Questions on respect for the views of the child - Children’s Convention from the United Nations

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Please provide information on the measures taken to:

Question 12(a)

  1. Amend legislation, to ensure the child’s right to be heard in cases affecting him or her;

Reply to 12(a)

Recent legislative reforms include:

  1. OTA
    1. those working with children are required to ensure that children and young people are encouraged and assisted to participate in proceedings and processes of relevance and are given opportunities to express their views on matters that may affect them.
    2. section 11 was amended to provide greater child participation. If a child or young person has difficulties in expressing their views or being understood (for example, because of their age or language, or because of a disability), support must be provided to assist them to express their views and to be understood; and any views that the child or young person expresses (either directly or through a representative) must be considered.
    3. insertion of a new, separate principle of participation for children and young people.
  2. COCA
    1. section 5(a) was amended in 2019 to state a child’s safety must be protected and, in particular, a child must be protected from all forms of violence (as defined in sections 9(2), 10, and 11 of the Family Violence Act 2018) from all persons, including members of the child’s family, family group, whānau, hapū, and iwi .
    2. Family Court Matters Legislation Bill was passed in 2020.
    3. Family Court (Supporting Children in Court) Legislation Bill –provided express reference to the Convention and amended the COCA and the Family Dispute Resolution Act 2013 to establish children’s participation as a guiding principle. It also requires a lawyer to explain the court proceedings process in an ongoing way that is understood by the particular child.
    4. Practice Note for Lawyer for Child acting under the COCA and the OTA - establishes appointment criteria for the child’s lawyer to ensure that they are suitably qualified to represent a child based on their personality, cultural background, training, and experience. Lawyers are to be guided by the Convention.

Question 12(b)

  1. Develop toolkits for consulting with children on issues of national policy development affecting them and any results of such consultations.

Reply to 12(b)

In 2017, Oranga Tamariki created the Tamariki Advocate, Deputy Chief Executive Voices of Children role to ensure the voices and interests of tamariki and rangatahi were at the centre of the work of the new organisation. This role has now evolved to include the voices and interests of whānau and communities and the organisations approach to partnering with iwi and Māori. This executive role is a first within government and ensures these voices and interests are heard and advocated for at the very highest level of the system.

The Voices of Children and Young People Team within Oranga Tamariki reports to the Tamariki Advocate and ensures that the voices of tamariki and rangatahi with care experience are systematically captured and are able to influence policy, practice, service and system thinking across the organisation.

The Oranga Tamariki Youth Advisory Group was established in November 2018. It comprises up to ten rangatahi, aged between 18-24 years, who have experience of the care and protection and/or youth justice systems. The Youth Advisory Group’s primary relationship is with the chief executive. This group provides care experienced perspectives and contributions on the design and implementation of the Ministry’s policies, practices and services.

VOYCE - Whakarongo Mai (VOYCE) was established in partnership between philanthropy, care-experienced rangatahi, the NGO sector and government in 2017. It is an independent, non-government organisation that provides advocacy and connection services for tamariki and rangatahi with care experience. Oranga Tamariki oversees government funding to VOYCE through a non-departmental appropriation, with funding also received from philanthropic organisations. One of its five guiding pou (pillars) is whakatairanga – to promote the collective voice of tamariki and rangatahi in national policy development of the care system.

MYD partnered in 2019 with a creative agency and 15 young people to develop a platform which would support young people to have their voice heard during policy consultation processes. The collaboration resulted in the development of The Hive, an online approach to engagement. The 15 young people involved in the project use social media, video and blogs to describe policy initiatives in ways that other young people will understand and relate to. They also developed the submission questions and enabled a more accessible and creative submissions process.

TPK developed a Whānau-Centred Policy Tool for government agency policy development, design, service delivery and contracting practices. The focus of this work is to assist other government agencies to be more effective in improving outcomes for Māori. A cornerstone of this tool is to encourage agencies to engage with whānau at all stages of the policy process, including tamariki Māori where they are impacted.

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