What Part Six requires
Part Six of the states that organisations with care and custody of and must monitor their own compliance with the regulations. They must have systems in place to identify and address areas of practice that require improvement.
Part Six: Agency self-monitoring
Oranga Tamariki assesses itself as partially compliant with the
This year, Oranga Tamariki reports that 37 percent of and in care were estimated to have had all its own core lead indicators met. This is a small drop from 40 percent last year however it is higher than the 28 percent of tamariki and rangatahi in care who had all core lead indicators met in 2021/221.
The core lead indicators looked at whether tamariki and rangatahi in care had recent needs assessments and plans; whether their views and those of their had been considered in plans; whether professionals had been consulted; and whether tamariki and rangatahi were receiving regular and quality social worker visits. This year, the core lead indicators also include whether tamariki and rangatahi have had opportunities for play and developmentally appropriate experiences, and whether social workers have carried out actions identified in tamariki and rangatahi plans.
While we recognise that Oranga Tamariki selfmonitoring is improving, we note that the lead indicators do not provide a measure of Oranga Tamariki compliance with all of the NCS Regulations.
We recognise the surveys that Oranga Tamariki carries out are important contributors to the overall picture of the impacts of services and supports for tamariki and rangatahi in care2, and their caregivers3. We have used its survey results in our reporting, and we look forward to the surveys being repeated more frequently.
Oranga Tamariki is still developing its self-monitoring
As New Zealand’s statutory care and protection agency, Oranga Tamariki must do its utmost to provide safe and appropriate care and know if it is being achieved. Regulation 86 requires Oranga Tamariki to monitor its compliance with the NCS Regulations. Doing this well would ensure areas for improvement are identified and acted on.
In contrast, Open Home Foundation recognise the importance of this, and stated “monitoring compliance with the NCS Regulations, the process of having an in-depth look at the experiences of care for those we are responsible for on an annual basis, (but also throughout the year) has allowed us to see every child. This insight into their worlds motivates us to improve and provides us with valuable understanding that we take into our practice, policy and training development”4.
This year Oranga Tamariki has published its selfmonitoring report as part of its annual report. This is a step forward. Oranga Tamariki has assessed itself as partially compliant with the NCS Regulations. Its assessment shows that it still has a long way to go to ensure that all tamariki and rangatahi in its care receive the minimum standard of care set out in the NCS Regulations.
Oranga Tamariki has improved its lead indicator framework
Oranga Tamariki introduced its lead indicator framework ahead of our 2022/23 Experiences of Care in report last year. Oranga Tamariki uses the framework to monitor its compliance with the NCS Regulations.
This year, Oranga Tamariki has expanded the suite of lead indicators from 16 to 21. New lead indicators focus on:
- the frequency and quality of social worker visits
- opportunities for play and experiences
- planning for transitions to adulthood
- demonstrating whether social workers are carrying out actions identified in tamariki and rangatahi plans.
The new indicators are an important addition to the framework, particularly because they focus on the quality of services and supports that are being delivered to tamariki and rangatahi in care, and to their caregivers.
Oranga Tamariki has improved its collection and analysis of data
Oranga Tamariki has made improvements to its collection and analysis of data. However, as outlined in Parts One and Two, a focus is needed on the things that will make a difference to the lives of tamariki and rangatahi in its care.
The Caregiver Information System (CGIS) was introduced in July 2022 to administer recruitment, approval, review and support processes for caregivers. CGIS data was not available to use last year, but this year some progress has been made. We have received CGIS information on the timeliness of periodic reviews of caregiver approvals and the length of time taken for provisionally assessed caregivers to become fully approved.
However, further enhancements are needed to make CGIS data fully accessible. In the meantime, Oranga Tamariki continues to rely on casefile analysis5 instead of directly using data from case management systems. An example of this is the lead indicator on whether full or provisional assessments of caregivers have been carried out before tamariki and rangatahi entered their care. Although Oranga Tamariki has made initial steps to measure this directly in 2023/24, issues remain related to aligning data sourced from the two case management systems: CGIS and CYRAS. It is important that Oranga Tamariki continues to work to resolve these issues. Casefile analysis is a powerful technique, but it takes longer than using operational data directly. Oranga Tamariki needs to use operational data not just for assurance purposes, but also to be able to feedback quickly to operations so corrective action can be taken if issues arise.
Other areas of improvement underway include:
- The Enterprise Data & Analytics Programme (EDAP), which is a replacement for legacy data warehousing and will safely store client and case management information, ending reliance on Ministry of Social Development data warehousing.
- The Frontline Technology Systems Upgrade (FTSU) project, which involves replacing the Oranga Tamariki case management system, CYRAS, and other outdated systems. The first step involves digitising All About Me plans.
Despite some improvement, significant gaps remain
Despite improvements to the self-monitoring framework and Oranga Tamariki data systems, significant gaps remain.
To monitor compliance with the NCS Regulations, we again asked Oranga Tamariki for reasons why tamariki and rangatahi entered care, as well as the reasons for any changes in placement during the reporting period. The Oversight of Oranga Tamariki System Regulations 2023 require us to include a summary of these reasons in this report.
Oranga Tamariki informed us it is unable to provide data on reasons for current entry into care. This is because, although these reasons are recorded in the Oranga Tamariki case management system for individual tamariki and rangatahi in care, they are not collated and made available for reporting.
As in previous years, Oranga Tamariki has been unable to provide the data we have requested for several other compliance measures. For example, Oranga Tamariki cannot tell us whether tamariki and rangatahi received annual health and dental checks and whether updates were obtained from schools or caregivers on school attendance. Oranga Tamariki also can’t tell us if it is facilitating alternative educational arrangements where tamariki and rangatahi are excluded from school, or if it is ensuring that Oranga Tamariki representation is provided at hearings to consider suspension or exclusion from school.
All gaps in assessing Oranga Tamariki compliance with the NCS Regulations are shown in the compliance tables on our website https://aroturuki. govt.nz/reports/eoc-23-24/compliance-tables.
1 Oranga Tamariki has calculated its compliance for this year and has calculated the corresponding compliance for previous years based on the new, expanded set of core lead indicators. For this reason, some figures in this report differ from those published in our 2022/23 Experiences of Care in report last year.
2 Te Mātātaki 2023, from survey conducted in 2022. https://www.orangatamariki.govt.nz/about-us/research/our-research/tematataki-2023/
3 2023 caregiver survey https://www.orangatamariki.govt.nz/about-us/research/our-research/how-well-is-oranga-tamariki-supportingcaregivers-results-from-the-2023-oranga-tamariki-caregiver-survey/
4 Open Home Foundation response to our information request.
5 Casefile analysis involves a team of reviewers using their professional judgement to compare the standard of practice recorded in a random sample of casefiles to the expected standard of practice. Casefile analysis is a valuable quality assurance exercise that provides a robust assessment of the aspects of practice covered.