Tiaki Oranga

This section records key demographics. It identifies who the report is about and relationships that are important to them.

Check prepopulated information for each tamaiti or rangatahi, update the demographic tab if required, and gather any additional information that is not complete.

Clearly articulate the possible safety, harm or risk issues, why we are currently working with te tamaiti or rangatahi, and why are we completing Tiaki Oranga now. Risk statements could be used in this section.

The second section asks us to articulate what current safety, harm and risk looks like for te tamaiti or rangatahi and whānau or family. We need to show what is happening to achieve safety currently, and who is doing this.

We need to consider the safety of each tamaiti or rangatahi in the home. This space allows us to articulate the way we see harm and the risk of harm in the context of oranga – the frame within the frame – for each tamaiti or rangatahi. Headings can be used to separate information relating to each tamaiti or rangatahi.

Frame within a frame

This section requires us to show our social work reasoning based on our application of the dimensions of oranga and the information we've gathered to understand safety.

Consider all dimensions of oranga (recalling that when a stone is thrown in the puna, it vibrates and ripples outward).

Our social work analysis is critical for demonstrating clearly to others, including tamariki and rangatahi and their whānau or family, why and how actions or decisions are needed or taken.

We explore safety, harm and risk across the oranga dimensions to give us a broader context for identifying and understanding harm and sources of potential and existing safety:

• Consider what protection is in place. Describe existing, strengthened and current safety, including all immediate actions required and responsibility for those actions. 
• Think about each tamaiti or rangatahi in the home, the impact of harm on their oranga and what this means for them in the context of their whānau or family. The needs of each tamaiti or rangatahi in the home will be unique and responses to harm should reflect those differences. We may choose to use headings to clearly set out information relating to specific tamariki or rangatahi.
• Consider and record against all dimensions of oranga to show how we have understood the immediate impact of harm for tamariki, rangatahi and whānau or family. There may be times where not all dimensions are drawn on, indicating areas for further exploration. Record this in the social work reasoning and understanding column.
• Record our analysis from a well-informed social work position. Oranga can be impacted in different ways for tamariki, rangatahi, whānau and families.
• Reflect on what we know and what we don’t know. Think about and record any gaps in information and reflect on any assumptions that may be being made.

Remember that Tiaki Oranga is a snapshot of current safety, harm or risk and is not an assessment. It contributes to our building and deepening of understanding.

Headers can be used in this section to articulate safety for each tamaiti or rangatahi.

Oranga-framed practice prompts

Protect and support the development of tamariki and rangatahi within healthy whānau and families

When urgent action is needed to secure the safety of pēpi, tamariki and rangatahi

Policy: Caregiver and adoptive applicant assessment and approval – Provisional approval for urgent placements

Remember that, as Tiaki Oranga provides a snapshot of current safety and is used across the continuum, our next steps will look different based on the reason for our involvement as we continue to build and deepen our understanding.

Based on our social work analysis and safety planning articulated in the Tiaki Oranga template, we are now required to clearly show whether we believe each tamaiti or rangatahi is safe:

• Yes = there is enough safety and protection now to address the reason for completing Tiaki Oranga.
• No = safety and protection has not yet been achieved and more work is required.

Then articulate the immediate next steps: 

• what actions have been taken to support safety and protection
• what further actions need to be taken with tamariki, rangatahi, whānau or family and by whom.

Following this, we articulate our practice outcome for Investigation and CFA phases:

• further action required
• partnered response (investigation/assessment only)
• no further action
• existing involvement.

Te Ao Māori principles of oranga

Oranga-framed practice prompts

On rare occasions, we are unable to ascertain safety for te tamaiti or rangatahi within the required timeframes.

An exception casenote is used when we are unable to establish immediate tiaki within the allocated timeframe. It explains what we are doing and why there is a delay in completing our assessment of immediate safety. The decision to complete this casenote should be made in consultation with our line manager.

This might happen when:

• efforts are made to contact whānau or family but they can't be located or they're avoiding contact with Oranga Tamariki
• there has been an extreme weather event such as a cyclone or flooding, and communications or transport to an area have been cut off
• Police are investigating and ask Oranga Tamariki to delay or coordinate our engagement to ensure the integrity of their investigation – this is only considered if it will not place te tamaiti or rangatahi at undue risk of further harm.

In these cases, a Tiaki Oranga exception casenote can be entered to explain the circumstances of the delay. In the casenote, provide:

• a clear timeline detailing the efforts that were made to understand tiaki and risk within the required timeframe
• details of who has been contacted and what information has been gathered to establish a connection with the whānau or family
• details of what consultation has occurred with a supervisor about the difficulties of ensuring immediate safety within the timeframe, what will happen next, what contacts will be made, what follow-up will occur, when each task will be completed, and by whom.

The exception casenote is not an exception to completing Tiaki Oranga. It is a record of why the timeframe to complete Tiaki Oranga was not met.

We are required to continue to actively establish immediate safety for each tamaiti or rangatahi. Once immediate safety has been achieved, input the time and day this occurred by completing Tiaki Oranga.

The exception casenote does not change the measuring of whether Tiaki Oranga was completed on time or not. It just records the rationale.

If Tiaki Oranga is not completed within the allocated response timeframe, this will display as Completed Late on Whiti. If Tiaki Oranga was completed within the required timeframe and the date or time was recorded incorrectly, we should amend the casenote to reflect the correct date and time of the mahi.

In some circumstances, there may be delays in recording the report of concern in CYRAS that impact on our ability to enter Tiaki Oranga. When this occurs, we record Tiaki Oranga as soon as we can and backdate the date and time to accurately reflect our work.

However, Tiaki Oranga cannot be entered before the date and time of the report of concern. There will be circumstances where Tiaki Oranga may be completed before the report of concern is entered on CYRAS – for example, where there is already an open child and family assessment (CFA) and a new critical or very urgent report of concern is received and forwarded immediately to the site to action.

To address this, we need to manually enter a date and time on Tiaki Oranga that is after the timeframe that the report of concern was received. We note in our casenote the actual date and time the mahi was completed and the reason for this.

Whiti draws the information from CYRAS so if it is not showing correctly in Whiti, CYRAS records need to be corrected.