Experiences of Care in Aotearoa 2024/25

Today we released our fifth report on compliance with the National Care Standards Regulations - Experiences of Care in Aotearoa 2024/25.

Overall, we found that the regulations are still not being met.

The regulations are the minimum standard the more than 5,600 tamariki (children) and rangatahi (young people) in care should receive to be well and do well. Oranga Tamariki has custody of nearly 99 percent of those in care.

The key reasons for there not being more improvement are that social workers need more help, and tamariki and rangatahi in care are still not sufficiently prioritised for government services.

Our report also found:

• More than a quarter of tamariki and rangatahi in care had a change in caregiver. Half of these changes were unexpected. The most common reason for change was because the caregiver was unable or unwilling to continue providing care.
• Nearly 250 tamariki and rangatahi in care spent time in motels in the last year, a total of more than 4,000 nights – 1,000 more than the previous year. The median length of stay was four days.
• One in 10 tamariki and rangatahi in care, of compulsory school age, were not enrolled in school. Data from the IDI (2023) shows those who were enrolled had a lower rate of regular attendance than those not in care – particularly at secondary school where regular attendance was only 34 percent.
• Tamariki and rangatahi in care have high mental health support needs and accessing services is a struggle. The rate of hospitalisation for self-harm is much higher for those in care.
• One third of tamariki and rangatahi are still not being visited by their social worker as often as the regulations require. 
• There was a continued increase in the number of tamariki and rangatahi found to have been abused in care – 530 in 2024/25. Those in secure residences or who had been returned home to live with their parent were more likely to experience abuse.
• For older rangatahi preparing to live independently, there has been a concerted effort to improve the referral rate to transition support services – this is good to see. However, nearly one quarter of rangatahi are still not being offered this help. And they need to be referred earlier – of those offered, only 63 percent of rangatahi were referred at age 16.
• Oranga Tamariki has a duty to ensure rangatahi in care are prepared for adulthood yet only 19 percent had a formal transition plan, only 11 percent of eligible rangatahi had a completed life skills assessment and only one third received help from Oranga Tamariki to obtain identity documents (such as a birth certificate) and set up a bank account.

In early 2025 Oranga Tamariki developed a National Care Standards Action Plan. This is the first time it has had a clear plan with specific targets for improving compliance with the regulations. Our next report will reflect any improvement that results from this plan.

Our report contains the voices of around 1,250 tamariki, rangatahi, whānau, caregivers and professionals who support them. They tell us how it feels when care is being delivered well and they have what they need - and how it feels when it isn't.

Arran Jones
Tumu Whakarae | Chief Executive