December 01, 2022
Murdered Malachi “invisible child” in flawed system
The Government is adopting the majority of recommendations from an independent review into the actions of government agencies leading up to the death of 5-year-old Malachi Subecz.
Reviewer Dame Karen Poutasi found six agencies interacted with Malachi, his whanau and his supposed caregiver in the months leading up to his murder by the caregiver in 2021, but he became an invisible child within the system.
This is because:
• there were those who tried to act but were not listened to;
• there were those who were uncertain and did not act; and
• there were those who knew and chose not to act.
The Minister for Children, Kelvin Davis, says mistakes were made and the Government is committed to fixing them so they are not repeated.
The Government has fully accepted nine of the 14 recommendations.
Work is being done to address confusion around when information should be shared, how multi-agency teams work with the community and the linking of medical records.
Ministers will also look closely at the other five recommendations, including mandatory reporting and automatic vetting of caregivers when a solo parent is imprisoned.
Minister Davis says a separate practice review by Oranga Tamariki found the agency made mistakes and should have investigated the concerns of Malachi’s family.
He says the senior staff involved in this case no longer work for the organisation.