Read the summary of our findings by downloading the PDF or reading the content below.
Oranga Tamariki has provided a statement about our findings which can be read by downloading the PDF - Response from Oranga Tamariki.
The Oversight of Oranga Tamariki System Act expanded the scope of our monitoring, beyond care, to the wider oranga tamariki system in 2023. We monitor compliance with the Oranga Tamariki Act and its associated regulations, including the National Care Standards and Related Matters Regulations and the Oranga Tamariki Residential Care Regulations.
There are five youth justice residences in New Zealand. We visited four of these between August and November 2024: Te Maioha o Parekarangi (Rotorua), Whakatakapokai (Auckland - Manurewa), Korowai Manaaki (Auckland – East Tamaki) and Te Puna Wai ō Tuhinapo (Christchurch). We heard from 174 people, including 28 (young people) at the residences, 19 of their (family members), 11 kaimahi (staff) and leaders from VOYCE Whakarongo Mai, 67 kaimahi and 31 leadership team members from residences, and 18 health and education kaimahi.
Our monitoring team had concerns about practices at the residences, including harm to residents caused by other rangatahi or kaimahi. For this reason, after each visit initial observations were provided to Oranga Tamariki, to ensure it had access to information quickly, to support its work programme and address safety concerns. We then analysed what we heard across all these visits and grouped it into themes. We shared this with Oranga Tamariki and the residences themselves. This document summarises that share back.
Since our monitoring visits, Oranga Tamariki has advised that progress has been made, including the appointment of a permanent manager at Whakatakapokai. We are also aware that Mokopuna - Children and Young People's Commission, has completed two visits since ours to Korowai Manaaki, and that some progress has been made to improve the care of rangatahi at this residence. This is reassuring and we look forward to receiving an update on progress.
While Mana Mokopuna monitors youth justice residences, as a place of detention, under the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (OPCAT), youth justice residences are now also part of our regular monitoring schedule. We continue to closely coordinate our monitoring visits with Mana Mokopuna. Given the current environment in residences, having two oversight agencies monitoring, albeit from slightly different perspectives, is a good thing.
NZ Police decide whether and are arrested, charged with an offence or receive diversion. Some tamariki and rangatahi may receive an alternative action via an agreed plan, which may include community work, a letter or apology to the victim and re-enrolling in school or a training course.
Oranga Tamariki manage family group conferences and youth justice residences.
8,486 and (less than 2% of the youth population) were involved in 14,704 Police proceedings
2,109 and attended a youth justice family group conference
584 and had youth justice custody orders during the 12-month period to 30 June 2024
86 percent of with youth justice custody orders were male, 13 percent were female and 1 percent were another gender.
88 percent of with youth justice custody orders were 14 to 17 years old. The age of those with youth justice custody orders ranges from 12 to 19 years old. Only 4 percent were aged less than 14 years old, and 8 percent were 18 years or older.
159 and had youth justice custody orders as at 30 June 2024
Oranga Tamariki reports that 89 percent2 of in youth justice custody are on remand. Increased court volumes, a greater proportion of court cases involving remand in Oranga Tamariki or police custody, and longer custodial remands in 2023/24 have all contributed to an increased demand for youth justice custody beds3.
Of those in youth justice custody for the 12 months to 30 June 2024, 85 percent were in a youth justice residence, nine percent were in community homes, and one percent were in a variety of other placements. For the remaining rangatahi, the placement was not recorded in the data available from Oranga Tamariki. Māori remain significantly over-represented in youth justice custody, accounting for 81 percent of all rangatahi in custody each day3.
The Oranga Tamariki report on Youth Justice Pathways4 states that in the years before a young person’s first youth justice family group conference the majority had had a report of concern made about their safety, around half had been truant from school at some point in their life, and rates of mental health and substance use treatment appeared higher.
go to a youth justice residence for many reasons. They may have been:
There are five youth justice residences in New Zealand:
While the number of rangatahi with youth justice custody orders in the 12 months to 30 June 2024 was 584, the number of rangatahi in custody at any one-time changes, with daily custody numbers peaking at 184 in late-June 2023. Daily custody numbers averaged 160 between July 2023 and March 2024, and 150 between April and June 20245. Staffing shortages reduced operational capacity in residences through 2023/24, which contributed to the decrease in custody numbers.
In 2023, we visited three youth justice residences to inform a review on access to health and dental services, and to test some of our pātai for the new wider monitoring role. These were Te Au Rere a te Tonga (Palmerston North), Whakatakapokai (Auckland) and Te Maioha o Parekarangi (Rotorua) youth justice residences.
