Who Cares? When kids are taken by the state
There are about 6300 children currently in state care.
In the last year, there were 1915 ‘entries’ and 1246 ‘exits’. Today, Stuff tells the story of two of the children behind those statistics.
Their names have been changed and their identities created from the pen of illustrator Sharon Murdoch. But their story is real.
Reports of concern tracked Jesse, Gabriel and their father, Fred, as they moved across the country. Finally, Oranga Tamariki – the Ministry for Children decided to act and took the girls into state care.
If this sounds like a happy ending, it seldom works out so simply.
By the age of 8, most children in foster care will have been moved an average of seven times.
Around one in 10 kids in care suffers further harm, from emotional distress to physical and sexual abuse.
The majority will leave school at around age 15, without NCEA level 2. A third will have their first conviction by this time.
Gabriel and Jesse were two of almost 10,000 ‘entries’ into state care in the last five years – an average of more than five per day.
The total number of kids in state care has increased for three years in a row.
Is this what’s best for Jesse, Gabriel and the thousands of other kids like them? Can New Zealand do better by its most vulnerable children?