Wairapapa's chief social worker has been ordered to appear before a judge in Masterton to explain an almost three-month delay in providing a crucial report on a young girl.
Stock photo Photo: antonioguillem/123RF
The girl is living with her aunt*. The aunt and the girl's father* have been locked in a custody dispute for six months.
The state child welfare agency, Oranga Tamariki, was meant to have provided a section 132 report by the end of November. The report is a full social work report which helps a judge decide who a child should live with long term in a custody dispute, and normally takes six to eight weeks to compile.
Now Wairapapa's chief social worker for the agency has been summoned before a judge in Masterton this afternoon to explain the delay.
After the summons the agency has provided the report, nearly three months late.
In a statement, Oranga Tamariki regional manager Grant Bennett said the delay was "unacceptable", but that the girl's safety was not a concern.
"We want to highlight that this relates to a custody dispute where a protective aunt already had an interim parenting order and the child was safe with her. It does not relate to a care and protection matter, where safety was a concern," regional manager Grant Bennett said in a statement.
However, the girl's lawyer - Jess Hunt, who asked for the manager to be summoned a fortnight ago - said the agency had files that showed this was not the case.
"There are certainly care and protection concerns there that need to be looked at in both homes. The report is really there to see whether this child's safe," she said.
"They have a significant file in relation to both of these parties."
She also said the report the agency had finally come up with had been put together in just two days.
"Those reports normally take six to eight weeks to prepare, they're normally done [with] in-depth visits of homes, talking to schools and other relevant people," Ms Hunt said.
The only interviews in the report were with the father and aunt, one of whom had a support person.
"And some of the information in the report is incorrect," Ms Hunt said.
The interview of the father had come as recently as last Friday at 4pm, about a day after the Masterton Oranga Tamariki manager had been summoned to appear in court.
The report was then finalised and sent to Ms Hunt less than eight hours later.
Timeline
- September 2017 - The custody dispute comes to the court which asks for a summary report - called an s131A - from Oranga Tamariki
- Early Oct - The court gets the s131A report. It raises concerns that trigger the need for the more crucial s132 report, a full social work report
- 24 Oct - A judge asks for the s132 report to consider any concerns about the girl, or any other children, in care of either the girl's father or her aunt
- Early Nov - The judge's request gets to Oranga Tamariki (this points to delays in the court system). The report is due at the end of November
- 14 Dec - A teleconference with Judge Catriona Doyle is meant to consider the s132 report - but there isn't one. The Judge directs that a copy of her minute be sent to Oranga Tamariki's Masterton manager
- 22 Dec to 3 Jan 2018 - Christmas break. Court hearings restart 8 Jan
- Early Feb - Jess Hunt, the child's lawyer, files a memo with the court asking for Oranga Tamariki manager to be summoned
- 15 Feb - Summons from judge is served on Masterton Oranga Tamariki manager
- 16 Feb - A social worker bumps into Ms Hunt in the morning and tells her she's doing report and she should have it by Monday, 19 February. She tells the lawyer she has yet to interview the father. Social worker calls the father, and meets him for the s132 assessment at 4pm. At 11.56pm the s132 report is emailed by the social worker to the child's lawyer
- 19 Feb - Monday afternoon, Oranga Tamariki Masterton manager due to appear before Judge Doyle in the Family Court
It was appalling to get a rushed report that would become part of the court record and be hard to formally challenge to "disprove things that are written", Ms Hunt said.
She had not heard of the Masterton Oranga Tamariki branch doing a single section 132 report since last August; she has two other cases that were five and six-months-old, with no report done.
"Lawyers have basically stopped requesting these reports, because they are taking so long ... which leaves the families in a state of limbo."
Long delays and staff shortages were a big problem in Masterton a year ago, about the same time as Oranga Tamariki took over from Child Youth and Family.
The agency said a specialist report writer would start in Wairarapa soon, after the last permanent one left around the middle of last year.
Father 'welcomed' interview, but surprised after so long
The father of the girl has a sister who supports his claim for custody.
"It's ridiculous," she said. "He's been asking, we've been asking, why aren't they interviewing him, finding out for sure? It was frustrating because he never knew."
Friday afternoon's call from a social worker took him by surprise, she said.
"It was a sudden thing that happened out of the blue ... although he welcomed it, he wanted to say more."
Ms Hunt said the delays had "decimated" the girl's relationship with her father, who she had seen for a total of just three hours since last September.
Mr Bennett, the regional manager, said the agency had been in contact with Ms Hunt "to update her and to hear of any concerns she may have and work to rectify them".
However, Ms Hunt said that had never happened.
"The first time I heard from a social worker ... about this matter, was on Friday morning ... and it was a passing comment made that they were preparing the report."
Mr Bennett stressed that Oranga Tamariki was not part of the proceedings when it was decided who the child would live with, and "was just asked to provide information".
While the agency did not play a part in the decision to remove the child, Ms Hunt said that in order to look at the matter properly, the Court could not make any decision until it had all the "relevant information".
Oranga Tamariki declined an interview.
The father's lawyer, Gareth Bodle, confirmed the delays in getting the 132 report but declined to make any comment on the case.
* None of the parties can be identified because the case is before the Family Court