Kids caught up in meth scare

Oranga Tamariki says it uplifted no children due to a Housing New Zealand meth test but the state landlord has confirmed more than 1000 children were evicted from homes.

The agency, also known as the Ministry for Children, has confirmed it received 255 reports of concern from Housing NZ during its ‘‘zero tolerance policy’’ using a misapplied meth contamination standard.

A review of these reports showed 40 cases related to a positive meth test but none resulted in children taken from families ‘‘solely’’ because of the test.

Housing NZ has confirmed 1112 children were affected in its pursuit and eviction of nearly 800 tenancies deemed contaminated.

In releasing a report into the debacle on Thursday, it apologised and offered between $2500 and $3000 compensation to evicted tenants.

Auckland mother Janine Moss had Oranga Tamariki knock on the door of her four-bedroom Mt Roskill home after a Housing NZ meth test in 2015.

It came after Moss called the police on her daughter’s abusive partner, and officers found ‘‘a bong thing’’ one of her children had used for smoking marijuana.

No charges followed but Housing NZ were notified and arrived unannounced to test the house.

Two weeks on, Moss was yet to hear the result when Oranga Tamariki arrived to say her four children couldn’t stay in the home due to contamination.

‘‘If I didn’t have a place for them to go they were going to uplift them from me.

‘‘So then I got in touch with Housing NZ, and they told me I had seven days to move out.’’

Moss’ mother was able to take the children, though this took a toll on her already poor health.

In the Tenancy Tribunal decision which followed her eviction, either police or Housing NZ said the pipe was the glass kind ‘‘commonly used for smoking methamphetamine’’.

There was no meth test completed prior to her tenancy but word of the pipe was evidence enough to have Moss, who was not at the tribunal hearing, billed $9700 for the contamination.

Moss and her family then moved through a series of untenable accommodation arrangements, including a garage, her car, and a motel. ‘‘For the whole three years I looked for houses but I just kept getting declined because on my record they had it that I was manufacturing meth in my house.’’

She now shares a private rental with another family on the other side of town and has contacted Housing NZ, hoping to again take up a tenancy.

The saga has seriously disrupted the lives of her children: her 12-year-old daughter is unwilling to attend her new school and her son, who was earning top marks, quit school to work. ‘‘I’d done nothing wrong at all. I want to be back in my own house.

‘‘My kids just haven’t had a stable environment for nearly three years now and it’s not good for them.’’

Oranga Tamariki deputy chief executive Glynis Sandland said the 127 investigations conducted following a Housing NZ notification showed no child was uplifted due to a meth test.

‘‘We have not been able to identify any situation in which we removed tamariki or rangatahi from their wha¯nau based solely on the result of an environmental methamphetamine test.’’

The agency had support available for anyone impacted by the policy, she said.

The Ministry of Social Development is reviewing a list of clients evicted by Housing NZ after meth testing.

Acting deputy chief executive Liz Jones said it would take some time to find out how clients have been affected, and what debts they may have incurred.

‘‘When it’s complete, we’ll be considering what help or remedial action can be offered in each case.’’

‘‘I’d done nothing wrong at all.’’ Evicted mother Janine Moss