Glossary
- All About Me plan
- The primary plan that Oranga Tamariki uses to support and needs and objectives. It supports any overarching FGC or court plan.
- CAMHS/ICAMHS
- Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) and Infant, Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (ICAMHS) provide specialist mental health services for tamariki, rangatahi and their .
- CANS
- Child and Adolescent Needs and Strengths – an internationally recognised assessment and planning tool that supports decision making, previously used by Open Home Foundation.
- Care or custody
- In relation to tamariki and rangatahi, being subject to an order for custody or sole guardianship or to a care agreement in favour of the chief executive of Oranga Tamariki, an social service, a cultural social service or the director of a child and family support service.
- Caregivers
- People who care for tamariki and rangatahi in the custody of Oranga Tamariki, Open Home Foundation or Barnardos. Caregivers can be whānau or non-whānau. They provide a range of care options, including respite, short-term or permanent care. Caregivers are sometimes referred to as foster parents or carers.
- Case file analysis
- A quality assurance process where a representative random sample of children’s case files are reviewed by a panel of experienced practitioners. The panellists respond to a set of questions that examine the quality of social work practice and services delivered for the child. Oranga Tamariki conducts several case file analysis processes, including one that looks at compliance with .
- CGIS
- Oranga Tamariki caregiver information system.
- CGRS
- Caregiver recruitment and support.
- Community organisations
- Iwi and Māori organisations, care partners and organisations providing services to the community.
- Complaints process
- An opportunity for people to raise concerns about services related to tamariki and rangatahi in care or custody of the agencies. See also grievance procedure.
- CYRAS
- Oranga Tamariki administrative database. CYRAS stands for Care and Protection, Youth Justice, Residential and Adoption Services System.
- Family home care
- Two caregivers who care for up to six tamariki and/or rangatahi in a community-based home provided by Oranga Tamariki.
- FGC
- Family group conference.
- Foster parent
- The Open Home Foundation term for a caregiver or carer.
- Gateway assessment
- A cross-agency process between health and education services and Oranga Tamariki to identify the health and education needs of individual tamariki and rangatahi in care and how they will be supported.
- GP
- General practitioner.
- Grievance procedure
- An opportunity for tamariki and rangatahi to raise concerns about services related to their care in a residence.
- Group home/supervised group home
- Group homes are based in the community and run by Oranga Tamariki kaimahi or partners. The homes provide intensive support for tamariki and rangatahi and can range from being a general care home to a specialist home, for example, for those with disability, on remand or with harmful sexual behaviour. Care in a supervised group home is considered when needs can’t be met in other community settings or as a step down from a residence.
- Subtribe.
- HCN
- High and complex needs.
- IDI
- Integrated Data Infrastructure – a large research database maintained by Stats NZ. It holds de-identified data about people and households in . Results from IDI analysis are not official statistics. They have been created for research purposes from the IDI, which is carefully managed by Stats NZ. For more information about the IDI, visit stats.govt.nz/ integrated-data
- Iwi
- Tribe.
- Kaimahi
- Staff.
- Kaitiaki
- Caretaker, caregiver, guardian.
- Kanohi ki te kanohi
- Face-to-face.
- Kaupapa Māori
- An approach underpinned by Māori values.
- Legal guardian
- An adult who is responsible for making decisions or helping a child to make important decisions about their life, for example, regarding religion and education.
- Mokopuna – Children’s Commissioner
- An independent Crown entity that advocates on issues that affect children and young people and raises awareness of and advances the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. Formerly the Children and Young People’s Commission.
- Monitored agencies
- Oranga Tamariki, Open Home Foundation, Barnardos and Kōkiri Marae Keriana Olsen Trust (Kōkiri Marae) – the four agencies in Aotearoa that have custody of tamariki and rangatahi.
- Motu
- Country.
- National Care Standards Action Plan
- A plan developed by Oranga Tamariki in response to the Aroturuki Tamariki | Independent Children’s Monitor 2023/24 Experiences of Care in Aotearoa report. The plan is intended to improve compliance with the NCS Regulations.
