Gráinne's update - August 2017

I am so pleased and privileged to be part of the journey of Oranga Tamariki. Our destination is right there within our name - a place where the wellbeing of New Zealand children is assured.

Reaching the shared goal of oranga tamariki is an ambitious voyage unlike any this country has ever undertaken. To give every child the life they deserve requires change on a massive scale, delivered at ambitious speed. And we are already underway, so we must work on our vessel as we go, building it into something bigger and faster. 

We all are and need to be leaders in building strong, resilient children, and we are taking action.

At Oranga Tamariki we’re creating more hearts and homes to provide loving, stable spaces for children, we’re developing a national framework to ensure the very best in social work practice across the whole sector. And we’re making sure that the services we provide and fund are the best for children.

As I have travelled across the country I have seen good and great. My commitment to you, is that we will lead and support what good looks like.

We already have and will continue to find the pockets of greatness and transpose what’s working well across the country; like Hui-a-Whānau, which we’ve just expanded across 21 sites, the four small group homes for young people going through the court processes, and Mokopuna Ora which we’ve expanded into Papakura.

See some of the projects and initiatives in our website news section

We want to keep everyone as up-to-date as we can with the progress we are making. The first official release of information is a Cabinet paper that outlines what we have done in the first 3 months of the Ministry operating.

We are investing in our children for life by increasing our own capability and building strong strategic partnerships – because we know we cannot do this alone.

Many of you have told me of the pockets of greatness you see, you experience, or you deliver. We have a unique opportunity to get things done, to take actions that put tamariki first, and you can help by sharing with us what you know is working well.

Our tamariki and whānau deserve only the best, and that is what we are committed to delivering.

Ngā mihi

Gráinne