Oranga Tamariki has a new name, but the same problems and, as we saw in Coroner William Bain's report this week, the same failings. But there is a way to make a difference
Every five weeks. Every 35 days. That's how often, on average, a child is killed in New Zealand. Usually the chid is under five and usually the killer is someone they knew. Knew. Past tense.
We were reminded of this shameful fact this week by the coroner's report into the death of Moko Rangitoheriri, when he warned of all the red flags missed in the lead up to this child's terrible murder.
The Prime Minister said it is "up to us to do things differently". The Children's Minister said we must all "do better". The coroner called for more monitoring. The Children's Commissioner said we need "world leading care and protection".
All of this is further evidence that Oranga Tamariki is failing.
For me, however, most of the failings in this terrible case – and many others – boil down to one core issue. It is, of course, not the only problem. Fix it, and you will still be dealing with the country’s most damaged kids. Fix it, and people will still make mistakes and children will still be let down by those who are meant to care for them. But fix this, and you will make some serious progress in keeping our children safe. You won't have a child killed every five weeks.
The core issue is spending. Money. Our tax dollars. We are trying to provide for the care of our most vulnerable children on the cheap, and kids like Moko are picking up the cheque.
The previous government liked to say you can’t fix this by just throwing money at the problem. But you know what? You could make a huge difference.
If you want to do better, more monitoring, world class protection, you need to spend. Most important of all, you need social workers. More trained, more hired.
The stories out of Oranga Tamariki are heart-breaking. The staff desperately trying to juggle caseloads of 25, 35, 45 children. Being lectured to about prevention and frontloading their work, when they are forced by their caseload to spend most of their time putting out fires, such as simply finding a bed for the night for the kids in their care.
We are seriously, life-threateningly under-staffed in New Zealand.
In 2014 Chief Social Worker Paul Nixon reported CYF were over 350 social workers short. Children in its care needed on average 200 hours per year. Social Workers doing 60 hours plus and carrying ridiculous caseloads to try to achieve this.
Very little has changed. New name, same old shortages.
Remember March this year, when judges forced CYF to staff their Masteron office with out-of-town social workers? Too much work, too few social workers. Children's Commissioner Andrew Becroft said,
"The rights and position of children can't be affected by the lack of human resources and we would expect things to change quickly".
They still are. More social workers would mean more time to care, more time spent on prevention, more time able to be spent on finding and checking out (and paying properly) the best caregivers.
I find it odd that we hear endless cries about other public sector caregivers. Before this week's mini-Budget, we heard concern about the lack of money to increase the pay of police, teachers and nurses. The trilogy of public sector caregivers we care about.
But why on earth aren’t the even worse paid social workers aren’t on that list?
The services that the coroner and Children’s Commissioner want improved aren’t failing in most part because the carers don’t know what to do. They just lack the time and the tools to spot those red flags. Give them more social workers, and each child will have more time. Time to be cared for, housed and mentored. That time will cost us money, but it will – not could, will - save lives.
If we want to stop asking the Moko’s of this world to pay with their lives, it’s time for us to start paying to look after these kids. And that starts with more social workers.