What we do | Ā mātou mahi

We determine:

• compliance with the Oranga Tamariki Act, National Care Standards and other regulations
• the quality and impact of service delivery and practices
• if outcomes have been improved for children, young people, 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 and families who receive services or support.

We monitor agencies with statutory obligations under or in connection with the Oranga Tamariki Act. We also look at how the oranga tamariki system interfaces with other systems for tamarikiClosetamariki
Children (plural) aged 0-13 yearsView the full glossary known to Oranga Tamariki.

Our guiding documents are the foundation for our work

• Oranga Tamariki - Ministry for Children
• Other organisations with statutory delegations under the Oranga Tamariki Act – such as for care and custody or youth justice
• NZ Police (Youth Justice)

• Other Non-Government Organisations such as care partners, youth justice programmes, and early intervention services
• IwiCloseIwi
  TribeView the full glossary, hapūClosehapū
  Sub-tribeView the full glossary, and Māori social services

• Education
• Health
• Kainga Ora
• Social Development

We listen to people receiving services, and those delivering them, to understand what’s working and what’s not

To build a good understanding of how well tamarikiClosetamariki
Children (plural) aged 0-13 yearsView the full glossary and rangatahiCloserangatahi
Young person aged 14 – 21 years of ageView the full glossary are being supported, we listen to the voices of those receiving the services and support. This includes tamariki, rangatahi, 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 and caregivers.

When we visit communities, we also meet with people who provide services and support. This includes people who work for iwiCloseiwi
TribeView the full glossary and Māori service providers, non-government (community) organisations and government agencies such as Oranga Tamariki, NZ Police and frontline health and education providers.

We achieve balance by listening to a wide range of people – we usually engage with more than 1,000 people per year.

How we do this

Our monitoring kaimahi are trained in listening and speaking with tamariki and rangatahi and have experience in working with different communities, including Māori communities. They come from a range of backgrounds and areas of expertise including social work, psychology, education and law.

We use a set of structured questions when engaging with people in a community – our pātai pākiki. This ensures we have a consistent approach to the kōreroClosekōrero
Conversation or discussionView the full glossary (discussions). Our outcomes framework guided the development of our pātai pākiki. 

How often we visit and how we plan these

We visit every community once every 3 years. When planning and visiting a community, we follow our monitoring phases which outline how we engage.

We request data and information and use a nationwide research database to see how organisations are performing and if outcomes are improving for tamarikiClosetamariki
Children (plural) aged 0-13 yearsView the full glossary, rangatahiCloserangatahi
Young person aged 14 – 21 years of ageView the full glossary and 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

Under the Oversight of the Oranga Tamariki System Act, we can request data and information from any agency that delivers services or support to tamariki, rangatahi, and their whānau and family through the oranga tamariki system. These government agencies include Oranga Tamariki and NZ Police, Health and Education. Non-government agencies include organisations with custody of tamariki such as Open Home Foundation.

Agencies must self-assess compliance 

The National Care Standards regulations require agencies with custody and care of tamariki and rangatahi to self-assess how well they are complying with the regulations and meeting their obligations under the Oranga Tamariki Act. They must also provide us with:

• information about plans to strengthen their self-monitoring
• their assessment of areas of concern and noncompliance
• their plans to improve compliance.

Access to the IDI – a research database

We also have access to the Integrated Data Infrastructure (IDI) database through our partnership with the Social Investment Agency. The IDI is a large research database maintained by Stats NZ. It holds de-identified data about people and households in AotearoaCloseAotearoa
New ZealandView the full glossary. It enables us to see outcomes for different groups of people in Aotearoa.

The way we use the IDI groups people by different levels of involvement in the oranga tamariki system. We can also look at ethnicity within each of these groups. For example, we can see if outcomes for Māori in the system are different from Māori not involved in the system. Or if outcomes for Māori in the system are different from non-Māori in the system. You can see this data in our Outcomes for Māori reports.

During our kōreroClosekōrero
Conversation or discussionView the full glossary with people in the communities we visit, we record the engagements. Our first step is to make sure the people we spoke with can’t be identified. 

We work together to code what we heard

Our monitoring and analyst kaimahi wānanga (meet and discuss) to understand what was heard during the visit. We organise the information under our coding framework, using specialist software. Grouping similar information in this way helps us to identify patterns and themes during the analysis process.

We ensure our process is robust

We guard against any potential bias and ensure the robustness of our analysis through testing inter-rater reliability, and our quality assurance process. By using the specialist software, NVivo, to support and record our qualitative analysis, we can theme the information, allowing us to  assess the strength and frequency of those views across all conversations.

Like our pātai pākiki, our outcomes framework guided the development of our coding framework.

Our analysis process has been externally reviewed

This review found that our process is rigorous and committed to accurately capturing and honouring the voices of everyone engaged with (especially tamarikiClosetamariki
Children (plural) aged 0-13 yearsView the full glossary, rangatahiCloserangatahi
Young person aged 14 – 21 years of ageView the full glossary, and 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).

Our team analyses the data we receive from the agencies to:

• look for trends and changes to understand if, and how, any new initiatives or practices the agencies introduced affect the quality of services provided to tamarikiClosetamariki
  Children (plural) aged 0-13 yearsView the full glossary
• see if measures are different for particular groups of tamariki, such as tamariki Māori or tamariki with disabilities
• understand how the agencies are complying with legislation, including relevant regulations.

Tables of the data we have gathered from agencies can be found in each of our reports, on our Reports page. You can see how we’ve used the IDI in our Outcomes for Māori reports.