Families with babies
We are working earlier with families and whānau to support parents when there are concerns for a baby.
More support
We know we need to provide more support to families and whānau to keep children out of care. We are also working to improve our practice when newborn babies are brought into care.
The number of babies (under 1) coming into our care has more than halved over the last 3 years (from 445 in 2017 to 220 in 2020).
Changing how we work
We acknowledge there have been historical issues with parts of our practice that involved applying to the Family Court for interim custody of a newborn baby under Section 78 of the Oranga Tamariki Act 1989.
In November 2019 we introduced system and practice changes following an internal review. These include:
- Unless a child is in immedidate and imminent danger, making applications 'on notice' so the family is given the opportunity to have their say before a judge makes a final decision.
- When staff need to act fast to keep a child safe, every section 78 ‘without notice’ application goes through additional checks with three people, including a lawyer.
Since these changes, for babies that do need to enter care, it’s more likely to be in a planned way, with a greater use of care agreements as an alternative to section 78 orders
For example since 2017, we’ve seen a more than 60 per cent reduction in the babies (under 1) that we bring into our care under section 78 orders (from 288 in 2017 to 120 in 2020).
Supporting families with babies flowchart
This chart gives an example of how we may interact with a baby and their family or whānau throughout the different stages we are involved.
Our role may stop and start at anytime. Entry for the baby into care may never happen and we try to work alongside the family to avoid this if possible.

Published: July 6, 2020 · Updated: August 7, 2020