IN-CONFIDENCE

OIA-CE-2024-02645
21 November 2024

Rodney Parsons
[FYI request #28869 email]

Tēnā koe Rodney

Thank you for your email, received on 22 October 2024, to Oranga Tamariki—Ministry
for Children (Oranga Tamariki) requesting information on the rates of forcible removal
of infants from their mothers. Your request has been considered under the Official
Information Act 1982 (the Act).

You have requested:

•
Information on the rates of forcible removal of infants from their mothers in
the first year of life in New Zealand, both nationally and by region. Outline
how these differ by ethnicity. Also outline the rate of removal of infants’
whist in hospital, providing numbers by hospital/region.
•
Oranga Tamariki’s policy on the safety management of unborn infants and
efforts made to prevent forcible removal of infants before and after birth.
Outline the policy/process related to the removal of infants in hospital, and
whether families are informed of the removal before this occurs.
•
Outline the risk assessment tools that are used to assess the risk of
unborn infants, and what steps Oranga Tamariki has taken to try and
ensure that these are not a product of racist/culturally unsafe assessments
by health or social services workers.

To  clarify, “forcible  infant removal” is  not a  term that is  used  by  Oranga Tamariki,
although  we  understand  that  it  is  commonly  used  to  refer  to  when  tamariki  and
rangatahi come into the care of the Chief Executive of Oranga Tamariki, particularly
when urgent or emergency entries to care occur.

It is expected  that any decision  to seek the care or custody of tamariki is made in
collaboration with their whānau or family, who should be given extensive opportunities
to participate in the decision-making process. Only in circumstances where tamariki
may suffer serious injury, undue hardship, or risk to personal safety should this action
be taken with urgency.

Section 78 of the Oranga Tamariki Act 1989 (the Act) allows  for the Court to place
tamariki in the interim care of Oranga Tamariki when there are immediate concerns
for their safety and wellbeing. Section 48 of the Act provides Police with the authority
to take urgent action to ensure the safety of tamariki and rangatahi.

IN-CONFIDENCE

Urgent or emergency action is only used to secure the safety and wellbeing of tamariki
when  all  other  intervention  options have been  considered.  Decisions  to  carry  out
emergency actions are made through robust practice consultation with the supervisor
and practice leader, using the child and family consult. Actions under section 78 of the
Act must be approved by a Judge, and this is not a decision that is made solely by
Oranga  Tamariki.  Legislative and  practice  requirements  require us to ensure that
alternatives to prevent entry to  care  are  explored  fully  and  all  possible  means of
supporting the child to live  safely with their parents or wider  (extended) whānau  or
family are considered.

Further information regarding use of section 78 of the Oranga Tamariki Act 1989 to
take urgent action to ensure the safety of tamariki and rangatahi can be found on the
Oranga Tamariki Practice Centre here.

I have responded to each part of your request below:

Information on the rates of forcible removal of infants from their mothers in the
first year of life in New Zealand, both nationally and by region. Outline how these
differ by ethnicity. Also outline the rate of removal of infants’ whist in hospital,
providing numbers by hospital/region.

Removing a child from their parents or caregivers can be a significant and traumatic
event and we work to ensure these actions are carried out in a manner that minimises
trauma to the child and ensures an agreed plan for meeting their well-being needs.

Whilst in some cases it is necessary to bring infants into care from a hospital setting
to ensure their immediate  safety and wellbeing,  Oranga  Tamariki  is  very cautious
about doing so and we explore every other option to secure safety before considering
executing a custody order in a hospital setting for an infant.

Oranga Tamariki routinely monitors its practice in bringing unborn and newborn babies
into care under section 78 of the Oranga Tamariki Act 1989, and we make the findings
of this work publicly  available on our website. I note your request seeks information
about babies in  their  first  year  of  life  –  please  note  that  our  monitoring,  and  the
information noted below, relates specifically  to section 78 entries to care for unborn
and newborn babies under 30 days old.

The  volume  of  section  78  orders  made  for  unborn  and  newborn  babies  annually
reduced significantly between 2016/17 and 2020/21 and has remained stable at this
lower level for the past four years. This reduction in care orders is in line with, but more
pronounced than, reductions in care entries across all age groups since 2016/17.

