Social services react to damning report into Oranga Tamariki

Social service providers feel "vindicated", "relieved" and "ready to move on", after a report into Oranga Tamariki's contracting practices last year.

One also said it was "shocking" decisions were made without knowing the impact cuts would have on children.

The chief government watchdog issued a scathing assessment of the way Oranga Tamariki abruptly axed contracts for social services helping vulnerable children.

In his report released on Wednesday, Auditor-General John Ryan said it wasn't known what impact the cuts may have had on children and their families, which was "unacceptable", given the core role of the child protection agency.

In January, RNZ reported the cuts to early intervention services in the community had advocates worried more children would end up in care.

Last year, Oranga Tamariki cut 60 percent of Wesley Community Action's services supporting mothers and fathers of young children and babies who were experiencing stress.

Speaking to RNZ again, David Hanna, the director at the social service in Wellington, said reading the report was significant.

"I and many other providers like us felt validated, relieved and, to some extent, motivated to move forward."

Hanna said the period of uncertainty was "so disorientating, it was almost like - are we going crazy?

"We haven't known about our funding. It's been unclear what the contract levels were.

"We couldn't understand why the funding was being reduced. We couldn't get rationale or any logic for it."

He said all parts of a system already feeling pressure were further stressed.

"There was a sense of relief that the office of the Auditor General has acknowledged what we were feeling was actually the reality that they saw as well."

Hanna said it was "shocking for us as a nation" the decisions were made without knowing the impact it would have on children.

"The most vulnerable children and young people, and us making decisions about not knowing the impact - that's tragic.

"I hope we learn from it, because we are all committed to do the best we can."

Hanna thought the direction from the Minister to find 6.5 percent cost savings played a role in the decisions and acknowledged the officials "had a hard job".

"That's a challenge to find in a system that's already under stress."

Confident of improvements

Barnados chief executive Matt Reid said he wasn't surprised by the report and considered it "very fair" from his perspective. He was "really keen to move forward".

"The report's come out and Oranga Tamariki have owned it, which is great. They've acknowledged the areas that need to be improved."

Reid said he had "confidence in the leadership" that they will improve.

"I really look forward to moving forward alongside Oranga Tamariki and also alongside the sector."

Barnados had clearly told Oranga Tamariki the impact this would have on children and families, Reid said, "and they listened".

He said Barnados hadn't landed in a position it wanted to be, but acknowledged Oranga Tamariki had "an incredibly tough job".

"There's clearly limited money. They're juggling really important care and protection jobs, and so I understand."

Reid said he'd expressed concerns about the impact on children "the whole way through", but was looking forward to moving forward.

"Whilst this conversation is about contracting, procurement and commissioning providers, what really matters most is what we're doing for children and whānau, particularly those in Oranga Tamariki's attention."

He said reports had shown things weren't improving, and he wanted a more meaningful dialogue with Oranga Tamariki about the change needed to achieve better outcomes for young people in care and their families.

Reid was really encouraged by the messaging from the Oranga Tamariki leadership.

Labour spokesperson for children Willow-Jean Prime also felt vindicated, saying she was pleased the inquiry found "serious issues" with the way Oranga Tamariki had done its contracting.

"I feel like providers, myself and others should feel vindicated by the findings in this report."

Not knowing what impact the cuts may have on children and their families was at the heart of the issue, she said.

"That's what community providers were so worried about right from the beginning, that they could see the impact that these decisions, funding cuts and slashes of funding would have on the whānau and tamariki they work with."

She said the providers were concerned by the "lack of response" from Oranga Tamariki and the "attacks" from the Minister for Children Karen Chhour, when they could see the harm this would do to children and vulnerable families.

"It is really concerning that they were right and that the minister was wrong, had not listened to them, did not respond to that, continued to ignore them and this report shows that those concerns they had were, in fact, valid."

Prime said it was "absolutely" down to the Minister's direction to the agency to find 6.5 percent in savings, "they did that through cutting contracts to community providers for services for intervention and early prevention, as well as other things like the restructuring of Oranga Tamariki".

"Those decisions by the government and directed by the Minister, meant that Oranga Tamariki had to respond to those rash decisions.

"What the report shows is that they had poor processes in place to be able to give effect to that direction, and that led to all of the issues that we have seen in the process and the concerns that were raised, and the impact that it has on vulnerable children and families."

Prime said Chhour needed to "stop blaming and attacking providers, to listen and to fix the situation urgently".

The Minister for Children said she appreciated the feedback and thoughts of the Auditor-General, and that his message was clear - "the way Oranga Tamariki has historically overseen, communicated and managed contracts was poor".

"I acknowledge this. It is something I have heard directly from providers across the country, both as Minister and in Opposition."

Chhour said progress had been made since the period covered by the report. She outlined her challenge to Oranga Tamariki, when she became Minister, to ensure it was "putting the care and protection of young people above all else when it spent money entrusted to it by taxpayers".

She said the assessment of the $500 million contracting process took months to undertake and some of the findings were still being implemented.

"What this process made clear was Oranga Tamariki had been funding a number of well-intentioned services that were not primarily focussed on the care and protection of vulnerable young people.

"It also raised concerns around how they have engaged with providers, especially around contracts and decision-making processes."

Chhour said good contracting of services was not just "handing out cheques and hoping for the best", it was about "thoughtfully, intentionally funding the right services where they are most needed".

"While I greatly appreciate the work of all providers, especially their frontline staff trying to make a tangible difference in these children's lives, not everything Oranga Tamariki has historically funded was clearly directed or made a tangible difference to young people."

Thanks to the review, Chhour said funding could be transferred to more urgent and impactful frontline services.

Oranga Tamariki said it accepted the findings of the Office of the Auditor-General's (OAG) inquiry into their procurement and contract management processes.

Its acting chief executive Andrew Bridgman said: "We have already made significant changes to address the issues the Auditor-General now outlines.

"These shifts include new governance and leadership, stronger programme management, improved contract management and a refreshed commissioning framework."

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