IN-CONFIDENCE
OIA-CE-2025-02925
4 June 2025
Yasir Shaikh
[FYI request #30931 email]
Tēnā koe Yasir
Thank you for your email, received on 8 May 2025, to Oranga Tamariki—Ministry for
Children (Oranga Tamariki) requesting information on children under the age of 16
reported missing. Your request has been considered under the Official Information Act
1982 (the Act).
Oranga Tamariki has care responsibilities to tamariki and rangatahi that are in the
care, and any incident in which they go missing is treated seriously.
If a tamaiti or rangatahi in our care leaves their usual care arrangement without this
being planned or agreed, we would consider this to be an unauthorised absence if
their location is known or quickly established. If their location is unknown and no-one
significant to them knows where they are, they are considered missing until located,
and until their safety and wellbeing is established. Most missing children or
unauthorised absences are adolescents in care who leave placements to be with
friends or family members, and are located and returned to their normal placements
quickly.
Our staff do everything possible to find tamariki and rangatahi if they become missing
or are in an unauthorised absence, including trying to contact them directly, speaking
with friends and whānau, and visiting possible addresses where they might be.
Alongside seeking to locate missing children, we also report them missing to the
Police. When children or young people in care who have been missing are located
and returned to their usual placements, we aways engage with them to understand
what contributed to their absconding or going missing, and take whatever action is
necessary to keep them safe and reduce the likelihood of them becoming missing
again in the future
You can find our guidance on how we work to prevent unauthorised absences, what
we do when tamariki or rangatahi go missing, and how we go on to support the young
person and understand the reason for their absence on the Oranga Tamariki Practice
Centre websit
e here. You can also find our policy regarding unauthorised absences
and missing persons
here.
IN-CONFIDENCE
Furthermore, please find attached as Appendix One the Joint Protocol for Reporting
and Managing Missing Children and Young People in Care, a protocol between
Oranga Tamariki and New Zealand Police for addressing such issues.
On 13 May 2025, we advised that parts 1, 2, 4, and 5 of your request would be
transferred to New Zealand Police for their response.
I have responded to the remaining part of your request below:
Under the Official Information Act 1982, I request the following information
regarding children under the age of 16 reported missing in New Zealand over
the past five years (from 2020 to 2024):
•
State Care Involvement
o
Number of missing children who were in the care or custody of
Oranga Tamariki at the time of disappearance.
o
Breakdown of reasons for disappearance among children in state
care.
Please find attached as Appendix Two a spreadsheet containing the requested
information. Please note this is a count of Missing Persons reports in our internal case
management system, and does not count cases of Unauthorised Absence, which are
not collected centrally in the same way.
Please also note information regarding reasons for tamariki or rangatahi going missing
or having an unauthorised absence is stored in case notes and other such narrative
fields in CYRAS, our case management system, meaning it cannot be filtered for. In
order to provide this information, a manual review of individual case files would be
required. As such, this part of your request is refused under section 18(f) of the Act,
on the grounds that the information requested cannot be made available without
substantial collation or research.
Oranga Tamariki considered whether to consult with you to refine this request, as
required under section 18B of the Act. However, we do not believe that this would
affect our ability to respond to your request.
Oranga Tamariki also considered whether to apply a reasonable charge for the supply
of information in accordance with section 15(1A) of the Act. However, due to the
uncertainty of whether the information could be released once found, we have decided
that a charge is not appropriate in this instance.
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.
IN-CONFIDENCE
I hope 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
Simon Harding
Chief Advisor
Tamariki and Whānau Services
Document Outline