Some of the issues we identified then still hadn’t changed 12 months later. This includes a lack of clarity about the purpose of youth justice residences, recruitment challenges, and the need for more practical kaimahi (staff) training.
The Oranga Tamariki Act promotes interventions that support development, stability and the reduction of offending. The youth justice principles in the Act emphasise that should be held accountable in a way that promotes rehabilitation and positive development, ensuring fair and culturally responsive processes. It recognises the importance of , and connections. The Act clearly outlines what , rangatahi and whānau must receive when working with Oranga Tamariki.
Despite this, we heard numerous examples where practice in residences conflicted with the general principles of the Oranga Tamariki Act and associated regulations. For example, while rangatahi should receive a high standard of professional care and have access to well-planned and purposeful activities while in residence, this is not the reality in most residences. Many programmes focus on recreation rather than addressing the underlying causes of offending. We heard of few structured programmes that support behaviour change and emotional regulation. Without programmes, rangatahi told us they can feel bored and angry.
Staff shortages, combined with a lack of training mean many kaimahi do not have the skills or time they need to manage the complex behaviours they are faced with. We heard this is resulting in some staff bribing rangatahi with contraband or bending rules to facilitate compliance for their shift. When a lack of staffing results in activities or visits being cancelled, it can result in frustration and harmful behaviour from rangatahi.
Oranga Tamariki states that “residences provide a safe, secure and supportive environment where rangatahi can get their lives back on track and improve their prospects for the future”. While we heard examples of this practice, it was not the reality for some rangatahi. We heard many examples from rangatahi across residences of not experiencing a safe, supportive stable environment. These included the presence of contraband on site, being involved in violence, witnessing violence, lack of access to meaningful programmes, not being supported in a professional manner, and not being supported appropriately during times of distress.
As we reported in Experiences of Care in 2023/24, there is an increased risk of harm in secure residences. We acknowledge the focus by Oranga Tamariki to improve recording of harm, but we also acknowledge the “no snitch culture” that is preventing rangatahi from always reporting abuse when it occurs. While some residences are trying to change this, it generally means that rangatahi are happy to complain about food or access to phone calls, but they will not speak up when they are being bullied, threatened or physically abused.
What we hear, and what the data shows, is that a high level of physical abuse is occurring in residences. It is mostly inflicted by rangatahi on each other - sometimes at the instigation of kaimahi. This often leads to those targeted by the violence to request being placed in secure units, which is detrimental to their mental health. Many kaimahi lack the knowledge and training to address rangatahi behaviour before it escalates.
Oranga Tamariki data shows that over 80 percent of rangatahi with statutory youth justice involvement go on to offend as adults, 67 percent of those with both care and protection and youth justice involvement received mental health treatment, and only 38 percent of those with both care and protection and youth justice involvement go to achieve NCEA Level 2 or higher8. For many rangatahi, youth justice residences are the final window of opportunity to turn their lives around.
Oranga Tamariki had recently restructured. Kaimahi and residence leadership were hoping the restructure would lead to some clarity of purpose for residences.
“I would like to see them invest a lot more in intervention. Oranga Tamariki has not quite decided if we are about containment or intervention [in the residence space].” – residence leadership kaimahi
Most leadership and kaimahi see the residences as having potential to be safe and therapeutic spaces. Some kaimahi also describe them as punitive, like prisons, with physically violent incidents sometimes occurring.
"I’m not really safe in here – just the staff are a bit odd – all want us to fight – instigating fights [between rangatahi] – [give us the] 'green light' – make the boys fight whoever they don’t like [for contraband].” – rangatahi
Residence leaders were concerned that national office prioritised managing risk over a child-centered approach, along with unreasonable directives and long delays in approvals and programme delivery.
“There is a serious lack of technical expertise at the top level [Oranga Tamariki national office] in youth justice. They worked in police; they operate in a different level of risk management in that system. You cannot transfer police knowledge, youth justice knowledge is different, the level of risk is different.” – residence leadership kaimahi
There were concerns about poor information sharing and siloed teams – sometimes kaimahi were finding out from rangatahi what had happened on a previous shift. There were frustrations between kaimahi about misunderstanding each other’s roles.
Staff shortages mean kaimahi often need to take on multiple tasks and receive little professional development and supervision. The need to fill roles means kaimahi are being asked to step up before they are ready.
