A teenager who was abused in state care is calling for better opportunities for vulnerable children to seek access to better mental health services.
Opening up about his own experiences trying to get help, 15-year-old Ihorangi Reweti-Peters highlighted the significant need for youth in Oranga Tamariki’s care to have an “entitlement” to help.
“New Zealand has the highest teen suicide rates in the developed world and just over 2700 young people in Oranga Tamariki care - which is just over half the young people in care - suffer from mental illness.
“It was very hard for me to get the correct mental health support that I needed, my grandparents had to advocate for that. So it wasn’t such an entitlement when I came into Oranga Tamariki care.”
Earlier this year, the Christchurch teenager spoke during the Child Poverty Action Group's post-Budget breakfast, calling for a dedicated inquiry for tamariki in state care that have experienced abuse after 2000 .
It comes as the Royal Commission into Abuse in Care examines abuse which occurred in state and faith-based care between 1950 and 1999.
Joined by Glenis Philip-Barbara, Assistant Māori Commissioner for Children, she acknowledged the need for New Zealand to recognise the “traumatic” implications that uplifting youth into state care can have.
“I think its time as a nation that actually the act of uplift is traumatic for young people - surely then we have to accept that mental health support is critical.”
The Mairehau High School student raised his concerns with Sir Wira Gardiner, acting Secretary for Children and chief executive of Oranga Tamariki at a hui on Tuesday.
Describing it as a “very positive meeting,” Reweti-Peters outlined the need for better mental health support in the system, alongside independent reviews of complaints made by children in care.
He told Breakfast that after giving feedback of his own about Oranga Tamariki care, it took months before it was followed up.
“I have experiences where I made a complaint back in January this year and I only received an acknowledge after a media inquiry a few weeks ago.”
It comes after an RNZ investigation revealed that of a handful of complaints made by children in state care, 75 per cent weren’t reviewed and fewer than 27 per cent of outcomes were relayed to the young person.
Of the 81000 instances of concern by youth in state care reported, only half of those have been investigated.
Philip-Barbara is advocating alongside the Christchurch teen for a revamp of the complaints system, highlighting a need for both an independent process and one that establishes trust with the children in need.
She says often if a young person in state care needs to “sound the alarm”, the very people they need to report to are the people the complaint is about.
“Young people need to have trust in the person that they sound the alarm to, otherwise the whole thing can feel very overwhelming.”
The Assistant Māori Commissioner for Children noted that children won’t speak up if they don’t feel safe, emphasising the importance of building trust with young people so they feel comfortable opening up.
Reweti-Peters has been invited to join a group in Wellington, spearheaded by Sir Gardiner, looking to develop a mobile app to improve the process for complaints laid about Oranga Tamariki by youth in care.
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