57 kids in seven years: Our shocking child death toll

Monday, 30 October 2023

At least 50 children have been killed since Oranga Tamariki was created – and half of them had a record with the agency before they died.

The shocking statistics have been leaked to Stuff by someone close to the children’s ministry.

In August, we asked Oranga Tamariki how many children have been killed in recent years. The agency couldn’t say.

After that story was published, an anonymous person sent Stuff a white envelope. It contained an internal ministry document, identifying scores of children who had died – many as a result of abuse or neglect.

The data shows that since Oranga Tamariki was created in April 2017, there have been at least 57 child homicides. Some of the victims died as a result of beatings, traumatic brain injuries, asphyxiation or stabbings.

Stuff understands this information was circulated with Oranga Tamariki’s partner agencies, including police and justice officials. However, the agency refused to publicly release it.

“They do put a lot of energy into managing their public perception,” says a person who worked at Oranga Tamariki. “When they look at the numbers, all they see is bad news. Well, ignoring the numbers doesn’t make the bad news go away.

“Oranga Tamariki needs to own these figures. Otherwise, we normalise child deaths. When a child dies in brutal circumstances, we go, ‘Oh, yeah – another one’. We don’t even flinch.”

Some deaths could not be prevented, because the agency had no prior history with the child or their family.

But crucially, 50% of the victims already had a record in the ministry’s system before they were killed.

“These children had been red-flagged,” says Jane Searle, CEO of advocacy group Child Matters. “If Oranga Tamariki already knew about them, why did the system not respond to protect them?

One of New Zealand’s latest child homicide victims is toddler Ru Wall, who died from blunt force trauma.

For the first time, Oranga Tamariki has confirmed to Stuff that Ru Wall did have an ID number in CYRAS – the agency’s case management system. However, the agency is not willing to comment on the nature of its involvement with the child.

Oranga Tamariki’s chief social worker Peter Whitcombe says there are tens of thousands of children in the ministry’s system.

“An ID number will be assigned if there is any kind of concern raised with us about a child. It does not necessarily mean that we have been involved in a child’s life.”

Whitcombe says the agency isn’t notified about every child death.

“I don’t think that’s right,” he accepts. “I think we should be the single-point agency, as the Ministry of Children, that is able to [have all the information].”

The data gap means Oranga Tamariki may have children in its system who’ve subsequently been killed – and the agency won’t even know about the deaths.

“It’s extraordinary,” says Searle. “It’s a complete failure. If we can’t link up the information so that Oranga Tamariki knows how many children are dying, then who does know? If it’s not their responsibility, then whose is it?”

Whitcombe says he and his colleagues work hard for the protection of children.

“We can’t predict what will happen to a child. Often, their circumstances change after our involvement. But [if a child dies], we try to understand the role that we played, and how we can learn from that.”

Do you know more? Email jehan.casinader@stuff.co.nz in confidence.