292. In 2023 Chappie Te Kani, Acting Chief Executive of Oranga Tamariki acknowledged that there were children and young people in the care and protection system between 1950 and 1999 who experienced physical, sexual and emotional abuse and neglect, and that the State failed to stop it from happening. [448] The State did not always stop abuse in social welfare care settings when it was disclosed or reported.[449]

293. The State conceded this meant there were incidents that were not appropriately investigated, which contributed to a lack of accountability for those perpetrators and an increased risk of abuse and other forms of harm continuing or recurring. This failure also added to the trauma already suffered.[450]

294. At the Inquiry’s State Institutional Response hearing, Chief Executive of Oranga Tamariki Chappie Te Kani accepted there was systemic sexual abuse of children and young people in social welfare care settings during the scope period.[451]

295. At the Inquiry’s State Institutional Response hearing, Debbie Power, the Chief Executive of the Ministry of Social Development, described the responsibility of Te Kāhui Kahu the current accrediting agency that provides initial accreditation and ongoing reviews for external non-government organisations to be funded within the care system. Ms Power said Te Kāhui Kahu provides a ‘warrant of fitness’ to ensure that the organisation is fit for purpose in relation to the Level 1 Social Sector Accreditation Standards.[452] It described its predecessor, the Community Funding Agency, as less robust. Barry Fisk, general manager of Te Kāhui Kahu at the Ministry of Social Development accepted at the Inquiry’s State Institutional Response Hearing that, while the situation was improving, there remained an insufficient level of cultural competence or expertise within the accrediting body to challenge organisations that set up programmes for Māori.[453] Mr Fisk further advised Te Kāhui Kahu was trying to build this capacity.

296. At the Inquiry’s State Institutional Response hearing, Nicolette Dickson, the deputy chief executive quality practice and experiences of Oranga Tamariki also admitted even today it is still not in a position where it can “adequately assure” that section 396 providers are meeting the care standards.[454] This case study is a clear example of why the State must be able to do so. Not having proper oversight and care standards for section 396 providers, including compliance with these standards, compromised the State's ongoing ability to prevent abuse in care and meant children and young people’s safety could not be guaranteed.

297. Oranga Tamariki Chief Social Worker Peter Whitcombe advised at the Inquiry’s State Institutional Response hearing that Oranga Tamariki sometimes refers to the residential care facility model as a “fully funded failure model”.[455] Peter Whitcombe also accepted that structural racism has been a feature of the care and protection system and its predecessors, which has had adverse effects for tamariki and rangatahi Māori, whānau, hapū and iwi.[456] The chief executive of Oranga Tamariki, Chappie Te Kani, also acknowledged that the ‘no narking’ culture had dissuaded children and young people both recently and in the past from making complaints,[457] and that the complaints culture is not yet ‘fit for purpose’.[458]

298. In a memorandum dated 22 October 2004, providing feedback as to a potential reopening of Whakapakari, Regional Manager (social work and community services) Mike Munnelly wrote “practice experience in recent years in relation to abuse in residential institutions suggests there are a number of features which, if present, can create an environment in which abuse can thrive.”[459] Factors included charismatic leadership, closed community, lack of outside scrutiny, taking ‘hard to place’ children, a perception of expertise in relation to methodology and approach that is difficult for others to challenge, failure to actively engage the child’s social worker or family, power differentials between staff and children and young people being rigidly maintained, favouritism being evident in both staff and the residents’ group, often coupled with a system of special privileges.[460]

299. Sir Peter Gluckman, the prime minister’s chief science advisor, concluded in a 2018 study that “boot camps do not work and ‘scared straight’ programmes have been shown to increase crime”.[461]

Redress

300. As of 2019, records from the Crown Law Office suggest there have been 56 civil claims filed in court concerning allegations in relation to Te Whakapakari Youth Programme. Of these claims, 20 have been settled, three have been discontinued and 33 are still in process.[462]

301. 40 survivors have sought redress from the Historic Claims Unit of the Ministry of Social Development for 176 allegations of abuse (99 physical, 21 sexual, 42 emotional)[463], including allegations against John da Silva. The allegations cover the entire period that Te Whakapakari Youth Trust was funded by the Child, Youth and Family Service and its predecessors, from 1989 through to 2003.[464]

302. As at August 2017, the State spent $1,065,585.74 in legal fees to defend claims against Ministry of Social Development in relation to abuse and neglect at Whakapakari.[465]

Footnotes

[448] Brief of evidence of Chief Executive Chappie Te Kani for Oranga Tamariki at the Inquiry’s State Institutional Response Hearing (Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care, August 2022, paras 40–41).