The inquiry into the disappearance of the Phillips children has exposed serious failures across New Zealand’s child protection system — reigniting the question of whether another review and another promise of change will be enough.
The Government has accepted all nine recommendations from the inquiry, which made 41 findings after examining how agencies responded before and during the nearly four years the three children were hidden with their father, Tom Phillips.
Among its most concerning findings were failures in information sharing, inter-agency coordination, risk assessment and listening to the children’s maternal whānau.
The inquiry found the harm caused by isolating the children from family, community and wider society was at times underplayed or overlooked, while concerns raised by maternal whānau were too often treated as part of a parenting dispute.
Police Commissioner Richard Chambers has acknowledged there were gaps in information sharing and follow-up between Police and Oranga Tamariki, while also accepting the investigation did not initially receive the focus and resources it required.
Oranga Tamariki chief executive Amanda Malu has accepted the agency fell short, particularly before 2023, and says changes are already underway to strengthen information sharing and collaboration with Police.
But the issues are not new.
A previous child protection review led by Dame Karen Poutasi identified similar problems, including agencies holding different pieces of information without anyone assembling the full picture of the risks facing a child. That review also highlighted the importance of listening to whānau and communities when assessing risk.
The Government says work is already underway, including changes to Police missing-person policies and an updated Child Protection Protocol recognising deliberate concealment, prolonged isolation and controlling access to children as potential forms of harm.
The Phillips case therefore leaves Aotearoa confronting a much bigger question.
How many inquiries, reviews and promises of reform will it take before we decide whether repeatedly fixing Oranga Tamariki is enough — or whether the entire way this country protects vulnerable tamariki needs fundamental change?
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