IN-CONFIDENCE

OIA-CE-2025-02995
23 July 2025

Eve Butcher
[email address]
[FYI request #31443 email]

Tēnā koe Eve

Thank you for your email, received on 29 June 2025, to Oranga Tamariki—Ministry for
Children  (Oranga  Tamariki)  requesting  information  on  children  being  taken  into
Oranga Tamariki care and children and young people who have committed suicide
while in Oranga Tamariki care. Your request has been considered under the Official
Information Act 1982 (the Act).

I have responded to each of your requests below.

•  How many children were uplifted in recent years per year without a court
order at the time of uplift?

Please note Oranga Tamariki does not use the term “uplift” to refer to tamariki and
rangatahi being brought into Oranga Tamariki care and custody.

Not all instances of tamariki and rangatahi being brought into care are  undertaken
through court orders. For example, temporary (section 139) and extended (section
140)  care  agreements  can be entered into  without  a  Court  order  by  the  mutual
agreement  of  Oranga  Tamariki  and  the  parents  or  guardians  of  children  if  those
parents  or  guardians  are  temporally  unwil ing  or  unable  to  provide  care. More
information on these care agreements can be found on the Oranga Tamariki Practice
Centre website here.

In  addition,  section 39  of  the  Oranga  Tamariki  Act  1989 relates  to place  of  safety
warrants. A warrant can be executed to place a child into the custody of the Chief
Executive if there are  sufficient  grounds  to  believe  a  child  may  be  at  risk  of
maltreatment, neglect, harm, abuse or deprivation. Tamariki and rangatahi who enter
care under a section 39 Place of Safety warrant can only remain in care for up to five
days  under  the  warrant, after  which  they  must  either  be  discharged from  care,  or
remain in care under another care order granted by a Court.

The Family Court can also issue warrants under section 40 of the Oranga Tamariki
Act. While section 39 and section 40 warrants require the approval of a District Court
Judge or, if no District Court Judge is available, a Family Court Associate or other

IN-CONFIDENCE

appropriate issuing officer, they are not considered to be a court order but rather a
warrant.

There are two further sections of the Oranga Tamariki Act which can result in children
or young people entering care without a court order, both of which can only be used
by Police. A section 42 warrant enables Police to remove children directly and place
them in the care of Oranga Tamariki if they believe it is critically necessary to protect
a child from injury or death. Section 48 of the Oranga Tamariki Act enables Police to
place children into care if no parents or guardians wil ing to care for the child or young
person can be located, or if the child or young person is unwil ing to return to the care
of their parents, guardians, or usual caregivers.

Outside of these cases, tamariki and rangatahi cannot be brought into the custody of
Oranga Tamariki without an appropriate agreement, warrant, or order agreed by the
Family Court or Youth Court.

As we have interpreted your question to relate to the custody of children for care and
protection rather than for youth justice reasons, we have provided data on how many
instances of section 39 (s39), section 40 (s40), section 42 (s42), section 48 (s48),
section 139 (s139), or section 140 (s140) agreements or warrants have been used
since 1 April 2017 (the date of establishment of Oranga Tamariki). This information
has been provided in the table below.

Please note the numbers provided do not necessarily represent distinct tamariki or
rangatahi. An individual may have two or more entry episodes in the reporting period
and may therefore be counted more than once.

Year
s39
s40
s42
s48
s139
s140
2017
384
1
73
362
417
50
2018
310
0
98
290
351
51
2019
237
3
40
336
332
49
2020
147
0
32
266
267
67
2021
118
0
37
265
270
63
2022
147
0
24
273
204
38
2023
161
0
35
295
191
35
2024
240
0
39
365
210
53
2025
69
0
16
154
127
13
Total
1813
4
394
2606
2369
419

Please note that the information for 2025 is from 1 January to 30 June 2025.

•  How many children and young persons committed suicide after being
removed from an unsafe environment by O.T?

Please find below a table outlining the number of confirmed and suspected suicides
for children and young people in the custody of Oranga Tamariki by year.

IN-CONFIDENCE

Year
Suspected suicides
Confirmed suicides
2017
0
0
2018
0
1
2019
0
2
2020
0
0
2021
0
0
2022
2
0
2023
0
0
2024
0
0

Please  note  that  confirmed  suicides  are  ruled  by  the  Coroner,  while  suspected
suicides  are  based  on  preliminary  post-mortem  assessments  made  by  the  New
Zealand Police.

Please note that, as advised in the response above, tamariki and rangatahi can be
brought into the custody of the Chief Executive for a number of reasons, not just due
to unsafe situations. In some cases, the circumstances that lead to a child or young
person entering care may also be a factor contributing to thier risk of sucide. We are
unable to advise which of the tamariki or rangatahi who have or are suspected to have
committed suicide while in the care of Oranga Tamariki were brought into care due to
concerns for their safety or wellbeing, as this information is private to the individuals
involved. As such, this part of your request is refused under section 9(2)(a) of the Act.

Any child or young person in care who may be at risk of suicide is monitored by the
Towards  Wellbeing  Programme,  through  which  clinicians  with  expertise  in  suicide
prevention  support  individual  Oranga  Tamariki  social  workers  in  a  way  that  helps
protect against suicide risk.

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

Simon Harding
Chief Advisor
Tamariki and Whānau Services

Document Outline