Family Court<\/a> reporting restrictions prevent the people involved from being identified.<\/p>\nThe names used are pseudonyms inserted by the court into a published decision, which recorded that Stephanie was later granted an adoption order for Zita.<\/p>\n
Decades ago,Stephanie had a relationship with Zita\u2019s birth father, long before he became a convicted drug-dealer.<\/p>\n
Through that relationship, Stephanie has an adult daughter, who is Zita\u2019s half-sibling. That is how she learned of the baby\u2019s impending birth.<\/p>\n
Worried, Stephanie and her eldest daughter went to Oranga Tamariki expecting it to step in. It did not.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe social worker turned around to us and she says, \u2018Look, we are slammed. We know this baby\u2019s being born now, but it\u2019s going to be quicker for you to get orders than us\u2019,\u201d Stephanie told NZME.<\/p>\n
\u201cI said, how do I do that? She says, \u2018Go and find a lawyer\u2019. So I did.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Oranga]()
Oranga Tamariki admits ‘known risks were not acted on in a timely way’. Photo \/ RNZ<\/p>\n
In an internal report, seen by NZME, Oranga Tamariki said that using workload pressures as a justification for delaying action was \u201cinconsistent with Oranga Tamariki\u2019s practice framework\u201d, which dictates that the safety of the child is the paramount consideration.<\/p>\n
Newborn \u2018exposed to significant and preventable harm\u2019<\/p>\n
The report also says that \u201cknown risks were not acted on in a timely way, leaving the newborn exposed to significant and preventable harm at a critical and vulnerable point\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cOranga Tamariki had multiple opportunities to identify and mitigate the risks to [Zita] yet failed to take the appropriate and expected action,\u201d the report said.<\/p>\n
The report said that Zita\u2019s case had been flagged as \u201curgent\u201d even before she was born, requiring contact with the parents within 10 working days.<\/p>\n
It was not allocated to a social worker for seven weeks, by which time Stephanie already had Zita in her care.<\/p>\n
The report acknowledged that Stephanie had essentially done its job for them \u2013 it said she \u201cundertook responsibilities that would ordinarily be supported or co-ordinated by Oranga Tamariki\u201d.<\/p>\n
For Stephanie, having Oranga Tamariki admit that there had been preventable harm was not a positive thing \u2013 it was \u201cdevastating\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u2018Real life, real fear, real trauma\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cThat harm was not theoretical to us. It was real life, real fear, real trauma and real consequences that our family now has to carry forever.<\/p>\n
\u201cHearing those admissions confirmed everything we had been trying to say for so long, but it also came with the heart-breaking reality that the damage had already been done,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI carry a lot of anger over this process,\u201d Stephanie said. \u201cAnger that concerns were not acted on sooner. Anger that we had to push so hard just to get acknowledgment. Anger that vulnerable children and families can be left carrying this level of trauma while systems move slowly behind paperwork, policies and procedures.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat hurts the most is knowing this could have been different. If concerns had been taken seriously earlier, so much pain may have been avoided.\u201d<\/p>\n
Apology spelled name wrongly<\/p>\n
Stephanie has received formal apologies from Oranga Tamariki \u2013 at a hui and in writing. In these, the child\u2019s name was spelled incorrectly.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo receive a formal apology letter with my child\u2019s name spelled wrong after everything, honestly, broke me,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople might think that sounds like a small mistake, but when you have spent years fighting for a child to be seen, heard, believed and protected, seeing their name repeatedly written incorrectly in an apology about the harm they suffered feels like another slap in the face.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hospital staff tried to delay discharge<\/p>\n
Stephanie was not the only person who raised concerns with Oranga Tamariki around the time of Zita\u2019s birth.<\/p>\n
Hospital staff made a report of concern to Oranga Tamariki when Zita was born, and four days later asked if the case had been allocated to a social worker.<\/p>\n
In the meantime, the health workers tried to delay discharging Zita and her mother from hospital, in the hope that a social worker would come to see them.<\/p>\n
However, they had no legal mandate to stop the mother and baby leaving on the fourth day, despite them having no safe address to go to.<\/p>\n
When hospital staff asked later why no one from Oranga Tamariki had come to the hospital, they were told the government agency did not want to make a \u201cknee-jerk response\u201d.<\/p>\n
The timeline of events suggests that Zita\u2019s head injuries were caused in the three days after her discharge from hospital.<\/p>\n
\u2018Never be left to suffer again\u2019<\/p>\n
In her response to the apology given at the hui, Stephanie said she made a promise.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs long as I am alive, she will never be left to suffer again,\u201d she told the meeting.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe will never be left without protection, without advocacy, or without someone standing up for her.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause that little girl is not just a file number. She is not just a name on a report. She is a child who fought from the very beginning. She is strong. She is resilient.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe is the real fighter in all of this.\u201d<\/p>\n
Oranga Tamariki\u2019s response<\/p>\n
Oranga Tamariki\u2019s deputy chief executive of tamariki and wh\u0101nau services, Thomas Ronan, said the organisation was committed to improving the way it responded to reports of concern. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhen this case was raised three years ago, we failed to appropriately respond to reports of concern raised regarding this child\u2019s safety, and we have extended our apologies to those involved,\u201d Ronan said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe acknowledge in this case we should have provided greater support, including more timely engagement and referrals to appropriate community agencies.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor privacy reasons and an ongoing complaints process, we cannot disclose any further information.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ric Stevens spent many years working for the former New Zealand Press Association news agency, including as a political reporter at Parliament, before holding senior positions at various daily newspapers. He joined NZME\u2019s Open Justice team in 2022 and is based in Hawke\u2019s Bay. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The child protection agency has also accepted that Stephanie took on responsibilities that should have been Oranga Tamariki\u2019s.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":453331,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4619,1763,6794,11557,1332,106,78,104,111,54769,43,139,69,25816,30308,6289,544,3057,25817,1961,61,96,1316,102,1354],"class_list":["post-453330","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-act","tag-article","tag-baby","tag-describes","tag-fails","tag-head","tag-in","tag-injuries","tag-new-zealand","tag-newborn","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-oranga","tag-protect","tag-readers","tag-some","tag-steps","tag-tamariki","tag-this","tag-to","tag-upsetting","tag-when","tag-with","tag-woman"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/453330","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=453330"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/453330\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/453331"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=453330"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=453330"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=453330"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}