with regard to your request for any evaluative
research, I am refusing your request under section 18(g) of the Act as the following
information is published on the Ministry’s website:

•  2017 Family Justice: An Administrative Review of Family Justice System Reforms.
You can access the report here: justice.govt.nz/assets/Family-Justice-Administrative-
review-2017-FINAL.pdf

•  2016 Family Justice reforms: An Initial Cohort Analysis.
You can access the report here: justice.govt.nz/assets/FJ-Cohort-analyisis-FINAL.pdf

•  2015 Evaluation of Family Dispute Resolution Service and Mandatory Self-
representation.
You can access the report here: justice.govt.nz/assets/Evaluation-of-Family-Dispute-
Resolution-Service-and-Manadatory-Self-representation.pdf

•  2009 Evaluation of Parenting Through Separation Programme.
You can access the report here: justice.govt.nz/assets/Evaluation-of-Parenting-
Through-Separation-Programme.pdf

OIA 104607

I would like to know:

1.  The total number of referrals made to the FDR since 2013 until 2023 (per year) and
the costs of the total referrals (per year) to the taxpayers and the parents

2.  The total costs and payments made to "Fair Way Resolution Limited" and "Family
Dispute Resolution Centre Ltd" "Family Works" and any other FDR service providers.
The breakdown of the payments / costs per year (from year 2013 to 2023).

3.  The outcome of the total FDR referrals as per the reasons below:
1.  FDR is inappropriate for the dispute because:
o  At least one of the parties to the family dispute, or a child of one of the
parties, has been subject to domestic violence by one of the other parties
to the dispute.
o  At least one of the parties to the family dispute is unable to participate
effectively in family dispute resolution. The reasons are listed below:
o  A situation exists which means that family dispute resolution is
inappropriate for the parties to the family dispute.
2.  One party did not attend or continue to attend family dispute resolution

4.  Also I would like to know if there are any existing evaluative researches have been
conducted to measure the KPI's / outcomes / statistics of the FDR service and we
require copies of any researches/studies and if not available, any plans to conduct
any researches or studies and when?

In response to parts one and two of your request, Family Dispute Resolution (FDR) is an out
of court service, whereby parties primarily engage with a supplier directly. However, parties
can also be directed to undergo FDR by the Family Court.

Please note that a Court direction does not mean that the parties engage with FDR suppliers
following the Court referral, or that parties had not already engaged in FDR prior to the Court
referral.

As a result, in response to your request asking for the total number of referrals to the FDR
service, we have provided a count of all FDR assessments, grouped by Financial Year in
Table 5, overleaf.

Table 5: Count of all Family Dispute Resolution assessments

Financial Year

2013/14
2014/15
2015/16
2016/17
2017/18

Dispute
108
2,593
3,872
4,171
4,159
Assessment

Count

2018/19
2019/20
2020/21
2021/22
2022/23

4,290
4,061
4,273
3,752
2,967

Table 5 Notes:

•  Data has been drawn from a live database as at 29 May 2023. The database is
subject to change, as new data is continually recorded and/or recoded.
•  Data for the 2013/14 Financial Year is not a full 12-month period, as records began on
17 April 2014.
•  Data for the 2022/23 Financial Year is not a full 12-month period, with data only until 1
May 2023.
•  One assessment is counted per Financial Year for each Dispute.

•  A Dispute ID can be counted in multiple Financial Years but only counted once in
each Financial Year.
•  This data includes all unique Disputes that attended a Family Dispute Resolution
Assessment, Preparation for Mediation, and/or Mediation.

In response to the costs of the referrals to the parents, I must advise that there are three
different types of funding scenarios for FDR:
•  fully funded Disputes
•  mixed funded Disputes; and
•  partially funded Disputes.

The Ministry does not hold information on payments to FDR suppliers made by non-funded
or partially funded parties. I am therefore refusing this part of your request under section
18(g)(i) of the Act as this information is not held by the Ministry.

In response to the breakdown of payments made to FDR suppliers from 2013 to 2023,
please refer to Table 6. Please note that the information provided in this table has been
broken down by Financial Year from 2014/15 to 2022/23.

