Families wait months for investigations

WELLINGTON: Atrisk children are having to wait months for outcomes of investigations into abuse and neglect, according to family lawyers.

When a judge orders a section 132 report (detailing care and protection issues involving a child, including the outcomes of investigations into abuse or neglect), Oranga Tamariki has a statutory obligation to say what action it intends to take within seven days and file the report within 28 days.

However, lawyers said in some regions, families were left in limbo for months.

A Lower Hutt man who had to fight for three years to get custody of his daughter — despite the local Child Youth and Family office receiving many notifications about drug use and violence in her mother’s home — said he did not believe anything had changed at the local office except the name, Oranga Tamariki.

The father, who cannot be named to protect his child’s privacy, said despite internal and external reviews of his case ordered by former social development minister Anne Tolley, the same staff were still doing the same job.

Family court lawyer Chris Nicholls said he had cases that had been waiting six months for intervention.

He said he heard that at a recent count, there were 100 cases of suspected abuse in the Hutt Valley that had not been allocated to a social worker.

Children’s Commissioner Judge Andrew Becroft said the long waiting times were ‘‘completely unacceptable’’. ‘‘Noone is happy with the situation.’’

However, it would be at least a fiveyear project to build Oranga Tamariki.

The design and development work taking place at a national level was impressive and those in charge were committed to making things better, he said.

But implementing it was going to require ‘‘some challenging questions around resourcing and the competence and ability of frontline staff’’. — RNZ