Restoring dignity to those who suffered abuse as children and/or young people in State care
Resolving historic abuse claims
Our Historic Claims Unit provides a disputes resolution process for people who were abused or neglected in the care, custody or guardianship of, or who had come to the notice of, Child, Youth and Family or its predecessors before 1 January 2008 [19]. We work with claimants to understand their experience in care, and we acknowledge and recognise harm done.
By 30 June 2019, we had resolved:
- 1,826 of the 3,769 claims we had received
- As part of redress we made apologies and payments totalling over $28 million
- ndividual payments ranged between $1,500 and $90,000, with the most common payment range between $10,000 and $25,000
The number of new claims received continues to increase steadily, with far greater demand for redress than in previous years.
Prior to 2018 our approach to responding to claims was the subject of some criticism, particularly that it was taking far too long to resolve claims, causing further distress. In 2018 we reviewed our process for responding to claims. We consulted externally with the people most involved in the claims process about what they want. Based on what we learnt from this consultation process, in November 2018 we began to introduce changes to the process – these will continue incrementally over the next four years. The changes recognise the need for more diversity for claimants around their cultural and personal needs, provide more choice for how people engage with us, and streamline the assessment process. Over time the system will become more responsive and deliver faster results. Several factors, including Waitangi Tribunal proceedings and the then-imminent Royal Commission of Inquiry into Historical Abuse in State Care and Faith-based Institutions, delayed implementation of these changes until November 2018. The delay has had a cumulative impact on the target of assessing 1,000 claims by 30 June 2020.
Supporting the Crown response to the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Historical Abuse in State Care and in the Care of Faith-based Institutions
We supported the establishment of a secretariat to co-ordinate the Crown’s response to the Royal Commission [20] and, through the secretariat, responded to requests for information from the Commission.
The secretariat’s role is to ensure that government agencies do as much as possible to support the work of the Commission in a timely, appropriate and co-ordinated way.
We worked with the secretariat and other agencies to engage with the Commission in a way that is consistent with Cabinet-endorsed principles of manaakitanga, openness, transparency, learning, being joined up, and meeting our obligations under Te Tiriti o Waitangi.
Footnotes
[19] Claims arising after this date are the responsibility of Oranga Tamariki
[20] The Royal Commission was established in February 2018.
