Reports of concern and early intervention
and Māori are overrepresented in the number of reports of concern being made to Oranga Tamariki. Although tamariki and rangatahi Māori make up 28 percent of the total youth population, more than half of the 2023/24 reports of concern were about them. Reports of concern are the starting point for ongoing disparity through the oranga tamariki system.
During our 2023/24 engagements, we heard about high thresholds for investigation and further action from Oranga Tamariki following a report of concern. This is consistent with what we heard when completing our in-depth review Towards a stronger safety net to prevent abuse of children.97 We heard then that Oranga Tamariki decisions on whether to take further action were unduly influenced by social worker availability at sites rather than solely on a risk assessment. Community organisations and government agencies were concerned about insufficient action being taken to keep tamariki and rangatahi safe.
"[It is] no small thing to make a ROC [report of concern], you don’t go I am going to do that ... [it is] discouraging, you steel yourself to do it. We don’t treat this [report of concern] as a dumping ground, it’s as a result of what we are observing in front of us ... How am I going to sell this to validate it, [I start thinking] am I an idiot? Am I seeing risk when it isn’t there? [There are] different interpretations of risk, I guess, when you deal with it every day.” CANTERBURY FAMILY VIOLENCE COLLABORATION KAIMAHI
Where help is needed, failing to take action at the earliest opportunity can leave tamariki and rangatahi at risk and without the support they need and potentially lead to greater involvement in the oranga tamariki system, such as youth justice.
However, we also heard about local initiatives focused on improving the rate of response to reports of concern. These include Ngā Maata Waka in (Christchurch) and Te Pūkāea in Whakatāne. Both are partnered approaches with and Māori organisations focused on providing a Māori-centred approach for tamariki and their whānau. Despite the challenges in responding to reports of concern, these initiatives represent an opportunity for Oranga Tamariki and its partner agencies to firstly ensure tamariki and rangatahi are safe and then provide early intervention, including support for whānau to prevent further involvement in the system.
The 2023/24 Oranga Tamariki Annual Report98 states that 54,000 individual and had a report of concern (about 75,000 reports of concern were made during this period) and about 5 percent of all tamariki and rangatahi in had either a report of concern or a youth justice referral.
If a report of concern is not considered by Oranga Tamariki to be serious enough to require its involvement, it may be recorded as a report of concern with no further action as the outcome, or it may instead be recorded as a contact record. Oranga Tamariki carries out an initial assessment to determine what response is required. An initial assessment can include contacting the person making the report of concern, as well as others, to develop an understanding of the needs and vulnerability of the child and to develop a chronology.
Decisions on initial assessments may be:
- no further action is required
- a referral of the child to a community agency99
- either a child and family assessment or an investigation is required.
Referring tamariki and rangatahi to a community or other government agency is an opportunity for early intervention, with the services and supports offered intended to strengthen and keep tamariki and rangatahi safely in the community.
"Here at He Waka Tapu, I have done a report of concern and ended up helping the family. It was hard and [the mother] found out I did a report of concern. Trust was able to be rebuilt as I walked alongside her. It resulted in a change in parenting styles. We have created a safe space.”
HE WAKA TAPU KAIMAHI
Early intervention aims to prevent problems from occurring in the first place or to address them early on before they get worse. For Oranga Tamariki, early intervention also “helps to foster a whole set of personal strengths and skills that prepare a child for adult life”.100 It can take many different forms, including homebased and school-based programmes and mentoring schemes, and can be focused on tamariki or whānau or both. Investment in the right support at the earliest stages can reduce further involvement in the oranga tamariki system and improve long-term outcomes.
As we reported in Towards a stronger safety net to prevent abuse of children,101 Oranga Tamariki accepts that referrals to community agencies are underreported in its data. Some kaimahi we engaged with stated it is not standard practice for Oranga Tamariki to record referrals to community agencies. As a result, most referrals to community agencies appear as no further action decisions and there is no tracking of how many reports of concern are being addressed by the community and how many result in no action at all. Without knowing this, it is unclear whether the service was delivered, and it is therefore also difficult to assess the effectiveness of the service, including whether it is preventing further reports of concern.
The 2023/24 Oranga Tamariki Annual Report states that 43 percent of Oranga Tamariki funding went to early and intensive intervention and prevention. This represented a decrease from 48 percent in the previous year and was explained “in part due to the increasing cost of care as a proportion of overall spend – with the reduced number of children coming into care having higher and more complex support needs”.102
In Towards a stronger safety net to prevent abuse of children,103 we discuss the response to reports of concern in detail. When reports of concern are made, the response from Oranga Tamariki is not always sufficiently focused on the safety of the child. Most initial reports of concern are assessed by the Oranga Tamariki National Contact Centre, which sends those requiring further action to local sites. Of the cases where the National Contact Centre (NCC) decision is that further action is required, around half are overturned when the case is sent to the site, with no further action taken by Oranga Tamariki. There are several reasons why a site may overturn the NCC decision, but we heard staff capacity was having an undue impact on decision making. We also observed time was being spent reworking NCC assessments when this time could have been used to see tamariki.
