There is a high threshold for action on reports of concern in the region. Professionals often don’t hear back from Oranga Tamariki, leading to ongoing concern about the safety of and .
Summary of our visit to Lower South
We met with 414 people in the Lower South area in February 2026. Read the summary of our findings by downloading the PDF or reading the content below.
69,700 |
and in the region* |
|
3,270 |
had a report of concern about their safety or wellbeing | |
1,580 |
had a report of concern that progressed to a core assessment** | |
50 |
had a police proceeding*** | |
350 |
were in custody and care | |
310 |
were in care and protection | |
40 |
were in youth justice custody | |
* Total population from Stats NZ 2023 Census, ages 0–18. All other data provided by Oranga Tamariki for January–December 2025.
** As the outcome of a report of concern was that further action was required.
*** NZ Police data January–December 2025.
There is a shortage of services across the region, particularly for and requiring mental health or disability support. Long waitlists for assessments and diagnosis can delay tamariki and rangatahi accessing appropriate support. Having to travel to access services can be a further barrier for tamariki, rangatahi and who live rurally.
There are limited youth justice placements, only one bail home and no secure youth justice residence in the region. This often results in being placed out of region, away from and support.
Police are seeing an increasing number of and appearing in the youth justice system, who they earlier and repeatedly made known to Oranga Tamariki for care and protection concerns.
Care placements are in short supply throughout the region due to difficulties recruiting caregivers, a shortage of specialised group homes and funding constraints at Oranga Tamariki resulting in a resistance to using fee for service placements. This can result in and being placed in motels, or far away from .
The lack of services extends to youth justice, with challenges accessing support to help reduce reoffending and meet court ordered conditions, including supervision with activity and mentoring.
Rangatahi
“[I] was in a motel for two weeks. I wasn't feeding myself. I was an hour and half walk from anywhere, police station was near me. Constantly on alert.”
Health kaimahi
“[ROCs] don’t even make it through to the local [Oranga Tamariki] team. Like [this] is not a big region we know who our local families are, but [ROCs] don’t make it to the local team to put that context in place. That’s the huge risk.”
Oranga Tamariki leader
“None of the placement options are available here. There is an absolute loss for who have to move away. When you talk about return home, how do you do that when kids are three hours this way or two hours that way. That’s the context of rural social work when your resources are not available in your community.”
NGO leader
“[The family] couldn’t get the services. It’s not an even playing field. A child in town gets counselling and mentoring and the rural child can’t get that.”
Whānau member
“The services, there is nothing here … we had one [service] where he would go one hour a week, we got funded and he really engaged in that, and we got really close with the team [there]. We got funding from Ministry so he could go there for one hour a day which isn’t enough education for [a child of that age], at that time he needed to be in full time education. Being out of school for so long, he lost all his social skills and behaviour got worse.”
Police officer
“Last week a young boy … was arrested for a series of offending. We told Oranga Tamariki there was care and protection worries for this young man, they said that now he is arrested it is a youth justice concern and will become a court issue. This boy was brought up at this meeting every month for a year, his name was on that list every time and now he’s in YJ for offending.”
This data is the most recent available in the IDI and covers the 2023 calendar year.
| Involved with OT Regional | Involved with OT National | No OT involvement Regional | |
|---|---|---|---|
| GP visit in last year (aged 0–17) | 77% | 71% | 76% |
| Emergency department visit in the last year | 28% | 25% | 17% |
| Used secondary3 public mental health and addiction services in the last year (aged 14–17) | 33% | 30% | 7% |
| Attended primary/intermediate school regularly (90%+ attendance) | 47% | 42% | 67% |
| Attended secondary school regularly (90%+ attendance) | 32% | 28% | 54% |
| Attained NZQCF4 Level 2 or higher by age 18 | 67% | 66% | 92% |
Outcomes for young adults aged 18–25 who recently exited care or custody5
This data is the most recent available in the IDI and covers the 2023 calendar year.
| Involved with OT Regional | Involved with OT National | No OT involvement Regional | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hold a driver licence | 31% | 25% | 74% |
| On main benefit in the last year | 30% | 29% | 2% |
| Used emergency housing in the last year | 3% | 7% | <1% |
| 65% | of reports of concern were found to require a very urgent6 response timeframe. The national average is 59%. |
| 34% | of reports of concern referred to sites with an outcome of further action required by the National Contact Centre had further action taken. The national average is 37%. |
| 24% | of and in Oranga Tamariki custody in the region are in a placement. The national average is more than one and a half times higher at 38%. |
| 24% | of police proceedings against rangatahi who have offended resulted in a warning. The national average is 17%. |
| 60% | of rangatahi arrested by police were bailed to the district or youth court. The national average is 48%. |
| 46% | of rangatahi in youth justice custody are in a residence placement. The national average is 56%. |
1 These are not official statistics. They have been created for research purposes from the Integrated Data Infrastructure (IDI) which is carefully managed by Stats NZ. For more information about the IDI please visit https://www.stats.govt.nz/integrated-data/. Statistics are taken from the most recent (2023) dataset.
2 Outcomes for and who had been involved with Oranga Tamariki in some way in the past year and those who had not. Involvement includes a report of concern, receiving a care and protection or youth justice intervention, or being in care or youth justice custody.
3 This measure does not include primary healthcare settings, such as GP consults, which may also address mental health or addiction issues.
4 For many this will be NCEA level 2 or 3 attained at secondary school. For others, it may be a certificate or diploma from other education providers.
5 Outcomes for rangatahi aged 18-25 who recently exited care or custody and were eligible for Transition Support Services (recently exited care) and those who have never been involved with Oranga Tamariki (no involvement).
6 When Oranga Tamariki determine a report of concern requires a statutory response, it must decide the timeframe to complete an assessment. A very urgent response timeframe requires a follow-up within 48 hours. practice.orangatamariki.govt.nz/core-practice/practice-tools/intake-decision-response-tool/report-of-concern-response-timeframe