Scope

We chose to review and report both on the response to the recommendations of the Poutasi review, and the implementation by the six agencies of the recommendations in their own internal reviews. We have taken both a system and agency focus, looking at the extent to which agencies, either individually or collectively with others, are contributing to the overall system to ensure strong and effective safety nets to prevent abuse of children.

We reviewed all agencies with responsibilities for implementing actions from the Poutasi review as follows, those in bold are the six agencies that commissioned the review.

• Oranga Tamariki - Ministry for Children
• Department of Corrections – Ara Poutama AotearoaCloseAotearoa
  New ZealandView the full glossary
• The Ministry of Justice
• Ministry of Social Development - Te Manatū Whakahiato Ora
• Ministry of Education - Te Tāhuhu o te Mātauranga
• The Education Review Office (ERO)³
• New Zealand Police - Ngā Pirihimana o Aotearoa
• Ministry of Health - Manatū Hauora
• Health New Zealand – Te Whatu Ora

The objective of our review was to understand:

• what actions agencies have committed to in response to the system recommendations in the Poutasi review, and in response to their own reviews, as well as the outcomes they expect to achieve from these actions
• what progress agencies have made in implementing their committed actions
• how agencies are or will measure the impact of their actions, including to what extent the actions of agencies address the underlying issues
• to what extent agencies’ commitments and actions reflect obligations to te Tiriti o Waitangi
• whether and how agencies are working differently with parents who have been incarcerated.

We were also interested in whether the actions undertaken by agencies, individually and together, are making a difference for tamarikiClosetamariki
Children (plural) aged 0-13 yearsView the full glossary and their whānauClosewhānau
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. In undertaking this review we found that work has not yet progressed to a point where this is able to be measured, so we have not been able to meaningfully report on any impact. However, what our report does do is highlight what has been done, whether actions address the recommendations, and what more needs to be done.