For this report, Oranga Tamariki was able to provide more information on cases where no further action was taken. From case file analysis of 100 initial assessments104 where the outcome was changed to no further action by site, 46 percent involved cases where the NCC had initially identified further action was needed. In nearly half of these cases, the change was supported by additional information that was available, either from a partner agency or already known by the Oranga Tamariki site. In the remaining cases, the change reflected a differing opinion by the site staff on the concerns, although Oranga Tamariki concedes that some of these lacked a sufficiently robust rationale to support the change.
Overall, the decision for no further action made by the site was:
- sufficiently supported by the assessment and the written rationale in 60 percent of cases
- insufficiently supported in 30 percent of cases
- not at all supported in 10 percent of cases.
In a quarter of cases, subsequent new information relating to the reported concerns was received after the report of concern was closed. In 68 percent of those cases, the new subsequent information led to a new report of concern.
| Māori | Non-Māori105 | Unknown | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reports of concern | 39,400 (52%) | 27,000 (37%) | 8,200 (11%) | 75,000 |
| Individual and | 26,300 (49%) | 20,000 (37%) | 7,300 (14%) | 53,600 |
Oranga Tamariki data shows that approximately 40,000 of the 75,000 reports of concern made to Oranga Tamariki in 2023/24 were for tamariki and rangatahi who were identified as Māori. This is more than half (53 percent) of all reports of concern. When looking at individual tamariki and rangatahi who were the subjects of these reports of concern, just under half (49 percent) were Māori.
Oranga Tamariki states that this disparity contributes significantly to the disparity that can be seen at almost all points of the oranga tamariki system (in this case, once tamariki and rangatahi become known to Oranga Tamariki). Data from Oranga Tamariki, for the 12 months to September 2024 shows that there were 25,266 reports of concern that Oranga Tamariki determined would require a child and family assessment or investigation as further action. Of those, 59 percent involved tamariki Māori, which suggests that the disparity – while beginning with reports of concern – carries further through the system.
This may suggest bias in those making reports of concern. However, research undertaken by Oranga Tamariki shows that at least one reason for this over-representation is the impact of socio-economic disadvantage.106
When a report of concern is made, it is more likely to be referred to assessment/investigation for tamariki and rangatahi Māori
| No further action | Referrals or partnered response | Further action required | Additional information or intacke created in error | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Māori | 38% | 4% | 56% | 2% |
| Non-Māori107 | 48% | 2% | 49% | 1% |
In its Section 7AA Report 2024,108 Oranga Tamariki also shows that the overrepresentation of tamariki and rangatahi Māori in the oranga tamariki system has remained constant for many years. Over the last five years, the number of reports of concern made to Oranga Tamariki has been decreasing but the proportion of reports received for Māori has remained at approximately 50 percent.
During our 2023/24 engagements, many government and community kaimahi told us they did not hear back after making a report of concern and/or they felt the threshold for Oranga Tamariki action in response to reports of concern has increased and was too high. In one region, we heard this particularly from health kaimahi who had made reports of concern for neglect of and and in cases where methamphetamine use was a factor. Government and community kaimahi also told us Oranga Tamariki is not always taking action following their reports of concern in cases they consider high risk and requiring statutory intervention. This aligns with data from Oranga Tamariki showing that, in 2023/24, 45 percent of reports of concern made by kaimahi in the health sector109 resulted in no further action, 35 percent made by education kaimahi resulted in no further action and 44 percent made by resulted in no further action. NGO kaimahi told us they have often exhausted all early intervention options before making the decision to make a report of concern and that their professional judgement is that statutory intervention is required. This is supported by recent research.110
Many professionals we spoke with, including and Māori providers, also shared concern about a lack of communication and responsiveness from Oranga Tamariki to reports of concern, which they felt was driven by capacity constraints and an increased risk threshold. Some Oranga Tamariki site managers noted they do not have capacity to respond to non-critical reports of concern.
"We see that they are overworked and don’t have the capacity. It’s not that they don’t have the experience. They just don’t have the capacity. Some social workers are being told not to take any children into care, which means that some kids are being left in unsafe situations.”
