Tamariki and rangatahi

What to expect when we visit tamariki and rangatahi

We check that you, and tamariki
Children (plural) aged 0-13 yearsView the full glossary and rangatahi
Young person aged 14 – 21 years of ageView the full glossary like you, are well looked after and have what you need.

We do this by talking to tamariki and rangatahi, their caregivers and whānau
Whānau refers to people who are biologically linked or share whakapapa. For the Monitor’s monitoring purposes, whānau includes parents, whānau members living with tamariki at the point they have come into care View the full glossary (family), and the people who support them.

Our kaimahi (staff) who would like to meet with you are our monitors. It is their job to listen to what you have to say and take notes on what you shared with them.

Hearing from you – and other people like you – helps us understand what needs to change to make things better for tamariki and rangatahi. We want to hear what you think and how things have been going for you.

Who we are and what we do

What happens when you meet with us

We kōrero
Conversation or discussionView the full glossary (talk) with people one on one and in groups. We would like to meet you in person. You don’t have to talk to us if you do not want to.

We will make sure you feel safe so you can share your experience and thoughts. You can bring someone with you when you talk to us if you would like to. You can change your mind and stop talking to us at any time – you don’t need to tell us why.

When we meet with you one of our monitors will be writing down the things you share with us, so we don’t forget what you said. We won’t write your name and no one else will know what you told us – unless we’re really worried about the safety of you or someone else. We can talk more about this when we meet.

What we will ask you about

We’ll ask questions about you, your social worker, support people, caregivers, and your whānau
Whānau refers to people who are biologically linked or share whakapapa. For the Monitor’s monitoring purposes, whānau includes parents, whānau members living with tamariki at the point they have come into care View the full glossary/family.

You can answer our questions any way you like. There are no right or wrong answers.

Please tell us if there is something you don’t want to talk about.

Some of the things we might ask you about are:

  • Who is important to you? 
  • How does your social worker support you? 
  • If you had three wishes, what would they be? 
  • If there are big decisions being made, who tells you about these and how you are involved in making these decisions? A big decision could be you moving homes. 
  • How are you involved in deciding what services you need and what’s in your plan, and did you get a say about it? 
  • If you’re transitioning out of care or to a new place, we might ask about the support you have and if someone helped you get ready for this.

What happens after we meet with you

After we have met with you, we will give you a gift voucher to say thank you.

We check our notes to make sure they don’t have your name or the names of anyone you told us about. We keep what you say safe and private. Only you and the people who asked you the questions will know what you said.

After we have finished meeting with people in your community, we share what we heard with you. We call this a share back. The share back includes some of the things you and others in your community talked to us about. You won’t be able to tell who said what.

We sometimes use quotes in our reports. We don’t put names with quotes, and we make sure no-one can work out who said it to us.

What we heard in your community gets put together with what we heard from other communities for our big reports. We give our big reports to the government and people in parliament. We also put them on our website so other people can read them.

Download or Link
Read our nationwide reports
Internal link

Contacting us

If you decide you want to change something you said - or ask us a question - you can contact us.

You or someone you trust can email us at info@aroturuki.govt.nz
leave us a phone message on 0800 777 232
or text us on 3701