Tuesday, December 11, 2018



A convenient failure

How many children in state care have mental health issues or have attempted suicide? Conveniently, CYFS doesn't know:

A psychiatrist says it's a "failing of the system" that Oranga Tamariki, the Ministry for Children, does not know how many children in state care have mental health issues or have attempted suicide.

RNZ asked for the figures and was told the ministry did not collate that information, and that it would not provide the data as it would be too much work.


They do record the information on people's individual files, but they don't bother keeping aggregate statistics. Which seems like a basic failure of both their core duty to care for children, and of their legal duties under the Public Records Act. On the first, you can't manage what you don't measure, and refusing to compile statistics prevents them from seeing trends and big picture problems and solutions. On the second, every government agency has a legal duty to create and maintain full and accurate records of its affairs, in accordance with normal, prudent business practice. Any competent agency dealing with children in care would collect statistics on their mental health. CYFS' refusal to do so is thus a mark of incompetence, and also a criminal offence. But when are government agencies ever held to account for those?