“How are we developing the workforce? [We have an] inexperienced workforce which is one of the biggest risks. All they [national office] highlighted was the deficiencies in our operations. How are we going to address that? We were told we’d get training for TLOs [Team Leader Operations]. There was gonna be training, this year, there was meant to be. Lots they [national office] say and not do.” – residence team leader operations
“[We have] six TLOs trying to provide supervision to 120 staff. There are not enough leaders to deliver it.” – residence leadership kaimahi
The shortage of kaimahi on the floor also limits the time available for health checks and education in secure units as there is no one available to escort rangatahi to the clinic.
“Time is a restriction for us, we want to see them for longer but that can get cut short due to staffing. [Because of staffing issues] I haven’t been able to see them … [Our conversations can be] very superficial in the unit [when we can’t see them at the clinic]. They keep their maemae (hurt) up; they miss out on the chance to open up.” – residence health and education kaimahi
Without relevant experience, some kaimahi just want a good or easy shift, and fall into unprofessional practices like swearing or letting the rangatahi decide what movies to watch to gain compliance.
Some kaimahi say little is done when they raise these issues with leadership. Rangatahi sometimes wait to speak to certain kaimahi to get what they want. Kaimahi are frustrated that rules are applied inconsistently.
“The staff that break rules are the ones that young people like, so they hate the others that follow the rules, and this is a thing that causes issues with behaviour with young people - the inconsistencies. On one end of the spectrum, can watch police chases on the projector, then on other teams it’s like it's got a be a [General] or [Parental Guidance] movie. This is how we are doing dinner process; this is how we are doing this. I don’t mind the laid-back shifts, I'm not saying to get rid of them, but it is a thing that causes a lot of troubles.” – rangatahi
The rollout of new training opportunities is being welcomed, but operational demands often take priority. Kaimahi said they need quality training in areas like supporting neurodiverse rangatahi, those with a disability and rainbow rangatahi.
"We have a lady who comes in to do disability [training], the first thing she asked in our training was, ‘how do we deal with kids in wheelchairs?’ That’s not us, we need FASD [fetal alcohol spectrum disorder] and ones like that.” – residence team leader operations
They also valued their induction but felt that what they learned did not reflect the realities of working on the floor. Kaimahi talked about how to apply induction training to working on the floor, including how to safely use restraint, applying trauma informed approaches and the use of restorative practice.
“I wanted to say it [induction] wasn’t realistic, it doesn’t prepare you for what the real life was like in here, you need to be quick on your toes.” – residence kaimahi
Updated Standard Operating Procedures and refresher training are leading to real improvements, but sometimes training is cancelled or rescheduled due to staff shortages.
“Last week I was meant to run a cultural competency training with Kaiārahi, but because we were short on the floor they [Kaiārahi] were having to work the floor. I saw that they knew they were going to be short at 6am, [but] instead of solving that early in the morning, [it meant] they couldn’t come to training at midday.” – residence leadership kaimahi
Some kaimahi believe secure care is the only real solution for distressed or unsafe rangatahi, partly because kaimahi lack the training and skills needed to provide support.
We heard secure care is being used, for purposes other than preventing absconding or physical harm to themselves or others.
Some residences are replacing the use of secure care by helping rangatahi to solve problems in other ways, including using corridors to provide breathing space for rangatahi when they need a break from other rangatahi and to settle themselves. The physical design of the residences does not necessarily provide for time out spaces or sensory rooms where rangatahi can have quiet space.
Some kaimahi are unclear about the grounds for admitting rangatahi to secure. In some cases, secure was used as time out from the units, or because rangatahi were refusing to go to bed.
“[Secure care is for] maintaining order, for kids who can't go into open units. [For] safety, it's for kids who are afraid to go into the open unit, it’s for a short time.” – residence kaimahi
“[Secure has] changed now from how it's supposed to be run. It’s where you are supposed to reflect on your behaviour and think about how it [the incident] happened. What's happening now, from what I have seen, is a young person is placed in there for their safety and I’m thinking, is it meant for that? Why is it for their safety? Does this young person not trust the staff to protect them from getting hurt [in the open units]? Which means the staff aren’t doing their job.” – residence team leader operations
Some residences are helping rangatahi to de-escalate from stressful situations and to self-regulate, rather than using secure.
“One of the things I’ve noticed, past month [there are] a significant number of incidents that aren’t ending up as secure [admissions]. The behaviour and the interventions used [has meant that] no secure use was needed. [It has] felt very different for me.” – residence leadership kaimahi
Rangatahi were mostly positive about Kingslea School, the main education provider at the residences, although some residence kaimahi were seen as undervaluing the importance of schooling.
