Reports or reviews resulting from death or abuse of a child or children
M Cook made this Official Information request to Oranga Tamariki—Ministry for Children
This request has an unknown status. We're waiting for M Cook to read a recent response and update the status.
From: M Cook
Dear Oranga Tamariki—Ministry for Children,
Please provide me with a list of reports or reviews written as a consequence of the death or abuse of a specific child or children known to Oranga Tamariki and its predecessor agencies from 1980 to the present day.
The responsible agencies are the:
Department of Social Welfare
NZ Children and Young Persons Service
Children, Young Persons and their Families Agency
Department of Child, Youth and Family Services
Child Youth and Family within the Ministry of Social Development
Ministry for Vulnerable Children Oranga Tamariki.
Please include in the list reports or reviews that are not publicly available and where provision of information about them has to be limited for privacy reasons. In these cases, please provide the report's date, its subject event (e.g. death of a child), the date on which the event occurred, who prepared the report and their position (e.g. the author's job title).
I understand that it may not be possible to provide a complete list of reports/reviews for earlier decades. Please list what is known and note in the list where the information available is incomplete.
Yours faithfully,
M Cook
From: OIA_Requests (OT)
IN-CONFIDENCE
Tēnā koe M Cook,
I am writing to acknowledge receipt of your request for information about
Reports or reviews resulting from death or abuse of a Child or Children
under the Official Information Act 1982.
We will endeavour to respond to you as soon as possible, and in any case,
no later than 31^st January 2024, being 20 working days from our receipt
of your request on 12^th December 2023, as provided for under the Act.
If we are unable to respond to your request within those 20 working days,
we will notify you of an extension to that timeframe.
Nāku noa, nā
Ministerial Support
PO Box 546, Wellington 6140
* E: [1]OIA [email address]
------------------------------- This email message is intended solely for
the person or entity to which it is addressed. The information it contains
may be confidential and legally privileged. Any retransmission,
dissemination or other sharing of the contents of this email with
unauthorised persons may be unlawful. If you are not the intended
recipient, please notify us immediately and destroy all copies of this
email. Thank you. Oranga Tamariki-Ministry for Children accepts no
responsibility for changes made to this email or to any attachments after
transmission. ------------------------------
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From: M Cook
Dear OIA_Requests (OT),
I'm interested that you nominate the 31st of January as '20 working days' from December 13th. On what basis are you counting working days?
Yours sincerely,
M Cook
From: OIA_Requests (OT)
IN-CONFIDENCE
Kia ora M Cook,
The 20 working days due date factors in the Summer holidays of the Ombudsman office (December 25th - 15th January 2024)
https://www.ombudsman.parliament.nz/
Ngâ mihi
Ministerial Support | Quality Practice and Experiences | National Office
The Aurora Centre, 56 – 66 The Terrace, Wellington
PO Box 546, Wellington 6140
show quoted sections
From: OIA_Requests (OT)
IN-CONFIDENCE
Kia ora,
Thank you for your email of 12 December 2023 to Oranga Tamariki—Ministry
for Children (Oranga Tamariki), requesting the following information:
Please provide me with a list of reports or reviews written as a
consequence of the death or abuse of a specific child or children known to
Oranga Tamariki and its predecessor agencies from 1980 to the present day.
The responsible agencies are the:
Department of Social Welfare
NZ Children and Young Persons Service
Children, Young Persons and their Families Agency
Department of Child, Youth and Family Services
Child Youth and Family within the Ministry of Social Development
Ministry for Vulnerable Children Oranga Tamariki.
Please include in the list reports or reviews that are not publicly
available and where provision of information about them has to be limited
for privacy reasons. In these cases, please provide the report's date, its
subject event (e.g. death of a child), the date on which the event
occurred, who prepared the report and their position (e.g. the author's
job title).
I understand that it may not be possible to provide a complete list of
reports/reviews for earlier decades. Please list what is known and note in
the list where the information available is incomplete.
Your request is being considered under the Official Information Act 1982
(the Act).
The wide scope of your request has returned a large amount of material.
When a child under Oranga Tamariki care tragically dies as a result of
abuse, there are processes and procedures that must be followed to ensure
that accurate records are made and the appropriate reviews are undertaken.
This involves multiple teams at Oranga Tamariki working through the
material, using different systems to record the information. A search of
the word ‘record,’ for example, yields a significant volume of types of
records which may or may not be relevant for your request.
Due to the large volume of documents contained in these systems, a lot of
material is not easily retrievable in a manner in that we could provide
the requested information to you. Also, please note that since 1980 there
have also been many changes in our procedures around the recording and
storing of such information, which also makes the retrieval of these
records difficult.
We are offering you the opportunity to refine your request. If you wish to
ask for more specific documents and for a narrower timeframe, we may be
able to retrieve some information for your request.
Please note that if we do not receive a response from you with a
refinement by 12pm, Tuesday 23 January your request is likely to be
refused in full under section 18(f) of the Act as the information
requested currently cannot be made available without substantial collation
or research.
Please note that a refined request could still be refused under section
18(f) of the Act where the refined request yields significant volumes of
records.
