A Te Kāika-run youth remand home on Will St, Dunedin was shut in March last year after 11 ‘‘reports of concern’’ were sent to the home’s funder, children’s agency Oranga Tamariki.
The Otago Daily Times has now learned that another government body, which determines if organisations meet safety standards to deliver certain critical community social services, has suspended the social sector accreditation of Ōtākou Health Limited (OHL), the charity that runs Te Kāika.
Accreditation and approval by Te Kāhui Kāhu — a business unit hosted by the Ministry of Social Development (MSD) — is legally required by any organisation that partners care, or provides community services, for Oranga Tamariki.
Oranga Tamariki is also assessing whether OHL is appropriate to run any of its childcare and protection services.
The revelations mean there are four government bodies known to be looking into OHL.
The Department of Internal Affairs opened an investigation into OHL last year, with results pending, and Health New Zealand (HNZ) said last month it was conducting an internal audit into OHL.
Te Kāhui Kāhu general manager Magnus O’Neill said his agency suspended OHL’s accreditation on February 4 because it had ‘‘failed to achieve compliance with the relevant social sector accreditation standards in the required timeframe.’’
OHL has until Tuesday — April 7 — to ‘‘comply with the requirements’’.
If requirements are not met, Te Kāhui Kāhu can start a process to revoke accreditation.
Agencies that had contracts with any organisation with suspended accreditation had ‘‘discretion’’ about action they took, Mr O’Neill said.
Oranga Tamariki’s deputy chief executive Benesia Smith said her agency was ‘‘working through the implications of the [Te Kāhui Kāhu] suspension and what, if any, alternative arrangements need to be made for our young people.’’
OHL held six Oranga Tamariki contracts to deliver seven child and youth services for ‘‘shared care bed nights, a specialist group home service and assistance for rangatahi to attain independence,’’ she said.
An Official Information Act request by the ODT, answered by Oranga Tamariki’s commissioning and investment general manager Jesse Roth, said issues in the Will St Whare reports had ‘‘raised broader concerns about the operations of OHL.’’
An assessment of OHL was being led by a different Oranga Tamariki business group to the one that investigated the Will St home and examining ‘‘general suitability of the provider to deliver childcare and protection services’’.
It was unlikely to conclude until the end of May at the earliest and was ‘‘contingent on what we discover’’, Mr Roth said.
The assessment is understood to be taking place under section 400 of the Oranga Tamariki Act, which permits the agency to assess an iwi social service and can result in care status being suspended or revoked.
OHL took over the Will St home in August 2023, after a report earlier that year by the Office of the Children’s Commissioner said the home, previously run by Oranga Tamariki, needed urgent improvement.
Oranga Tamariki’s Mr Roth declined to provide details of current commissioning of OHL ‘‘to maintain the effective conduct of public affairs’’.
However, information about eight Oranga Tamariki contracts held by OHL and funded $3.54million for the year 2023-24 was provided to the ODT in March last year.
The contracts included $1m funding for the four-bed Will St home. Three other contracts housing children and young people included: 6844 ‘‘shared care bednights’’ for 18 children and young people under a Tiaki Taoka — Whanau Care Support Service; two ‘‘transition to independence’’ homes for six ‘‘care and youth justice experienced’’ youth; and a new contract, started March 2024, for a staffed ‘‘specialist group home’’ for four young people with ‘‘high support needs’’.
Three contracts funded OHL staff to support of children and young people in the community.
One contract funded help for young people transitioning from care or youth justice with an expected caseload of 15 young people, another funded financial support for youth ‘‘in emergency or crisis situations’’, and another funded staff to be part of an interagency team providing an ‘‘intensive response’’ for children aged 10-13 with offending behaviour, with a caseload of four.
The eighth contract funded a ‘‘trauma-informed learning service’’ for caregivers.
A similar list of OHL contracts held in 2025 was provided by Oranga Tamariki stating six of the contracts had ‘‘funds reconciled in 2023-24 due to underutilisation’’. The list indicated that one ‘‘transition to independence’’ home was being funded, rather than two the year before.
In June last year, OHL chairwoman Donna Matahaere told the ODT that OHL ran two care homes, employed 14 carers and had 19 children and 22 young people in its services.
Oranga Tamariki’s Mr Roth released OHL performance information, including a one-page report from October 27 last year that was almost entirely redacted excepting a sentence regarding a ‘‘Te Kāika staff member who is alleged to have assaulted a young person’’.
The day before, Te Kāika youth justice staffer Allan Haua had assaulted, in the street, a 16-year-old who had been placed previously in the youth residence where Mr Haua worked.
Last month, OHL’s Ms Matahaere said, on video podcast The Platform, that the charity was ‘‘not under investigation’’ by government funders.
A Te Kāika Facebook post on March 26 said the charity held its Te Kāhui Kāhu social service accreditation and had ‘‘consistently passed’’ it.
OHL was contacted for this article but declined to comment.