- NCS Regulations
- Oranga Tamariki (National Care Standards and Related Matters) Regulations 2018. The NCS Regulations came into effect on 1 July 2019 and set out the standard of care tamariki and rangatahi can expect to receive when they are in the care of an agency.
- NGO
- Non-government organisation
- Outcomes framework
- A tool used by Aroturuki Tamariki to measure how well agencies are supporting the wellbeing and life outcomes of tamariki and rangatahi in care.
- Pākehā
- A New Zealander of European descent.
- Permanency
- Full-time care for tamariki and rangatahi when returning to their family/whānau is no longer an option and an alternative permanent home is needed.
- PHO
- Primary health organisation
- QPT
- Quality Practice Tool – a tool used by Oranga Tamariki practice leaders to review randomly selected cases and determine if the quality of practice aligns with expectations in the practice policy, guidance and standards.
- Rangatahi
- A young person or young people aged 14 or over.
- Rangatahi Māori
- A young person or young people aged 14 or over of Māori descent.
- Residence
- A locked facility that can be either for care and protection or for youth justice and that must adhere to the Oranga Tamariki (Residential Care) Regulations 1996. Residences are established by the chief executive of Oranga Tamariki (with the approval of the Minister for Children) under section 364 of the Oranga Tamariki Act 1989.
- Shared care
- Where Oranga Tamariki has care or custody of tamariki and rangatahi and is legally responsible for their day-to-day care but where a provider is contracted to care for tamariki and rangatahi (in a group home or other setting that it staffs) or to support caregivers to care for tamariki and rangatahi.
- Shared-care partners
- Organisations that provide care for tamariki in custody of one of the three agencies under the Oranga Tamariki Act 1989. There are approximately 50 shared-care partners. Can also be called shared-care providers.
- SKS screens
- Substance and Choices Scale, Kessler and Suicide screens – screening tools used to evaluate whether tamariki and rangatahi are dealing with substance abuse, are psychologically distressed and/or are at risk of self-harm or suicide.
- Suppressed or ‘s’
- Shows that data is suppressed. To protect the privacy of individuals, we follow Stats NZ guidelines and suppress (which means we do not disclose) the exact number of individuals when that number is below 6. This is to reduce the risk that information could be used to identify individuals or learn private information about them.
- Tamaiti
- Oranga Tamariki uses this term to refer to an individual child.
- Tamariki
- A child or children aged under 14.
- Tamariki Māori
- A child or children aged under 14 of Māori descent.
- TAP
- Tamaiti Assessment and Plan – the Open Home Foundation assessment approach.
- The Māori world.
- TLO
- Team leader operations.
- Towards Wellbeing
- A risk assessment and monitoring service that provides advice to social workers who work with tamariki and rangatahi who may be suicidal.
- Transition Support Services (TSS)
- A range of services provided by Oranga Tamariki to meet its transition to adulthood obligations by supporting rangatahi to prepare for leaving care or custody. Oranga Tamariki contracts transition workers through community providers to deliver parts of the service.
- Tuituia assessment
- An assessment used by Oranga Tamariki to capture information about the needs of tamariki and rangatahi. Tuituia focuses on holistic wellbeing of tamariki and rangatahi; capacity of their caregivers to nurture their wellbeing; and whānau, social, cultural and environmental influences on them and their caregivers.
- Tūrangawaewae
- A place where a person has rights of residence and belonging through kinship and whakapapa.
- VOYCE – Whakarongo Mai
- An independent NGO that helps to advocate for care-experienced tamariki and rangatahi. VOYCE stands for Voice of the Young and Care Experienced.
- Whakapapa
- Genealogy that connects a person to their identity and tūrangawaewae.
- Whakawhanaungatanga
- Process of establishing relationships.
- Whānau
- People who are biologically linked or share whakapapa. For Aroturuki Tamariki monitoring purposes, whānau includes parents, whānau members living with tamariki at the point they have come into care (this does not include whānau caregivers) or whānau who are close to and/or involved with tamariki on a day-to-day basis (this does not include whānau caregivers) and who have been involved in decision making about their care.