“I like the teachers, they talk to me not like on the outside. They would always teach the smarter kids and leave us out. But in here they love their job, being a teacher in here, so easier for me to learn.” – rangatahi
“Can’t get much into it anymore, two days then I’m off … [The residence staff sort of say there is] no point doing this [schoolwork].” – rangatahi
Programmes provide an opportunity to promote rehabilitation, accountability and skill development to reduce offending in line with the principles of the Oranga Tamariki Act. However, we heard that many programmes focus on recreation rather than addressing the underlying causes of offending. While activities like sports and cooking are valuable for engagement, we heard of few structured programmes that support behaviour change and emotional regulation.
Rangatahi told us the programmes they could access were determined by the level they were on in the behaviour management system, and kaimahi talked about running programmes they are skilled to do, or interested in, rather than being trained to deliver programmes and provided with the resources to run more meaningful programmes. Without programmes, rangatahi told us they can feel bored and angry.
Kaimahi described problems with getting programmes going, including time taken for approvals, risk assessments and funding.
Around 80 percent of rangatahi in youth justice custody are rangatahi Māori. At most residences, rangatahi Māori are not supported to stay connected with their whakapapa. Outside of school programmes, there are limited opportunities to learn and grow mātauranga Māori.
“I asked him [rangatahi] about kapa haka and anything Māori in there and he [rangatahi] said, ‘no’. My father is very heavily into te reo and [rangatahi] is really interested in learning it and his whakapapa. They did it for an hour [in residence]. But there is nothing now ... there is nothing of that sort at Korowai.” –
Te ao Māori elements like hangi, learning pepeha, waiata and kapa haka are available, but not to all rangatahi at all residences. At one residence the cultural whare was taped up and unused. We were told this was due to resourcing not being available to re-open the whare and the property team had said it was not a priority.
“Our whare is a joke. It’s always closed. 200k worth of equipment like carving tools was set aside for it, the planning and everything was sorted. Nothing has been done because of the budget apparently.” – residence health and education kaimahi
Te Maioha o Parekarangai stood out as a shining light in comparison to the other residences.
“[I] went across to secure and [some of the] boys don’t want to do their reflection and will just scribble on their paper. So, I’ll use haka, waiata, pepeha and this brings them back to Noho Mauri (the restorative process after an incident occurs to support everyone to feel safe again after the incident). Brings it back to cultural needs and whakapapa; [where they] feel comfortable. [Balancing their] cultural needs and Oranga Tamariki needs. Sometimes you need to switch over to have that rapport [with that young person].” – residence kaimahi.
“[Kaimahi] helps with haka and taiaha and teaching us Māori and my pepeha ... So, when I go back to the marae, I would be able to do my pepeha.” – rangatahi
“We do Māori most of the time and learn about Māori stuff, carving, waiata, pepeha, haka … I just started doing the carving. I want to get it [carving] done in time before my next family group conference to give to the victim … Kaiwhakaue helps me with my whakapapa. He even taught me about my tipuna (ancestors) being artists, so talks about it [artistic talent] getting past down through the bloodline.” – rangatahi
Rangatahi are meant to have weekly contact and monthly face-to-face contact with social workers, but some rangatahi said this did not happen. When social workers don’t have quality relationships with rangatahi, they can create unrealistic plans that get no buy-in from rangatahi, or rangatahi simply don’t know what the plan is.
“Young people like to have a visit, to see the social worker especially if they’re not seeing family. Hamilton [site] is shocking, for example this morning – rangatahi self-harmed three times. Video call to social worker, we said, ‘he [rangatahi] wants to see you and wants to reduce some anxiety as he doesn’t know what’s happening’. Social worker says, ‘I might come next week’. [Rangatahi] needs him now. He [Oranga Tamariki social worker] should be doing transition planning. We drive it for 311s, we have a mid-way . How are they tracking? Are rangatahi meeting their objectives? Early release maybe? What’s the plan? We drive it. Sometimes social workers do.” – residence leadership kaimahi
Case leaders and kaimahi described a “dump and run” attitude among some social workers when leaving rangatahi at residences. Health and Education kaimahi said that transitions are less likely to be successful because there is no relationship between the social worker and rangatahi. Case Leaders also described how when the social worker was actively engaged with rangatahi, the difference to their planning was positive. Some social workers did visit fortnightly and would stay in regular phone and video contact.
