Review cycle for ongoing assessments shortened
The suspension of Te Kāika’s accreditation to deliver social care for children and youth has been lifted, but the charity’s approved status is on a tight leash, the accreditation agency responsible says.
Ōtākou Health Ltd (OHL), the charity that runs Te Kāika, failed to meet the Social Sector Accreditation Standards and consequently had its government approval to deliver social services suspended on February 4.
Te Kāhui Kāhu, the government body responsible for assessing the safety of social service providers, gave OHL until April 7 to address "critical actions" regarding its systems and practices in order to regain accreditation.
Accreditation and approved status is a requisite for organisations, including OHL, that deliver services for government child agency Oranga Tamariki.
Te Kāhui Kāhu general manager of social services accreditation Magnus O’Neill said the suspension had been lifted this week because OHL "had provided evidence" that they now met the standard’s level 1 accreditation requirements to provide highest-risk services.
"However, we have shortened their review cycle from two years to 12 months, to provide more frequent opportunities to assess whether they continue to meet requirements," Mr O’Neill said.
"We suspended social sector accreditation for Ōtākou Health Limited on February 4, 2026. We told them they had until April 7 to address a number of critical actions required to regain their accreditation.
"We met with OHL management several times between February and April to clarify what they needed to do.
"Over that time, they provided us with evidence to demonstrate they resolved the outstanding critical actions from their last assessment.
"Our role is to ensure that organisations which deliver social services have the capacity and capability to do so. We’re pleased that Ōtākou Health Limited have taken steps to improve their systems and practices, and we encourage them to keep it up so they can maintain their social sector accreditation."
Mr O’Neill said there were other providers of services on a shortened review cycle, but could not say how many.
Oranga Tamariki general manager commissioning and investment Jesse Roth has previously told the Otago Daily Times a separate assessment of OHL by his agency — regarding whether the charity is a suitable organisation to provide Oranga Tamariki childcare and protection services — is ongoing and not anticipated to be concluded until the end of May at the earliest.
The ongoing assessment had been sparked by seven reports of concern about young people at Will Street Whare — the Te Kāika-run youth remand home — that were substantiated through an Oranga Tamariki investigation last year and were found to have caused emotional, physical, verbal and psychological harm.
The home was shut down in March last year, but the investigation had raised "broader concerns about the operations of OHL".
Oranga Tamariki deputy chief executive commissioning and investment Benesia Smith said her agency had been advised about the lifting of Te Kāhui Kāhu suspension of OHL’s accreditation and approval.
Oranga Tamariki was continuing to "work closely with this provider", she said.
Ms Smith said last week that OHL had six Oranga Tamariki contracts for seven services, including shared care bed nights, a specialist group home service and assistance for rangatahi to attain independence.
The Ministry of Social Development (MSD) also contracts OHL to deliver two social services, with one contract also requiring OHL to have Te Kāhui Kāhu accreditation.
The MSD contract requiring accreditation is for a service supporting people suffering family violence and is split into two parts: one contracted until 2029 and one until June this year.
MSD also funds OHL to deliver a refugee/migrant support service that does not require OHL accreditation and is also contracted until June.
MSD general manager for service and contracts management Rebecca Brew-Harper said the February suspension of OHL led to MSD officials visiting the charity twice, in addition to "standard communication around performance reporting".
MSD officials had found OHL to be delivering services "as expected", and funding had not stopped during OHL’s accreditation suspension.
No decisions had yet been made about future contracting.
OHL declined to comment.
A Te Kāika Facebook post this week flagged Te Kāhui Kāhu approval, did not mention its prior suspension, and said the ODT had made "incorrect" claims relating to its accreditation.
