Integrated Government response to the review by Dame Karen Poutasi

Kia ora koutou

Child Poverty Reduction Minister Louise Upston has announced that the Government has accepted all 14 of the recommendations made by the review by Dame Karen Poutasi in 2022. The Government response is focused on strengthening the children’s system, and improving safeguards, to protect against and better respond to child harm.

Child and youth ministers will oversee implementation of the integrated government response and drive work at pace to deliver on all 14 recommendations. The response will ensure the children’s system has a consistent approach to sharing information on, reporting on, and responding to suspected abuse.

Given the complexities and scale of the changes required to implement the recommendations, Cabinet has agreed a staged approach and is expected to consider further decisions before the end of the year.

The children’s system under the Oranga Tamariki Act 1989 involves multiple agencies supporting children, young people, and their families and includes Oranga Tamariki, the NZ Police, the Ministries of Health, Social Development, Education, and Justice, and Health NZ. The Department of Corrections, the Centre for Family Violence and Sexual Violence Prevention and the Social Investment Agency also provide support.

What does this mean for the health sector?

Health NZ and the Ministry of Health are working with partner agencies on the recommendations and there will be changes for the health sector.

There will be an increased focus on ensuring information is shared where there are safety and wellbeing concerns, with the Privacy Commissioner working alongside agencies on this aspect (recommendation 7).

In addition, agencies will begin designing a mandatory training and reporting approach (recommendations 8 and 9) that prioritises child safety, builds capacity, and strengthens the system’s ability to identify and report child abuse. This will include confirming who the mandatory training and reporting will apply to, as well as the timing and staging for roll-out. Current training and reporting processes will continue to operate under current settings until then.

We are mindful of the impact of these changes and will take a collaborative approach and keep people updated as we work towards implementation.

We will continue working towards linking medical records across relevant healthcare settings using existing sector systems (recommendation 4), and formalising our existing arrangement with NZ Police and Oranga Tamariki as part of the Child Protection Protocol (recommendation 5).

Further information

Read Minister Upston’s press release.

Read more on the Ministry of Social Development website.

Please forward this on as appropriate.

Ngā mihi 

Debra Begg 

Senior Executive Assistant

Manatū Hauora | Ministry of Health

Ph: 04 496 2305, Ext: 2305

Fax: 04 496 2493

Mobile: 021 841 501

Email: debra.begg@health.govt.nz