A timeline of state ‘care’
1867
The first Government-run institutions for children were industrial schools established under the Neglected and Criminal Children Act.
1874
The Naval Training School Act allows “wayward boys” to be detained in naval training schools or, in certain cases, simply sent to sea.
1916
Training schools and longer-stay residential institutions are also opened – some of them being converted industrial schools.
1925
The Child Welfare Act gives the state the right to assume parental responsibility for children in certain circumstances.
1954
The Government opened its first “family home”, the name for the large residential houses run by foster parents.
1954-1958
A teenage sex scandal in Lower Hutt, the Mazengarb Report into “moral delinquency”, the Parker-Hulme killing in Christchurch and the re-election of a National Government dedicated to “child-saving” all strengthen the political appetite for residential care. 1959
Epuni Boys’ Home opens, among the first of 26 residences around the country.
1988
The Government begins phasing out the institutions; Child, Youth and Family will eventually run just four care and protection residences, with 48 beds in total for older children and teenagers in custody.
1990-present Hundreds of former wards allege abuse and make claims against the Crown.
2017
Former state wards who were victims of abuse deliver a petition and open letter to Parliament, calling for a public apology and inquiry.
The petition, signed by about 5000 people, was presented to Māori Party co-leader Marama Fox
2018
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern establishes a formal inquiry to be chaired by Sir Anand Satyanand into claims of historical abuse between the 1950s and 1990s.