NGO LEADER
In some regions, police spoke of the large volume of reports of concern and need for greater investment in proactive early support in the community. Kaimahi from an NGO cited delays of up to three months for local Oranga Tamariki sites to provide information about reports of concern, during which time information can be lost and new concerns arise. They also felt that Oranga Tamariki communication with following reports of concern needs to improve – something we also heard from whānau.111
"Whānau keep asking about updates on ROCs [reports of concern]. Communication needs to be better. Whānau are never being told about the reasoning as to why reports of concern are being closed or they don’t get an update.”
NGO LEADER
"Both teachers and the school principal [also] did a report [of concern]. I didn’t hear anything back [from Oranga Tamariki]. I did this about six months ago.”
PARENT
Some NGOs described it as “disheartening” when they have put in the work for a report of concern only for it to be closed by Oranga Tamariki. They emphasised the thought and consideration that goes into their reports of concern and the difficulty and risk they hold to support whānau and tamariki when their reports are not actioned by Oranga Tamariki. A few kaimahi spoke of inconsistency in responses from Oranga Tamariki, wondering why some cases are actioned and not others. In the Upper South region, we heard from many NGOs and education kaimahi that, due to this lack of response from Oranga Tamariki, they changed their reporting behaviour. Some kaimahi told us they are making fewer reports of concern, while others are not calling the National Contact Centre to raise concerns but instead contacting local police or Oranga Tamariki sites directly. A Ministry of Justice kaimahi and a few other professionals also believed three reports were needed before Oranga Tamariki would take action.
"We are told to submit more ROCs [reports of concern], but they get closed too. What’s the point of just submitting more ROCs that get closed? It is often the same information so it’s a waste of time.”
POLICE KAIMAHI
"We get into a nightmare of abuse. We need to get there before the violence gets so bad … I would go so far as to say their [Oranga Tamariki] risk at the moment is probably the highest for fatality. They live in hope that nothing will happen.”
NGO LEADER
Multiple reports of concern about the same tamariki and rangatahi are sometimes filed as case notes on the individual’s file. In October 2024, the Chief Ombudsman published a case note about Oranga Tamariki recording of multiple reports of concern for the same child.112 The case note recommends Oranga Tamariki change its practice, to avoid masking the true level of concern being raised about safety and wellbeing. We understand Oranga Tamariki has implemented the decision. However, it is still considering additional changes in the way it records reports of concern.
If a report of concern is not responded to in the right way, it can leave tamariki and rangatahi at risk both in terms of their immediate safety and missing out on services and supports. Crucially, when trying to prevent further escalation through the system, it could also mean that tamariki and rangatahi end up having prolonged involvement with Oranga Tamariki.
As outlined in this report, we will continue to monitor the number and proportion of tamariki and rangatahi Māori having reports of concern and being referred to services as key measures that can support a reduction in intergenerational involvement in the oranga tamariki system.
"Early intervention is key for these .”
NGĀ MAATA WAKA KAIMAHI
During our monitoring in Canterbury, we heard about an initiative to help Oranga Tamariki respond to reports of concern.
Ngā Maata Waka is a community service provider based at Ngā Hau E Whā National Marae in Christchurch East. Ngā Maata Waka provides programmes and services for its community, including health, education, justice, housing and social services. Ngā Maata Waka kaimahi have a wide range of skills and are trusted within the community to work with and their whānau.
In 2023, Oranga Tamariki Canterbury regional leadership were concerned about the increasing number of reports of concern awaiting an initial assessment. Staff vacancies were increasing pressure on some sites, and the delayed response was illustrating inconsistencies in practice between sites.
Oranga Tamariki and Ngā Maata Waka worked together to trial an approach to respond to the high backlog of reports of concern. The trial involved both Oranga Tamariki and Ngā Maata Waka kaimahi completing initial assessments for reports of concern.
In our recent engagements, Oranga Tamariki kaimahi were positive about the collaboration with Ngā Maata Waka. They spoke about it reducing a backlog of reports of concern and building a more consistent response. Oranga Tamariki kaimahi told us that their community partners, including NZ Police, saw more consistency in the assessment response during the pilot.
Ngā Maata Waka kaimahi told us the approach enabled them to engage with whānau early and that they took into account not only the information in the report of concern but also the wider needs of the whānau. In some cases, they told us, this avoided the need for any further intervention or escalation into the oranga tamariki system.
"We could be more proactive than reactive.”
NGĀ MAATA WAKA KAIMAHI
Ngā Maata Waka and Oranga Tamariki told us the backlog was reduced during the trial.
"We used data [to evaluate the initial assessment initiative with Ngā Maata Waka] and yes there were better outcomes. 80 whānau over a year were supported through this pathway and there was a really low renotification rate.”