Table 6: Payments made to FDR suppliers

Financial Year
Supplier
2014/15
2015/16
2016/17
2017/18
2018/19
2019/20
2020/21
2021/22
2022/23
AMINZ
$50,000
$5,000
$10,000
$35,000





Canterbury
Family
Dispute
$977
$4,935
$11,900
$13,440
$7,200




Resolution
Service
Dispute
Resolution HB

$940
$2,615
$1,440





Limited
Fair Way
Resolution
$1,403,585
$1,972,905
$2,578,248
$3,265,890
$3,265,243
$3,726,476
$3,440,454
$3,741,827
$3,206,365
Limited
Family
Dispute
$13,184
$36,481



$75,838

$499,110

Resolution
Centre Ltd
Interpreting
New Zealand




$324




Inc
LEADR and
IAMA /
$45,000








Resolution
Institute
NZ Family
Dispute


$68,654
$89,994
$723,735
$944,103
$878,841
$1,172,875
$1,076,065
Resolution
Centre Ltd
NZLS CLE Ltd
$60,000
$5,000
$40,000
$4,348





Out of Court



$480





Limited

Financial Year
Supplier
2014/15
2015/16
2016/17
2017/18
2018/19
2019/20
2020/21
2021/22
2022/23
Presbyterian
Support
$558,945
$689,253
$962,493
$1,084,142
$929,894
$758,249
$935,884
$57,008

Northern
Presbyterian
Support
Northern

$6,000



$346,337



(Family Works
Northern)
Resolution

$15,000
$40,000
$5,000





Institute
Tim Clarke

$705
$3,439
$8,080
$960




Financial
adjustments
-$58,733
$156,623
$68,679
-$12,147
$80,887
-$490,522
$605,000
-$29,465
-$575,535
and accruals
Total
$2,072,958
$3,289,497
$4,403,619
$5,259,095
$5,711,188
$6,205,986
$6,501,727
$6,074,991
$4,214,380

Table 6 Notes:

•  Data for the 2022/23 Financial Year is not a full 12-month period, with data only until April 2023.
•  Records are provided from the 2014/15 Financial Year as Suppliers began delivering following the enactment of the Family Dispute Act
in September 2013.
•  Financial adjustments and accruals have been included to provide context for the total funding paid to suppliers per Financial Year.

In response to part three of your request, we have interpreted that you wanted to know
reasons why FDR did not go ahead. Please refer to Table 7 for a count of all disputes that
went through FDR and were deemed 'Withdrawn'. These have been grouped by Financial
Year and ‘Withdrawn Reason’ (such as administration withdrawal, agreement to mediate not
signed, and joint withdrawal by all parties).

Table 7: A count of all disputes that went through FDR and were deemed ‘Withdrawn'

Financial Year

Withdrawn
2013/14
2014/15
2015/16
2016/17
2017/18

Reason



Administration
6
295
751
813
563
withdrawal

Agreement to
Mediate not

7
6

signed

Joint withdrawal

10
98
89
82
by all parties

Withdrawn

2018/19
2019/20
2020/21
2021/22
2022/23
Reason

Administration
634
579
653
705
489

withdrawal

Agreement to

Mediate not
1
3
1
1
4

signed

Joint withdrawal
121
158
140
174
118

by all parties

Table 7 Notes:

•  A dispute ID can be counted multiple times in the same Financial Year if multiple
withdrawn events occur where the withdrawal reason is different. In these cases, the
dispute ID will be counted in all withdrawal reason groups recorded under that
particular ID.
•  This includes all disputes that were withdrawn at the FDR Assessment, FDR
Preparation for Mediation, or FDR Mediation stages.

In response to part four of your request, with regard to your request for any evaluative
research, please see my response provided earlier in this letter to OIA 104602, listing the
relevant work publicly available on the Ministry’s website.

Please note that this response, with your personal details removed, may be published on the
Ministry website at: justice.govt.nz/about/official-information-act-requests/oia-responses/

If you are not satisfied with this response, you have the right to make a complaint to the
Office of the Ombudsman under section 28(3) of the Act. The Office of the Ombudsman may
be contacted by email to [email address] or by phone on 0800 802 602.

Nāku noa, nā

Donella Gawith
Group Manager, Commissioning & Service Improvement