Improvements have been made for children in care, despite abuse rates rising - Oranga Tamariki - a podcast by RNZ

An Oranga Tamariki manager says improvements have been made despite the number of children abused in state care rising.
Its latest figures are the worst since the Ministry for Children began reporting them in 2018.
Nearly 500 babies, children and teenagers in care suffered 742 instances of harm in the year to mid-2021.
That is 8 percent of children in care suffering harm; up from under 6 percent in 2018.
Most harm was physical, and it sometimes left children with bruises or welts.
Oranga Tamariki general manager of practice Nicolette Dixon told Morning Report that was unacceptable, and she agrees more needs to be done.
"We know that the independent children's monitor rightly points out that we've got a lot more work to do, but there has been an improvement in a number of areas of our work."
She said the way Oranga Tamariki responds to cases of harm has changed a lot and it is now better at identifying and responding to it.

Further episodes of Morning Report

Further podcasts by RNZ

Website of RNZ