Residential Care and Other Matters Amendment Bill

We are working on potential changes to the Oranga Tamariki Act 1989 and the Residential Care Regulations 1996. These changes will be contained in an amendment Bill called the Oranga Tamariki (Residential Care and Other Matters) Amendment Bill.

There is a mix of topics we are considering for potential inclusion in the Bill. The Minister for Children is yet to receive advice or make any decisions regarding these topics:

Residential Care

Our aim is to support a new model of residential care that is better aligned with the future direction of Oranga Tamariki. Our vision is to shift away from larger residences towards smaller more family-like homes, with an associated shift to more trauma-informed and therapeutic residential care. We are considering what amendments to the Act may be needed to support those shifts.

Other Matters

We are also considering potential changes to these other matters:

• Special guardianship orders
• Remand options
• The law that applies to young people sentenced in the adult jurisdiction
• Voluntary extended care agreements and
• Information sharing.

You can see a PowerPoint presentation that introduces all the topics under consideration below:

No decisions have yet been made about what changes to make. We are starting the second stage of a two-stage approach to developing potential amendments:

• Stage 1: Identify the issues and objectives.
• Stage 2: Design and assess options for changing the legislation.

We welcome your feedback on our options papers. You can download and read the first 3 papers below. Options papers for the other topics are scheduled for October.

• Have we identified the right options for each topic?
• Have we identified the right criteria to assess those options?
• Which option do you support?

You can send us your feedback by emailing legislation@ot.govt.nz.

We would like to receive any feedback on the first three “other matters” by 14 October 2022. We’ll invite your feedback on draft options for the other topics in October.

Note that he Minister for Children has not received any advice, nor made any decisions regarding the draft policy proposals in these options papers. These proposals do not represent Government policy and should be treated solely as ideas for feedback. They are preliminary proposals that are under review and may change.

We welcome involvement from any person or organisation affected by the matters we are exploring.

If you have any questions about the Bill, please contact us at legislation@ot.govt.nz.