ORANGA TAMARIKI REGIONAL MANAGER
We heard that the initiative had “amazing” feedback from whānau.
"Amazing feedback from whānau. They commented on the impact that this minimal amount of interaction with Oranga Tamariki had. Oranga Tamariki were happy to take any lead from Ngā Maata Waka.”
ORANGA TAMARIKI REGIONAL LEADER
Despite what appears to be a successful local initiative, it is no longer operating. However, it remains an example of how collaboration can create better outcomes for tamariki, and their whānau. We understand it stopped due to the roll-out of a new National Contact Centre localised response, lack of funding and concerns from the Public Service Association that carrying out assessments was the role and function of Oranga Tamariki statutory social workers.
Outside of this 2023/24 reporting period, we recently visited Bay of Plenty and specifically Te Pūkāea, a Ngāti Awa-led initiative under the Enabling Communities pilots. Te Pūkāea o te Waiora is an Alliance contract led by Te Tohu o Te Ora o Ngāti Awa.113 It triages calls redirected from the National Contact Centre and helps whānau to access community information and services.
We heard Te Pūkāea o te Waiora is working well to triage reports of concern and support tamariki, rangatahi and their whānau in Eastern Bay of Plenty (Whakatāne). A couple of agencies spoke positively about Te Pūkāea, noting that reports of concern are responded to quickly and tamariki, rangatahi and whānau can access a range of services in the community to support their needs. All reports of concern that come through Te Pūkāea are either referred to Oranga Tamariki or allocated to whānau navigators, who can refer to other providers. This allows tamariki, rangatahi and whānau who meet a lower threshold to access support and have their needs addressed holistically.
Data from Oranga Tamariki shows that the Whakatāne Oranga Tamariki site has a greater proportion of reports of concern that result in a referral/partnered response (25 percent) compared to nationally (3 percent) and crucially has the lowest proportion of reports of concern where no further action is taken in the region at only 18 percent. This is significantly lower than the national average of 42 percent, though some sites record decisions to refer or provide a partnered response to a report of concern as no further action. A local Oranga Tamariki leader told us that Te Pūkāea has been working well to triage reports of concern from ICAMHS that do not meet the statutory threshold, and an understanding has developed that “Oranga Tamariki don’t need to be the ones to do something first”.
We will report further on progress with Te Pūkāea in our next report and in our follow-up of Towards a stronger safety net to prevent abuse of children.114
97 See footnote 96
98 See footnote 77.
99 Oranga Tamariki Act, section 17(2A).
100 Oranga Tamariki Evidence Centre (2020). Oranga Tamariki early intervention: A synthesis of recent research and evaluations. Oranga Tamariki (p. 11). https://ot.govt.nz/assets/Uploads/About-us/Research/Latest-research/EI-synthesis/Early-Intervention-A-synthesisof- recent-research-and-evaluations/Early-Intervention-A-synthesis-of-recent-research-and-evaluations.pdf
101 See footnote 96.
102 See footnote 77 (p. 43).
103 See footnote 96.
104 These initial assessments were undertaken between July and September 2024.
105 Oranga Tamariki data for “non-Maori” includes instances where ethnicity is not specified.
106 Data analysis shows that the ethnic disparity in reports of concern is much less when controlling for socio-economic disadvantage. The latest section 7AA report (see footnote 48) states that Maori aged 0–4 are 3.90 times more likely than non-Maori to have a first report of concern before adjusting for socio-economic factors but 1.11 times more likely after adjusting for this.
107 Oranga Tamariki data for non-Maori includes instances where ethnicity is not specified.
108 See footnote 53.
109 This includes reports of concern made by GPs, specialists in private practice, dental therapists, hospital public health nurses, midwives and Wellchild Ora kaimahi.
110 Keddell, E., Colhoun, S., Norris, P., & Willing, E. (2024). The heuristic divergence between community reporters and child protection agencies: Negotiating risk amidst shifting sands. Children and Youth Services Review, 159, 107532. https://doi.org/10.1016/j. childyouth.2024.107532
111 Published case notes of investigations undertaken by the Ombudsman in relation to complaints about Oranga Tamariki also often identify poor communication with whanau as an area for improvement. For example, see www.ombudsman.parliament.nz/news/ chief-ombudsman-issues-another-stinging-criticism-oranga-tamariki-over-failure-investigate
112 https://www.ombudsman.parliament.nz/resources/failure-oranga-tamariki-investigate-reports-concern-and-complaints
113 This is underpinned by the strategic partnership between Oranga Tamariki and Eastern Bay of Plenty Alliance.
114 See footnote 96.