Focus areas

Focus areas initiatives

These initiatives are focussed on embedding and expanding what works – across health, education, housing and data sharing.

Health

The Action Plan is focussed on supporting wellbeing, earlier and better.

• Implement national improvements to the current Gateway service and consider funding options to pilot the future state model of the service – which will enable earlier access to health, education and disability services.
  
  
• Develop and implement detailed design improvements to enhance visibility of children young people in care within the health system. This includes creating guidance for health professionals to apply a trauma-informed approach when supporting tamariki.
  
  
• Strengthen Oranga Tamariki staff knowledge of mental health and disability through core training initiatives.  

Education

This area is focussed on helping children in care thrive at school.

• Improve assessment of educational needs through a new Gateway education profile that captures a holistic view of each child’s learning requirements.
  
  
• Clarify roles and responsibilities around student aide support to ensure tamariki receive the help they need to succeed in their learning.

Housing

Our focus is on supporting smoother transitions for young people.

• Review and strengthen supported housing services for young people with complex needs to ensure they are fit for purpose.
  
  
• Improve access to housing information and entitlements for young people leaving care, helping them understand what support is available and how to access it.
  
  
• Provide training to providers to support young people to better navigate the housing system and available services.

Data sharing

It is critical that we get the right support to the right young people.

• Expand secure information-sharing agreements and protocols between Oranga Tamariki and partner agencies like Health NZ, the Ministry of Education, Corrections and ACC.
  
  
• Leverage improved data to better understand needs and track how the system is supporting tamariki over time. 

The focus areas were approved for the Action Plan for 2025/26, following progress made on the initial 11 actions outlined in the plan. You can read more about the original actions below.

There are 4 types of actions that make up the Oranga Tamariki System Action Plan: 

1. Short term practical steps that are making change happen now.
2. Building an evidence-based picture of unmet needs.
3. Meeting children’s and young people’s needs and building whānau resilience.
4. Preventing harm from a community level.

Action 1: Chief Executives’ expectations

Children’s agency chief executives will clarify expectations to frontline decision-makers and operational staff of the requirement to meet the needs of the children, young people and whānau who are engaged with Oranga Tamariki or are likely to come to the attention of Oranga Tamariki.  

Longer-term, there will be a corresponding responsibility for agencies to report back on how they are fulfilling these responsibilities and what’s changed.

Action 2: Practical, high-impact action identification

Each agency will identify practical, high impact actions they can lead, and implement with other agencies as appropriate, to meet the needs of priority populations.

Action 3: In-depth assessment of needs

Action 3 is that Oranga Tamariki will lead a series of in-depth assessments focused on housing, health and education. These will identify un-met needs and set a direction to improve services for these children and young people.

Action 4: Evidence dashboard

An evidence and indicator dashboard will be developed for regular, evidence-based discussions at meetings of the Social Wellbeing Board and Child and Youth Wellbeing Strategy Ministerial Group.

The dashboards will include insights and data on the needs and experiences of the population of interest, such as the number of children and young people referred for further health assessments, or assessed as having specific education needs.

Action 5: Regional wellbeing data and need pictures

Evidence and data will be provided to regional leaders to inform community-led planning and the development of community solutions. 

Action 6: Access to services

Relevant agencies will work in conjunction with Oranga Tamariki to respond to the findings and recommendations discussed in the in-depth assessments of need (action three) to identify options to improve access to services to meet the needs of the priority population.  

This could include options for expanding or replicating collaborative practices that are already working well, or broader system changes.  

Action 7: Learning in residential care

The Ministry of Education and Oranga Tamariki will continue to progress a joint work programme to respond to the Education Review Office (ERO) Evaluation of learning in residential care.

Action 8: Education high needs review

As a part of the Highest Needs Review, the Ministry of Education is working with other agencies, including Oranga Tamariki, to consider how to align services and supports to ensure children and young people with the highest learning support needs, and their families and whānau, have access to the right support for learning to occur.

Action 9: Investment in prevention

Agencies will build a high-level cross-agency picture of early support/prevention investment to identify gaps and opportunities.

Action 10: A localised, whānau-led system learning approach to the first 1000 days

The Social Wellbeing Board will drive further collective cross-agency effort to develop and test an integrated network of health, social services and informal supports for children and whānau in the first 1000 days. This will be done through a localised learning system approach that builds on the health sector early years prototypes.

Action 11: Support and respond to locally-led prevention plans

Agencies will support a co-ordinated, locally led approach with community partners who are looking to lead and work collaboratively on prevention, with an initial focus on community-based and locally-led co-ordinated responses to reports of concerns.