Lack of notes blamed for baby uplift crisis

Had a social worker made and kept adequate notes there would likely never have been an attempt to uplift a baby from Hawke’s Bay Hospital. There may never have been so much confusion and anger.

And the Oranga Tamariki staff sent to collect the child would not be the faces of a decision they had nothing to do with.

A practice review into the uplift case, released on Thursday, covers a list of failings.

Chief social worker Grant Bennett says, as the report identifies, there were ‘‘multi-factorial’’ failures but concedes that matters at the hospital on May 6 would not have played out the way they did, had the social worker’s notes been adequate.

Bennett won’t discuss staff, other than to say there is an employment process under way.

The Oranga Tamariki staff caught on film in the article were acting on a case in the hands of a social worker who was on leave.

They had a custody order for the child but had no idea about the nature of communications between the child’s wha¯ nau and the social worker.

The social worker had not recorded them, nor disclosed to the wha¯nau that there would be an application for a custody order.

Chief social worker

Bennett said there had been several hui between the social worker and the wha¯ nau and other agencies, in which a plan was discussed. The wha¯ nau and other agencies believed the plan, under which the baby remained with the mother, had been been decided on. But it had not been agreed to, and the social worker never informed them of that.

‘‘I can understand the social worker at the time possibly not wanting to take the decision there and then in the meeting and wanting to go back and consult, but what didn’t happen was going back and saying we agree with it or we don’t,’’ Bennett said.

This meant the three staff filling in during the social worker’s absence had none of the historical information or details that they should have.

‘‘Had there been strong communication in terms of where we stood and what was proposed, there certainly would not have been the level of confusion and we may not have got to how the hospital situation played out,’’ he said.

‘‘I feel for those social workers because they are the public face of this and they are the ones who have had the greatest ramifications, yet had the preparation been done we would have been in a very different place.’’

The review also makes it clear that a view, or bias, had been formed about this particular family despite a lack of evidence supporting it.

While the review and Bennett are clear it was a situation where there were legitimate concerns for the baby that warranted Oranga Tamariki involvement, they also acknowledge there had been insufficient consideration around the current situation of the parents and wha¯ nau.

‘‘There was definitely a very strong view formed based on historical information, both in the history of the parents and the people as parents.

‘‘What did not happen was an adequate assessment,’’ Bennett said.

‘‘Critical questions were not asked. I am devastated for the family. Some of the decisions we took lacked compassion and humanity. That is the element that disappoints me most.’’

Bennett said the impact on the Hastings office of Oranga Tamariki had been huge ‘‘but there is a steely determination now to move on’’.

‘‘What was worrying me was that the discourse [around the report] would fragment communities and not bring them together but through the course of this there has been a coming together.

‘‘And we can’t do it alone,’’ Bennett said. ‘‘There are things that have come out of this report that will strengthen practice across the country.’’

‘‘Some of the decisions we took lacked compassion and humanity.’’

Grant Bennett