Our ongoing monitoring of practice with unborn and newborn babies has identified a
number of areas in which practice improvements have been made over the last four
years.  These  include  early  engagement  with  families  and  whānau,  high rates of
whānau searching to provide babies with every opportunity to be cared for within their
family/whānau,  and  support  services  being  offered  or  provided  with  a  focus  on
preventing the need for removal of babies from their parents and/or family/whānau.

IN-CONFIDENCE

Our most recent review covered the 19-month period between 1 September 2022 and
31 March 2024. Over this period, a total of 72 babies under 30 days old entered the
custody of Oranga Tamariki under a section 78 order. Forty-three were pēpi Māori (60
percent), 23 were of New Zealand European/Other ethnicity (32 percent), one was a
Pacific  pēpi  (one percent) and  five identified  as of both Māori and  Pacific  ethnicity
(seven percent).

At the time of the section 78 order being made, 42 of these babies (58 percent) were
able to remain in the care of their parent(s) and/or family/whānau following the section
78 custody order being granted. This was notably higher for the pēpi Māori reviewed,
with 32 (74 percent) of pēpi Māori remaining in the care of parent(s) and/or whānau.
In only 17 cases the baby was removed from the care of their parent(s) and whānau
in a hospital setting.

For further information on the findings of this monitoring work please refer to Appendix
A of the Oranga Tamariki Annual Report 2023/24, which is publicly available here.

In your request you have  asked  Oranga  Tamariki  for  numbers  to be provided by
hospital/region. Providing data in response to this part of your request cannot be done
without manually  reviewing  individual  case files, which  would  constitute substantial
collation and have a significant, unreasonable impact on the ability of Oranga Tamariki
to carry out its key responsibilities. As such, this part of your request is refused under
section 18(f) of the Act as the the information requested cannot be made available
without substantial collation or research.

Oranga Tamariki’s  policy on the safety management of unborn infants and efforts
made to prevent forcible removal of infants before and after birth. Outline the
policy/process related to the removal of infants in hospital, and whether families
are informed of the removal before this occurs.

Quality  assessment  ensures  our  decision-making  responds  to  the  individual
immediate and long-term needs of all tamariki and rangatahi we work with. Information
regarding our assessment policy can be found here. Information regarding our policy
for without notice applications for interim custody of tamariki or rangatahi under section
78 of the Act can be found here.

Information on how Oranga Tamariki works more generally can be found here.

When we receive a report of concern for an unborn or newborn baby, we work with
families  and  whānau  using  the  same  processes  we  use  for  all  assessments or
interventions with additional  considerations  to strengthen our response. Information
on how Oranga Tamariki works with unborn and newborn babies can be found here.
Our monitoring found that in 96% of cases where a newborn baby was removed from
their  parents and  whānau  following  the section  78  order, there was  evidence  that
provisions had been made for parent(s) and whānau to spend dedicated time before
baby was removed from their care.

In 92% of cases reviewed where a section 78 order was granted, there was evidence
of  either  breastfeeding,  or  opportunities  for  skin-to-skin  contact,  bonding  and
attachment  between  mother  and  baby.  In  cases  where  this  did  not  occur,  the

IN-CONFIDENCE

circumstances  included  plans  changing  quickly  post-birth requiring intervention to
ensure the physical  safety of baby, admission of baby to NICU (Neonatal Intensive
Care Unit), and mum self-discharging from the maternity unit.

Outline the risk assessment tools that are used to assess the risk of unborn
infants, and what steps Oranga Tamariki has taken to try and ensure that these
are not a product of racist/culturally unsafe assessments by health or social
services workers.

The Oranga Tamariki Practice Framework guides our social work practice, helps us
advocate  for doing  the  right  things  for  tamariki,  rangatahi  and their whānau.  The
framework helps us explore what is happening in each practice encounter and guides
us to consider the various and sometimes conflicting views and information we gather
when making risk assessments. Further information regarding the Oranga Tamariki
Practice Framework can be found here.

In  addition,  quality  assessment  ensures  our  decision-making  responds  to  the
individual immediate and long-term needs of all tamariki and rangatahi we work with.
Information on regarding Oranga Tamariki assessments 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  at www.ombudsman.parliament.nz
or by contacting them on 0800 802 602.

Nāku noa, nā

Nicolette Dickson
Te Tumu Tauwhiro Chief Social Worker
Deputy Chief Executive Professional Practice Group

Document Outline