Karen Chhour: Children's Minister on the increase in reports of concern coming into Oranga Tamariki

The Children's Minister says good progress is being made on reports coming into Oranga Tamariki.  

The Ministry for Children estimates it's seen a 45% increase in reports of concern in the year to April. 

Karen Chhour says the number of children in unsafe households is alarming but it's positive seeing more people reporting them.  

She told Mike Hosking the urgency of each report can vary, with several potentially applying to the same child.  

Chhour says not all reports need Oranga Tamariki intervention, with lower urgency cases better dealt with by community resources. 

LISTEN ABOVE 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Now the business of treating our kids badly seems to
be growing. Oranga Tamariki have thirteen hundred and nineteen oney
three hundred nineteen children currently overdue to be allocated to
social worker. That in part is because there's been apparently
a forty five percent increase in reports of concerns since
April of last year. So we've got a total of
eighty one thousand reports that need looking into. Now. The

(00:20):
Children's Minister Karen Chaws with us on this Karen Morning Morning.

Speaker 2 (00:24):
How are you well?

Speaker 1 (00:25):
Thank you? Is this depressing and close to overwhelming?

Speaker 2 (00:29):
I think we have to put things in perspective. What
reports of concern have increased by forty five percent, those
case numbers you're talking about have actually decreased by twenty
four percent. The staff are working really well at bringing
the numbers down of those unallocated cases of social workers
to children. We're working smarter, We've got better focus in

(00:52):
different regions with their challenges and why these are allocated
cases are happening. So whilst the reports to consumer increased,
our social workers are doing an amazing job to bring
those numbers down.

Speaker 1 (01:04):
Would there be multiple reports of concern around singular children?
Hence the eighty one thousand looks more alarming than it
may well be.

Speaker 2 (01:12):
Yes, some children may be counted more than once if
there's more than one reporter concern around that young person.

Speaker 1 (01:20):
How many children in this country, in some way, shape
or form have some sort of alarming set of circumstances
around them that would require a government agency to help.

Speaker 2 (01:30):
I don't have that exact number in front of me,
but it is quite high, and it is quite alarming.
But what we've also got to remember is it's a
positive that people are reporting their concerns because when we
know about it, we can actually get them in front
of them.

Speaker 1 (01:45):
Well, that's true. What's to concern that? I'm just trying
to get my head around this, because I mean, this
just this is a different world than the one I
live in, sadly, But what's a report of concern? I mean,
what does that mean? Does a kid get beaten or
as you've just looked over the fence and gone and
that looks suspect.

Speaker 2 (02:01):
So a reporter concern can include all of those. And
that's why they're triage when they come in, and their
triage to hire a serious need to lower needs when
they're lower needs. We can often use the community, which
I've been doing in the last twelve months setting up
more enabling community partnerships where communities can get involved so
that autoatomidice doesn't have to intervene. Not all these cases

(02:26):
will require autonatomitic key intervention.

Speaker 1 (02:29):
Does the judicial aspect of this whole thing suit you
at the moment? I mean, in other words, if these
people end up in court in some way, shape or form,
are they being dealt to appropriately or is there a
weak link there?

Speaker 2 (02:41):
I think that's where the investment. We've been putting a
massive investment into making sure that our young people are
seen and there's a prevention for the youth justice system.
We've increased the funding when it comes to the fast
Track program where multiple agencies will get involved early. We've
increase the funding to upgrade to the frontline technology system

(03:03):
to enable our social workers to be able to work
smarter and faster and be in front of children rather
than behind a desk. And we've increased the support staff
alongside our social workers. So whilst those numbers might sound concerning,
that twenty four percent decrease in the last twelve months
of unallocated cases shows that we're actually making progress, and

(03:26):
that our social workers are doing a fantastic job keeping
up with the amount of reports concern that are coming in.

Speaker 1 (03:32):
All I can do is wish you well with it.
Karen appreciated Karen Shaw, who's the Children's Minister. There's something
foundly wrong with this country. For more from The mic
Asking Breakfast, listen live to news talks that'd be from
six am weekdays, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.