If you’ve been part of one of our community visits, you’ll be familiar with our share backs. These summarise what we heard on our visit and can be used to support action at a local level. We also refer to the key themes identified in the share back when we next visit the community to see what changes have been made.

Our full community share backs, starting with our recent Bay of Plenty visit, are now available on our website, alongside an A3 summary. You can read about what we heard in your community on our website.

If you’d like to know when we’ll be visiting your community, have a look at the monitoring schedule on our website. Our regional managers welcome the opportunity to meet with organisations in advance of our visits – if you’re not sure who to get in touch with, email us on info@aroturuki.govt.nz and we’ll get them to contact you.

We are busy completing our first report on the performance of the oranga tamariki system in respect of outcomes being achieved for tamariki and rangatahi Māori and their whānau for 2023/24. This will be our first system-wide report, and something the Oversight of Oranga Tamariki System Act requires us to report on annually from 2023/24.

The report will go to the Minister for Children and monitored agencies in early May. Agencies then have 20 working days to formally respond before we can publish it. We expect to be publishing it, alongside agency responses, by mid-June.

We also have work underway on our follow-up report to Towards a stronger safety net to prevent abuse of children (a report on the implementation of the recommendations of Dame Karen Poutasi). Despite several decades of reviews, this was the first report to look at whether recommendations had been implemented and we’re hoping to see more progress this time. We plan to publish our second report on this at the end of this year.

In between these major reports, we’re also compiling a snapshot of our first visits to youth justice residences and this will be on our website, along with our other share backs.

We’ll keep you updated on report releases via this newsletter.

The Oversight of Oranga Tamariki System Act requires us to review and consult on our Information Rules and Ethics Code every two years and then publish these on our website.

We are seeking feedback on the draft documents, particularly from providers under sections 362, 364, 396 or 403 of the Oranga Tamariki Act. 

The Information Rules relate to our collection, use, and disclosure of information. The Rules combine several documents we currently use regarding the collection, use and disclosure of information into a single document.

The Ethics Code will help to guide our monitoring engagements. It outlines the ethical guidelines and best practice principles that we follow when engaging with tamariki, rangatahi, their whānau, family and caregivers. The version we are consulting on is a slight update to our existing Ethics Code.

Both draft documents are available for review on our website. Please provide feedback via email to emma.churchill@aroturuki.govt.nz by Friday 2 May 2025.

The independent review of the oversight system by MartinJenkins has been published by the Ministry of Social Development. We are pleased that the review found the oversight system is operating effectively. You can read the review on the MSD website.

There is information about the oversight system for tamariki and rangatahi, and those who support them, available on our website aroturuki.govt.nz/about-us/oversight-system

If you work with or support tamariki or rangatahi in care, the Ombudsman has a website to guide tamariki and rangatahi through getting help and making a complaint: nau-mai.nz