“[My social worker] tries to help me stay out of trouble, sets up stuff for me to do like courses, talks to my family to check on them, asks if I am okay … [I saw my social worker] last week, Monday, to strengthen up my plan … If I’m feeling bad and feel like I’m going to do something stupid I would talk to her [social worker], or mum.” – rangatahi
Rangatahi are comfortable speaking up about food or missing clothing, but not always when making a complaint about kaimahi or threats from other rangatahi. A “no snitch” culture can be dangerous and unsafe but is being challenged by kaimahi and leadership at some residences.
"No point [telling anyone]. The case leaders, the TLOs, they won’t do anything. For all we know, they could be telling [the other staff] to give us another knock." – rangatahi
"One of the boys was restrained and was throat punched [by kaimahi]. That boy didn’t do anything, so he wasn’t a snitch – so we did that [grievance] for him." – rangatahi
“Some [boys] gets bullied, and some don’t … They don’t [tell anyone]. Because they know that they are going to get a hiding. [Their bullies being] snitched on, makes things worser for them.” – rangatahi
Kaimahi are concerned about the safety of rainbow rangatahi due to the lack of policy to guide practice when working with them.
“There is an attitude and a lack of understanding about nonbinary rangatahi. We are asking for standard operating procedures as more [rainbow and takatāpui rangatahi] are coming through. There is no consistency. Most [kaimahi] have dealt with it really well, we forget two are biologically girls. Some [staff] are just arrogant, but generally the site has adapted well.” – residence case leaders
Most rangatahi can see a nurse or doctor when they need to, but sometimes health teams can be hard to reach.
Kaimahi worry about over-prescription of medication for rangatahi, especially for managing sleep and behaviour.
“On the outside rangatahi are largely active at night and sleep during the day. Some medication is to help them shift back into a normal routine along with other strategies. But the trouble is the lack of training and the reliance on meds instead of skills [from kaimahi]. Here [Korowai Manaaki] it’s all about the pills. If we could have more of a therapeutic approach we could unpack it in different ways.” – residence health and education kaimahi
“It is hard to plan [for the transition of rangatahi] when you are told, ’there is no chance of rangatahi getting bailed’. Then it goes to court and bail gets approved. It’s a quick turnaround where they come back and are released straight away before he [rangatahi] even has time to pack up his stuff.” – residence health and education kaimahi
Some rangatahi get stability and consistency at residences that they may not have had in the community. Equivalent support might not be available to them after they leave, such as a stable placement, drug and alcohol services, medications or prescriptions, and education and life skills.
“We have bi-weekly meetings with MDT [Multi-Disciplinary Team]. I feel like, there is a plan [on paper], but no plan [in reality if that makes sense]. There is a basic plan. What I need is, for example on Monday [to know] he would be seeing a mentor, on Tuesday he would be into something like sports. We need that structure. It we have that; it would be easier to manage [his transition from residence to home]. We are a little bit lost about how his future looks like.” - whānau
“They [social worker] are going to put him onto another organisation up in Auckland and they would set the plan. They would help [Rangatahi] with the plan. No plan was put in place because they didn’t know if he was staying in residence or moving to another residence or what. [Youth justice social worker] is enrolling him in school, we know that.” - whānau
1 Data from Statistics New Zealand Census 2023
2 Between October 2022 and June 2024
3 https://www.orangatamariki.govt.nz/assets/Uploads/About-us/Research/Latest-research/YJ-custody-updated-trends-and-outlook/Youth-justice-custody-updated-trends-and-outlook-forecast-to-30-June-2025.pdf
The paper presented information on youth justice custody bed usage for the period 1 July 2017 to 30 June 2024.
4 https://www.orangatamariki.govt.nz/assets/Uploads/About-us/Research/Latest-research/Youth-justice-pathways-wellbeing-indicators-and-outcomes-for-young-people-involved-with-youth-justice/Part-1-Youth-justice-pathways-wellbeing-indicators-and-outcomes-for-young-people-with-youth-justice.pdf
5 https://www.orangatamariki.govt.nz/about-us/research/our-research/youth-justice-custody-updated-trends-and-outlook-2024/
6 An overnight episode means the end date is different to the start date (e.g., 1 May to 2 May 2024)
7 https://www.orangatamariki.govt.nz/about-us/research/our-research/youth-justice-custody-updated-trends-and-outlook-2024/
8 https://www.orangatamariki.govt.nz/assets/Uploads/About-us/Research/Latest-research/Youth-justice-pathways-wellbeing-indicators-and-outcomes-for-young-people-involved-with-youth-justice/Part-1-Youth-justice-pathways-wellbeing-indicators-and-outcomes-for-young-people-with-youth-justice.pdf
