Grieving wh¯anau get silence instead of answers

A grieving mother says she is devastated Oranga Tamariki did not alert her when her son was rushed to hospital, and that it contacted her only the following day – after he died.

Sonny Marks, 14, was admitted to hospital on New Year’s Eve 2018, and died the next day from suspected suicide.

But mum Ana Ransfield said she was not told anything until nearly two hours after he died.

Ransfield vividly remembers driving home to Levin on January 1 last year, when she received a call from Oranga Tamariki that changed everything.

‘‘He said ‘it’s about Sonny’ and I said ‘what about Sonny, is he OK?’ He said ‘oh, he’s passed away’.

‘‘When I got that phone call, I was so heartbroken.’’

Ransfield said the Oranga Tamariki supervisor from Levin did not give her any details about how Sonny died. But she said his caregiver eventually explained that Sonny was taken to hospital at 11pm on New Year’s Eve. He died in Hastings at 7.15am the next day.

Ransfield is devastated she was not phoned until about 9am.

‘‘It was really hurtful because I never got to see him ... I would have gone straight up there.’’

Willamene Kerei is Ransfield’s sister-in-law and has been at her side throughout the ordeal.

She said the wha¯nau should have been notified as soon as Sonny went to hospital.

‘‘It’s rude, it’s disrespectful . . . This boy died ... without his wha¯ nau even knowing.’’

More than a year on, Ransfield is still coming to grips with Sonny’s death.

Oranga Tamariki documents show he had a history of mental illness and had self-harmed as recently as August 2018.

But both Kerei and Ransfield said that when they first met Sonny’s caregiver in Hastings after he died, the caregiver said she was not aware of his history.

Ransfield said she had not heard from Oranga Tamariki since Sonny was buried, and she was still waiting to receive his case files, which she requested last year.

Oranga Tamariki refused to comment on the case as it was before the coroner.

The agency also refused to release any general information about its policies around the death of a child in state care, and when it should notify a parent.

The costs of Sonny’s funeral and cremation, as well as petrol costs for travel, was covered by Oranga Tamariki.

The coronial inquest will be held next year. – RNZ