Nâku noa, nâ
Ministerial Support
PO Box 546, Wellington 6140
* E: [1]OIA [email address]
[2]Text Description automatically generated
------------------------------- This email message is intended solely for
the person or entity to which it is addressed. The information it contains
may be confidential and legally privileged. Any retransmission,
dissemination or other sharing of the contents of this email with
unauthorised persons may be unlawful. If you are not the intended
recipient, please notify us immediately and destroy all copies of this
email. Thank you. Oranga Tamariki-Ministry for Children accepts no
responsibility for changes made to this email or to any attachments after
transmission. ------------------------------
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1. mailto:[email address]
From: M Cook
Dear OIA_Requests (OT),
Thank you for your reply to my OIA request. I note that you sent your reply on 19 January, the Friday before a long weekend and allowed me half a working day following the long weekend to respond - I don't think this makes a lot of sense.
I asked for:
a list of reports or reviews written as a consequence of the death or abuse of a specific child or children known to Oranga Tamariki and its predecessor agencies from 1980 to the present day.
I can immediately limit my request by asking for 'reports and reviews that were publicly released resulting from death or serious abuse' rather than 'reports and reviews related to the death or abuse'.
Reducing the time period would be possible if you let me know to which date records have been deposited with Archives New Zealand (ANZ). Have, for example, all records up to 2000 been deposited? If you would please send me that information I will adjust my request accordingly.
In relation to reports and reviews that are held by ANZ, I understand that section 14 of the Official Information Act allows Oranga Tamariki to transfer an OIA request to another government agency if they hold the relevant records. Would you confirm that this applies to my request? Thank you.
I'm concerned that you are searching for 'records', which not surprisingly resulted in an overwhelming amount of material. Please note that I did not request 'records' related to the death or abuse of a child with whom Oranga Tamariki has had contact. I requested 'reports and reviews'. As noted above, I have now adjusted that to a request for all publicly released reports and reviews related to death or serious abuse of a child.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Yours sincerely,
M Cook
From: OIA_Requests (OT)
Tçnâ koe
Thank you for your email to the Oranga Tamariki Official Information Act
request inbox.
The Ministerial Support team will respond to you as soon as possible.
Please note: This inbox is monitored 8am – 4pm, Monday to Friday
(excluding Public Holidays).
Nâku noa, nâ
Ministerial Support
PO Box 546, Wellington 6140
* E: [1]OIA [email address]
------------------------------- This email message is intended solely for
the person or entity to which it is addressed. The information it contains
may be confidential and legally privileged. Any retransmission,
dissemination or other sharing of the contents of this email with
unauthorised persons may be unlawful. If you are not the intended
recipient, please notify us immediately and destroy all copies of this
email. Thank you. Oranga Tamariki-Ministry for Children accepts no
responsibility for changes made to this email or to any attachments after
transmission. ------------------------------
References
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1. mailto:[email address]
From: OIA_Requests (OT)
IN-CONFIDENCE
Kia ora M Cook,
Please see the attached correspondence around your Official Information
Act request
Ministerial Support
PO Box 546, Wellington 6140
* E: [1]OIA [email address]
[2]Text Description automatically generated
------------------------------- This email message is intended solely for
the person or entity to which it is addressed. The information it contains
may be confidential and legally privileged. Any retransmission,
dissemination or other sharing of the contents of this email with
unauthorised persons may be unlawful. If you are not the intended
recipient, please notify us immediately and destroy all copies of this
email. Thank you. Oranga Tamariki-Ministry for Children accepts no
responsibility for changes made to this email or to any attachments after
transmission. ------------------------------
References
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1. mailto:[email address]
From: M Cook
Dear OIA_Requests (OT),
Thank you for your letter informing me that the time you require in order to respond to my request is being extended.
I understand that the substance of the request needs more time.
In my message sent January 21st I asked two questions related to limiting my request.
One of those questions concerned the deposition of records with Archives New Zealand:
"Reducing the time period would be possible if you let me know to which date records have been deposited with Archives New Zealand (ANZ). Have, for example, all records up to 2000 been deposited? If you would please send me that information I will adjust my request accordingly."
This information will allow me to further refine my request. I believe the Oranga Tamariki Records Manager will be able to give you the date with little or no delay.
The other question regarded passing on my request to Archives New Zealand:
"In relation to reports and reviews that are held by ANZ, I understand that section 14 of the Official Information Act allows Oranga Tamariki to transfer an OIA request to another government agency if they hold the relevant records. Would you confirm that this applies to my request? Thank you."
If Oranga Tamariki are not able to transfer my request, I will need to contact Archives New Zealand directly. I would appreciate being able to do so as soon as possible, so look forward to your response to this question.
Yours sincerely,
M Cook
From: OIA_Requests (OT)
IN-CONFIDENCE
Kia ora,
Please see our attached response to your request. I apologise for the
length of time taken.
Ngā mihi
Ministerial Support
PO Box 546, Wellington 6140
* E: [1]OIA [email address]
[2]Text Description automatically generated
------------------------------- This email message is intended solely for
the person or entity to which it is addressed. The information it contains
may be confidential and legally privileged. Any retransmission,
dissemination or other sharing of the contents of this email with
unauthorised persons may be unlawful. If you are not the intended
recipient, please notify us immediately and destroy all copies of this
email. Thank you. Oranga Tamariki-Ministry for Children accepts no
responsibility for changes made to this email or to any attachments after
transmission. ------------------------------
References
Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]
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