Homes ‘setting us up to fail’
Study exposes stark accounts of secure youth care centres from children, teens
Children and teens have described prison-like conditions, self-harm, bullying and sexual behaviour in a stark new report into secure youth care homes.
Children’s Commissioner Andrew Becroft says the current model of “care and protection residences” must be made a thing of the past after his agency’s distressing new study: “A Hard Place to Be Happy.”
The commission’s report is a collection of descriptions of the facilities in their residents’ own words.
Care and protection residences are locked facilities run by Oranga Tamariki for youths put in state care by the Family Court.
The Ministry for Children homes 39 people aged 9 to 17 in four facilities of various sizes. Barnardos operates a fifth home for teens.
They house young people, usually for between two and six months, who have come from abusive homes and suffered severe trauma, and are considered to be at serious risk of harm from others or themselves.
Unlike youth justice facilities none of the occupants has been sent there by the Youth Court.
“None of these children and young people are there because they have done anything wrong,” Becroft said.
While the commission’s report — based on 52 interviews with young people in 2017 and 2018 — found the physical conditions varied from residence to residence, some teens described steel doors, metal toilet seats, hard, plastic-wrapped mattresses, and strict schedules.
“I think they are setting [us] up to fail. We will have to do things on our own. We can’t cook, we can’t keep our fitness up. We can’t do anything,” one girl said. “I think it will affect my life when I’m older.”
Others told interviewers about
Ninety per cent of kids in here are suicidal for being in residence and the experiences they have in life. And no one does anything about it. Secure youth care home resident
The voices of the children and young people contained in this report . . . confirm our present institutional model of care must become a relic of the past. Andrew Becroft, Children’s Commissioner
self-harm and suicide.
“Ninety per cent of kids in here are suicidal for being in residence and the experiences they have in life. And no one does anything about it,” one said.
“I’ve tried to kill myself . . . and I hurt myself, many times . . . when I go on walks, I pick things up, just to hurt myself,” another added.
Some said they had been bullied “non-stop”, one talked of being choked, another mentioned frequent sexual behaviour from other kids.
“They have sexualised comments and everyone has relationships. And they feel each other up in front of each other,” the girl said.
Care workers, health staff, psychologists, cooks, teachers and social workers staff the facilities and the children gave both positive and negative accounts of experiences.
“I’ve had so many staff that have impacted on my life in a huge way, to the point where I feel sometimes they saved me,” a young woman said.
“I talk to my social worker a lot. We are just, like, best friend,” one said.
Others were critical, saying they wished the facilities had never existed. They complained the use of restraints left them with carpet burns, sprained wrists and bruises.
“I don’t like restraints ‘cause some people do it hard. And, like, they don’t mean to, but when [staff member] did my restraint, he left a huge bruise on my arm . . . He was swearing at me and he told me I couldn’t talk,” one young woman told interviewers.
Another young man described the conditions in a cold, “dirty and boring” special secure unit in the facility.
“Secure is dirty as — it’s worse than the police cells. There was this little boy . . . who used to throw s*** on the walls. People piss all over the floor and stuff,” he said.
Becroft described the report as extremely difficult to read. “The voices of the children and young people contained in this report are insistent. They are distressing. We must take them seriously,” he said.
He said records showed largescale care homes had not served children well. “The voices gathered here confirm our present institutional model of care must become a relic of the past,” he said.
“These children and young people would be better placed in small, childcentred homes where they have continuous access to a wide range of supports, like mental health services.”
Becroft pointed to plans by Oranga Tamariki to phase the facilities out in favour of smaller community-based group homes, and the repurposing of Auckland’s Whakatakapokai home.
“For children and young people like those whose voices this report shares, this change cannot happen quickly enough,” he said.
In a statement, Oranga Tamariki said the facilities provided an opportunity for youths to settle before moving into a longer-term home.
“The work we’re doing right now to transform the way we care for children and young people in our residences is centred on their needs and the needs of their wha¯nau,” deputy chief executive of care services Trish Langridge said.
“We always welcome scrutiny of our work.”
The Children’s Commissioner’s 2018 State of Care report called for the phasing out of residences.