1 00:00:00,240 --> 00:00:03,320 Speaker 1: Kids in state here are getting the bash from staff 2 00:00:03,320 --> 00:00:06,840 Speaker 1: at ordering a tamadiki and abuses on the rise and 3 00:00:06,880 --> 00:00:10,119 Speaker 1: you report by the Independent Children's Monitor found that some 4 00:00:10,240 --> 00:00:13,920 Speaker 1: shocking results, nine percent of kids and young people are 5 00:00:13,960 --> 00:00:16,720 Speaker 1: being abused for five hundred and seven young people in 6 00:00:16,760 --> 00:00:19,920 Speaker 1: twenty twenty four. That's up from four hundred and ninety 7 00:00:19,960 --> 00:00:22,919 Speaker 1: seven and twenty twenty three, which was up from four 8 00:00:23,040 --> 00:00:26,880 Speaker 1: hundred and fifty nine in twenty twenty two, which means 9 00:00:27,080 --> 00:00:29,920 Speaker 1: the numbers going up. Aaron Jones is the chief executive 10 00:00:30,000 --> 00:00:33,320 Speaker 1: of the Independent Children's Monitors, with me hi erin thank you, 11 00:00:34,000 --> 00:00:36,520 Speaker 1: Good to have you on the show Why Kids Been 12 00:00:37,000 --> 00:00:37,920 Speaker 1: Abused in Care? 13 00:00:39,640 --> 00:00:43,080 Speaker 2: Well, where the abuse is occurring disproportionately is young people 14 00:00:43,159 --> 00:00:47,400 Speaker 2: that are in those secure youth justice residences and that's 15 00:00:47,440 --> 00:00:51,080 Speaker 2: predominantly young people hurting other young people. And the other 16 00:00:51,120 --> 00:00:54,560 Speaker 2: area where you're seeing disproportionate harm as young people that 17 00:00:54,600 --> 00:00:57,720 Speaker 2: are still in state care but they're returning home. 18 00:00:59,680 --> 00:01:03,080 Speaker 1: Right, So what proportion of the five hundred incidents you're 19 00:01:03,080 --> 00:01:06,280 Speaker 1: talking about, what proportion were at the hands of another 20 00:01:07,319 --> 00:01:10,920 Speaker 1: inmate for one of a better term, and what proportion 21 00:01:11,000 --> 00:01:14,400 Speaker 1: from a family member, and what proportion from the auditing 22 00:01:14,400 --> 00:01:15,400 Speaker 1: a Tamadiki staff. 23 00:01:16,800 --> 00:01:19,200 Speaker 2: Yeah. Look, the majority of harm and those, like I said, 24 00:01:19,240 --> 00:01:22,679 Speaker 2: in the Youth Justice residences is from other young people. 25 00:01:23,200 --> 00:01:25,640 Speaker 2: And I think you know, we had a couple of 26 00:01:25,720 --> 00:01:28,240 Speaker 2: years ago a review that was done by Mike Bush 27 00:01:28,280 --> 00:01:31,320 Speaker 2: into the residences, and what he's called for is the 28 00:01:31,360 --> 00:01:36,000 Speaker 2: need to have more experienced staff, better support supervision for 29 00:01:36,080 --> 00:01:39,880 Speaker 2: them so that they're able to address these behaviors of 30 00:01:39,920 --> 00:01:42,880 Speaker 2: young people they're in the residences in the right way 31 00:01:43,080 --> 00:01:45,479 Speaker 2: to actually prevent the harm occurring in the first place. 32 00:01:45,680 --> 00:01:48,440 Speaker 1: Right now, and listen, the ones and the residence is 33 00:01:48,480 --> 00:01:54,120 Speaker 1: they're there because they've done something wrong, right, and they're 34 00:01:54,120 --> 00:01:57,720 Speaker 1: getting hurt. They're hurting each other, It's correct. I mean, 35 00:01:57,720 --> 00:01:59,600 Speaker 1: how do you stop that? If you've got bad kids 36 00:01:59,600 --> 00:02:01,600 Speaker 1: and they're all in one place, It's going to happen, 37 00:02:01,640 --> 00:02:02,000 Speaker 1: isn't it. 38 00:02:02,920 --> 00:02:04,840 Speaker 2: Well. I think there's a couple of answers to that question. 