IR-01-25-17725
30 July 2025
Yasir Shaikh
[FYI request #30931 email]
Tēnā koe Yasir
Request for information
Thank you for your Official Information Act 1982 (OIA) request regarding missing children
dated 8 May 2025 that was sent to Oranga Tamariki and partial y transferred to New
Zealand Police on 13 May 2025.
Please accept my apologies for the delay in responding to you. My response to each of
your question are below:
1.Annual Statistics
a. Total number of children under 16 reported missing each year.
b. Breakdown by age groups (e.g., 0–4, 5–9, 10–13, 14–15).
c. Breakdown by gender.
Table 1 below shows the number of missing alerts relating to children under 16 recorded
by Police as being missing by year and gender for reports made to Police until 31 May
2025. Table 2 shows the same alerts but broken down by age groups.
Note these are a count of instances of a child being reported missing. An individual child
may be reported missing multiple times within a year and/or across years.
Table 1. Number of missing alerts relating to children under 16 recorded by Police as being missing
by year and gender, to 31 May 2025.
Missing Alert Start Date Female
Male
Unknown
Total:
2015
2,629
2,962
0
5,591
2016
3,211
2,919
0
6,130
2017
2,703
2,852
0
5,555
2018
2,972
2,780
0
5,752
2019
2,784
2,544
1
5,329
2020
1,867
2,093
1
3,961
2021
1,845
2,142
0
3,987
2022
1,837
2,894
2
4,733
Police National Headquarters 180 Molesworth Street. PO Box 3017, Wellington 6140, New Zealand.
Telephone: 04 474 9499. Fax: 04 498 7400. www.police.govt.nz
2023
2,673
2,733
21
5,427
2024
2,509
2,659
18
5,186
2025*
799
947
1
1,747
Total:
25,829
27,525
44
53,398
*Up to 31 May 2025
Table 2. Number of missing alerts relating to children under 16 recorded by Police as being missing
by year and age group, to 31 May 2025.
Missing Alert Start Date \ Age
0-4
5-9
10-13
14-15
Total:
2015
61
109
1,646
3,775
5,591
2016
65
179
1,688
4,198
6,130
2017
55
174
1,972
3,354
5,555
2018
75
175
1,975
3,527
5,752
2019
73
197
1,582
3,477
5,329
2020
58
151
1,291
2,461
3,961
2021
32
101
1,288
2,566
3,987
2022
33
119
1,632
2,949
4,733
2023
42
159
1,800
3,426
5,427
2024
35
134
1,717
3,300
5,186
2025*
18
53
507
1,169
1,747
Total:
547
1,551
17,098 34,202 53,398
*Up to 31 May 2025
2. Categorized Reasons for Disappearance
a. Number of cases attributed to each of the following categories:
i. Exposure to parental substance abuse (e.g., drugs, alcohol).
ii. Family violence or domestic abuse.
iii. Neglect or inadequate supervision.
iv. Family separation or custody disputes.
v. Other specified reasons (please detail).
Police does not record the reason for the disappearance in the data that is captured.
Therefore, this part of your request is refused under section 18(g) of the OIA, as the
information requested is not held.
4. Recovery Data
a. Number of children recovered each year.
b. Average duration of absence before recovery.
c. Number of cases remaining unresolved each year.
I have interpreted your interest in children recovered as relating to those cases reported
in Table 1. The table below sets out the number of alerts from Table 1 that remain
unexpired as at 1 July 2025. This can be taken as the number who still have an active
missing person alert.
Table 3. Number of alerts from Table 1 that remain unexpired as at 1 July 2025.
Missing Alert
Missing Alert Start Date
remaining unexpired
Missing Alert expired
(Still Missing)
(Recovered)
2015
1
5,590
2016
1
6,129
2017
0
5,555
2018
0
5,752
2019
0
5,329
2020
0
3,961
2021
0
3,987
2022
1
4,732
2023
0
5,427
2024
1
5,185
2025*
2
1,745
Total
6
53,392
*Up to 1 July 2025
The average length of time that alerts in the above Table were active for is 64 hours.
The cases relating to the six identified as stil missing remain the subject of ongoing
Police investigations as at 1 July 2025.
5. Preventative Measures and Protocols
a. Description of current protocols and procedures fol owed when a child is
reported missing.
b. Preventative measures in place to reduce the incidence of missing children.
c. Support services provided to recovered children and their families
To prevent the incidence of missing children, where children are reported missing, a
return to home visit is completed by Youth Services staff within three days of the child
returning home. The purpose of this is to speak with parents, caregivers, whānau and the
child to discuss the circumstances why they were missing, where they were, who they
were with, identify any causes/risks.
If there are any identified issues in the return to home visit a multi-agency plan is
developed alongside whanau to address those issues including appropriate referrals to
community based support services to reduce the likelihood of reoccurrence.
link to page 4
Where a child or young person has been reported missing twice in a week or three times
in a month, or there are serious risks to consider, the management of the child’s case
should be reviewed. Discussion
should take place between Police Youth Services, the
Oranga Tamariki social worker, their supervisor and the practice leader or manager to
establish the underlying causes of this behaviour and develop an appropriate response.
The ‘Missing Persons’ chapter outlines how to take appropriate and effective action into
reports of missing persons. When a person is reported missing, Police wil make
enquiries to locate, or ensure the safety of that person. These enquiries are carried out
under the common law power to make al necessary enquiries to protect and preserve
life.
As part of Police’s commitment to providing transparency and openness, this chapter has
been proactively published on Police’s public-facing website
1. Please note that some
parts of this chapter have been considered not appropriate for release and, if requested,
would be withheld under the OIA. In this chapter, the relevant section of the Act that
would apply have been identified.
The ‘Missing Persons’ chapter also has a detailed section specific to missing children
which wil be of interest to you, from pages 20 to 29. Within in this is a section related to
children missing from Oranga Tamariki as wel .
You have the right to seek an investigation and review by the Ombudsman of this
decision. Information about how to make a complaint is available at
www.ombudsman.parliament.nz or freephone 0800 802 602.
Please note that as part of its commitment to openness and transparency, Police
proactively releases some information and documents that may be of interest to the
public. An anonymised version of this response may be publicly released on the New
Zealand Police website.
Ngā mihi
Zane Kearns
Director Data and Performance Insights (acting)
1
https://www.police.govt.nz/sites/default/files/publications/missing-persons-redacted-150922.pdf
