Te Mana Whakamaru Tamariki Motuhake Te Wā ō Hōtoke - Update

Kia ora <<First Name>>,

Welcome to our Hōtoke/ Winter update. 2021 seems to be flying past us and it is hard to believe we are already half way through the year. It is also a time to celebrate Matariki, the beginning of the Māori New Year and a time for reflecting on the past year, remembering loved ones and planning for the future with whānau and friends.

The last few months have been busy for us at the Monitor and I have some exciting updates to share with you (below) including the much-awaited decision on our permanent home. 

Our teams from Pōneke, Tāmaki, Ōtautahi and Ngā Motu came together earlier this month for a wānanga at the beautiful Waiwhetū marae, where we were able to collectively contemplate on our bicultural development, the important mahi we are involved in, and discuss our way forward.

Our animation in English and te reo Māori, on the role of the Monitor, is on our website and our monitors have already started using it while engaging with tamariki. 

Ngā mihi ō Matariki
Arran Jones
Tumu Whakarae | Executive Director
Te Mana Whakamaru Tamariki Motuhake | Independent Children’s Monitor 

• Long-term home of the Monitor
• Monitoring updates
• Monitoring Visits
• Contact us

Long-term home of the Monitor

Once the necessary legislation is passed, the Monitor will leave the Ministry of Social Development and become its own departmental agency with our own Chief Executive, who will also be a Statutory Officer. The Monitor will be hosted by the Education Review Office (ERO) and although there will be clear separation between the Monitor and ERO, it will allow the two agencies to cooperate and learn from one and other. The Monitor will continue to work closely with the Ombudsman and the Office of the Children’s Commissioner as we strengthen oversight of the Oranga Tamariki system to ensure our tamariki and rangatahi are well looked after and have what they need. We also look forward to working with ERO as we plan for the future. Read more about the decision from the Minister for Social Development and Employment, Carmel Sepuloni, here.

Monitoring updates

We have completed six community visits across Porirua, Kaitaia, Blenheim, Kaikoura, Gisborne, the west coast of Te Waipounamu, Mangere and Ōtāhuhu. Monitors met and heard from tamariki and rangatahi, whānau, caregivers, social workers, NGOs, Māori midwives, representatives from health, education and Police, as well as monitored agencies across these sites. The interviews and data from these visits will inform our first annual report due at the end of the year. After our visits, we will be sharing feedback with the communities to give them an opportunity to know what we are hearing. This means they have the chance to build on their successes and start working on areas for improvement well ahead of the first annual report. We will also share this feedback with the four monitored organisations - Oranga Tamariki, Barnardos, Dingwall Trust and Open Home Foundation, who hold care and custody responsibilities.

Monitoring Visits

We will be visiting Upper South Island, Auckland, Canterbury and Te Tai Tokerau over the next four months. Our monitoring schedule, from July 2021 until February 2023, is up on our website. If you are a service provider in these regions, predominantly working with those in care and/or their parents and whānau and want to be included, please reach us on info@icm.org.nz.

Contact us