39 00:02:04,880 --> 00:02:07,640 Speaker 2: The first is one I just explained, is actually having staff, 40 00:02:07,880 --> 00:02:11,480 Speaker 2: qualified staff that are able to cope with complex behaviors 41 00:02:13,040 --> 00:02:15,880 Speaker 2: and actually prevent the harmer caring. Now. The second part is, 42 00:02:15,919 --> 00:02:18,919 Speaker 2: which is what our report speaks to, is the need 43 00:02:18,960 --> 00:02:22,560 Speaker 2: to improve the quality of state care so that kids 44 00:02:22,600 --> 00:02:25,240 Speaker 2: needs are addressed. Now, what you see as kids that 45 00:02:25,280 --> 00:02:28,480 Speaker 2: are coming into youth justice residences are more likely to 46 00:02:28,480 --> 00:02:31,560 Speaker 2: be care experienced. And what we're saying is unless you 47 00:02:31,600 --> 00:02:34,200 Speaker 2: actually do the right thing by these kids who are 48 00:02:34,240 --> 00:02:37,440 Speaker 2: coming from broken homes, who have suffered abuse and neglect themselves, 49 00:02:37,680 --> 00:02:39,639 Speaker 2: unless you're doing the right thing to care for them, 50 00:02:40,320 --> 00:02:44,480 Speaker 2: what you'll see is negative outcomes, which includes committing crime 51 00:02:44,880 --> 00:02:47,080 Speaker 2: and actually turning up in residence in the first place. 52 00:02:47,600 --> 00:02:49,080 Speaker 2: Use a couple of things that we can do better. 53 00:02:49,200 --> 00:02:51,240 Speaker 1: You said that there are children who are going back 54 00:02:51,280 --> 00:02:53,720 Speaker 1: to their families, obviously going back too early, who have 55 00:02:53,800 --> 00:02:57,239 Speaker 1: been abused at home again being retraumatized at home. Why 56 00:02:57,280 --> 00:02:59,160 Speaker 1: were they being sent home in the first place? Are 57 00:02:59,200 --> 00:03:01,639 Speaker 1: you seeing it is sorry not you, but it's ordering 58 00:03:01,639 --> 00:03:03,639 Speaker 1: a tamareki sending kids back home too soon. 59 00:03:04,960 --> 00:03:07,760 Speaker 2: What they tell us is these are often older kids 60 00:03:07,840 --> 00:03:11,079 Speaker 2: that are in care and either their home or their 61 00:03:11,080 --> 00:03:13,360 Speaker 2: placement breaks down and there's a need to find an 62 00:03:13,400 --> 00:03:16,080 Speaker 2: emergency home for them, and that could be taking them 63 00:03:16,120 --> 00:03:19,240 Speaker 2: back home to their parents, or it's young people that 64 00:03:19,280 --> 00:03:21,040 Speaker 2: are voting with their feet, so they now long want 65 00:03:21,040 --> 00:03:23,280 Speaker 2: to stay with their care provider, and so they are 66 00:03:23,320 --> 00:03:26,000 Speaker 2: going back home. And what we're saying in this report, 67 00:03:26,000 --> 00:03:27,640 Speaker 2: and we called this out a couple of years ago, 68 00:03:28,200 --> 00:03:30,320 Speaker 2: is that the supports aren't there in place for those 69 00:03:30,360 --> 00:03:33,640 Speaker 2: families and for those kids in the circumstances. So a 70 00:03:33,639 --> 00:03:36,000 Speaker 2: lot of these returns are happening in an unexpected or 71 00:03:36,080 --> 00:03:39,400 Speaker 2: unplanned way, and the frequency with which social workers are 72 00:03:39,480 --> 00:03:43,360 Speaker 2: visiting the families is low, and the families themselves are 73 00:03:43,400 --> 00:03:45,800 Speaker 2: telling us that they're not always ready for their young 74 00:03:45,840 --> 00:03:48,520 Speaker 2: people to come home. They haven't done the things that 75 00:03:48,560 --> 00:03:50,760 Speaker 2: they need to do to be able to care for 76 00:03:50,840 --> 00:03:53,200 Speaker 2: these young people in the right way. And so there's 77 00:03:53,200 --> 00:03:56,120 Speaker 2: a real opportunity here for ordering a tamariki to focus 78 00:03:56,160 --> 00:03:59,760 Speaker 2: in on these young people that are returning home, making 79 00:03:59,800 --> 00:04:02,080 Speaker 2: sure that they are supported and kept safe so that 80 00:04:02,120 --> 00:04:03,640 Speaker 2: the harm does not continue to occur. 81 00:04:03,760 --> 00:04:05,520 Speaker 1: All right, Aaron, thanks very much for your time. Aaron 82 00:04:05,600 --> 00:04:08,160 Speaker 1: Jones sees the chief executive at the Independent Children's Monitor. 83 00:04:08,160 --> 00:04:11,040 Speaker 1: They've got their report out today. For more from Hither 84 00:04:11,120 --> 00:04:14,160 Speaker 1: Duplessy Allen Drive, listen live to news talks it'd be 85 00:04:14,280 --> 00:04:18,120 Speaker 1: from four pm weekdays, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.