November 08, 2019
Immediate changes in baby uplift policy after critical review
The chief executive of Oranga Tamariki, Grainne Moss, says she is profoundly sorry at the way her department let down the whānau when it tried to uplift a six day old boy from Hawke’s Bay Hospital earlier this year.
Speaking after the release of a review into the incident which was captured n a widely-shared documentary, Ms Moss said she has made immediate changes to ensure it doesn’t happen again,
They include a change to the use of interim section 78 orders which are sought from the Family Court when social workers fear for the imminent safety of a baby.
"If we do need to remove a baby because of immediate and imminent danger without family involvement, the evidence base needs to be very high but my expectation is that would be the exception, not the rule. So any baby would be removed only with good conversations with the family and where possible hapu and iwi," Ms Moss says.
She says relationships with hapū and iwi are making the difference to the way the department is working.
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