11 June 2024
Freda Sole
[email address]
Tēnā koe Freda
Thank you for your email, received on 16 May 2024, to Oranga Tamariki—Ministry for
Children (Oranga Tamariki), requesting information about financial incentives for staff
when children are uplifted. Your request has been considered under the Official
Information Act 1982 (the Act).
You have requested:
Does OT branch, manager, or staff member/s get paid extra (incentives) specifically
for when a child gets uplifted? Or is anyone paid extra financially for uplifted kids?
The term ‘uplift’ is commonly used to refer to when tamariki and rangatahi come into the
care of the Oranga Tamariki Chief Executive; this is not a term used in Oranga Tamariki.
Under no circumstances does Oranga Tamariki make payments of any kind in relation to
decisions regarding tamariki and rangatahi who come into the care of the Oranga
Tamariki Chief Executive. Oranga Tamariki employees are paid a salary and do not
receive additional renumeration (financial or otherwise).
Decisions about when a tamariki and rangatahi who come into care are guided by the
Oranga Tamariki Act 1989 (the Act) that has specific legislative requirements that include
recognising that the primary responsibility for caring for and nurturing tamariki lies with
their family, whānau, hapū, iwi, or family group. The Act also requires that support should
be provided to families to reduce the risk of a child being removed from their parents,
they should only be removed if they are at serious risk of harm and if they are removed,
they should be cared for within their family or whānau wherever possible.
It may also be helpful to put into context that the majority of children and young people
in the custody of Oranga Tamariki are placed in the care of their family or whānau.
Oranga Tamariki policies and guidelines support social workers to apply these principles
when working with families and make it clear that we must, wherever possible provide
support to families and whānau to prevent children coming into care if there are
alternative ways of ensuring their safety or wellbeing.
Oranga Tamariki do not have the ability to remove a child from their parents care against
their wishes without orders of the Court. Oranga Tamariki are required to provide
evidence to support any application to the Family Court and the Court must be satisfied
that there is evidence that a child would be at risk of serious harm before they can make
an order authorising Oranga Tamariki to remove a child. Further information can be
found
here.
Please note, if a member of the public holds any concerns about decisions regarding
children coming into the care of Oranga Tamariki we would encourage them to please
contact our Feedback and Complaints Team on 0508 326 459 or further information can
be found
here.
Oranga Tamariki may make the information contained in this letter available to the public
by publishing this on our website with your personal details removed.
I trust you find this information useful. Should you have any concerns with this response,
I would encourage you to raise them with Oranga Tamariki. Alternatively, you are advised
of your right to also raise any concerns with the Office of the Ombudsman. Information
about this is available a
t www.ombudsman.parliament.nz or by contacting them on 0800
802 602.
Nāku noa, nā
Nicolette Dickson
Deputy Chief Executive
Quality Practice and Experiences
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