Gráinne's update - December 2018

Earlier this month we celebrated the achievements of some exceptional care-experience young people at the Prime Minister’s Oranga Tamariki Awards.

The awards – formerly the William Wallace Awards – recognise young people who’ve overcome significant barriers to achieve great things. Award winners receive scholarships to help them pursue their dreams, and opportunities to further develop their skills and talents through tailored work or life experiences.

It was wonderful to have the chance to meet these inspirational young people and hear some of their stories. These are the types of outcomes we’re working towards for all of our tamariki and rangatahi in care.

Read the story: Exceptional rangatahi recognised

2018 has been a big year; we’ve made progress on some major changes, and I’m so proud of what we’ve delivered for our tamariki.

We believe that wherever possible, children and young people should be cared for within their whānau/family, hapu/community, or iwi.

Work we’ve been doing to support this includes:

• building relationships with iwi and kaupapa Māori social service providers to grow the number of whānau caregivers for tamariki Māori
• co-designing a Caregiver Assessment Framework and Practice Guidelines with whānau caregivers
• running marae-based assessment and learning experiences for whānau caregivers

This work is set to continue throughout 2019.

Next year will bring plenty of new challenges and huge opportunities for our tamariki, rangatahi and whānau. 

We’ll be:

• working in an expanded youth justice system, which includes 17 year olds
• leading a significant lift in the quality of care, underpinned by new Care Standards, and improved support for caregivers
• building a brand new transitions service for 18-25 year olds, including the right to return to living with a caregiver until age 21
• creating intensive intervention services for those who might be at risk of serious harm without effective intervention, and this requires
• improved practice, transparency and oversight of family group conferences.

We cannot achieve these things alone.

As we prepare to head into another year of significant change, I want to acknowledge everyone who is part of the ongoing work to improve the lives of young people and their whānau; many thanks to our partners, providers, connections and friends.  

Related story: Big steps forward

Find out about the work we've been doing in 2018 to better support caregivers and the children and young people in our care.

We’re committed to improving outcomes for tamariki Māori and this is supported by legislative changes coming into force on 1 July 2019 - Section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act, which outlines the duties of the chief executive in relation to the Treaty of Waitangi (Te Tiriti).

We’re seeking feedback on how we can best meet our obligations under Section 7AA, and do better for tamariki Māori, their whānau, hapū and iwi.

I encourage you to read the Section 7AA engagement and feedback document, and let us know your thoughts via the online feedback form.

We’ve just published our Outcomes Framework, which sets out the main services we provide, how we intend to provide them differently from the past, and how we will know we're making a difference for tamariki and whānau.

The Outcomes Framework reflects the emerging operating model for Oranga Tamariki, which has been developed to meet new legislative requirements which come into force on 1 July 2019.

The Framework is a living document, and we welcome feedback from the public and our partners which can help drive better outcomes in future iterations.

Read more about the Outcomes Framework

My hope for you this holiday season is that we all get to create memories with our loved ones and are able to take the time to recharge following a busy year.

From my family to yours, we wish you a very Merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year.

Meri kirihimete!

Gráinne Moss

Oranga Tamariki Chief Executive